Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.1709

c7.1709

KĀLABHĪTI. A devotee of Śiva. As his father Māmṭi performed penance for the sake of a son for a thousand years his wife conceived, but did not deliver. Māmṭi asked the child in his mother’s womb why he did not come out to which the latter replied that he did not come out as he feared the Asura called Kālamārga. (As the child feared Kālamārga it came to be called Kālabhīti). As advised by Śiva, Māmṭi created in the child knowledge about dharma, renunciation etc. and thus made him conscious about higher knowledge. The child came out of the mother’s womb. In due course of time Kālabhīti took to the worship of Śiva, who blessed him as follows: “Since you have outlived Kālamārga, in future you will become famous as Mahākāla.” (Skanda Purāṇa).