देवराजसेव्यमानपावनाङ्घ्रिपङ्कजं
व्यालयज्ञसूत्रमिन्दुशेखरं कृपाकरम् ।
नारदादियोगिवृन्दवन्दितं दिगम्बरं
काशिकापुराधिनाथकालभैरवं भजे ॥ १ ॥
भानुकोटिभास्वरं भवाब्धितारकं परं
नीलकण्ठमीप्सितार्थदायकं त्रिलोचनम् ।
कालकालमम्बुजाक्षमक्षशूलमक्षरं
काशिकापुराधिनाथकालभैरवं भजे ॥ २ ॥
शूलटङ्कपाशदण्डपाणिमादिकारणं
श्यामकायमादिदेवमक्षरं निरामयम् ।
भीमविक्रमं प्रभुं विचित्रताण्डवप्रियं
काशिकापुराधिनाथकालभैरवं भजे ॥ ३ ॥
भुक्तिमुक्तिदायकं प्रशस्तचारुविग्रहं
भक्तवत्सलं स्थितं समस्तलोकविग्रहम् ।
विनिक्वणन्मनोज्ञहेमकिङ्किणीलसत्कटिं
काशिकापुराधिनाथकालभैरवं भजे ॥ ४ ॥
धर्मसेतुपालकं त्वधर्ममार्गनाशकं
कर्मपाशमोचकं सुशर्मदायकं विभुम् ।
स्वर्णवर्णशेषपाशशोभिताङ्गमण्डलं
काशिकापुराधिनाथकालभैरवं भजे ॥ ५ ॥
रत्नपादुकाप्रभाभिरामपादयुग्मकं
नित्यमद्वितीयमिष्टदैवतं निरञ्जनम् ।
मृत्युदर्पनाशनं करालदंष्ट्रमोक्षणं
काशिकापुराधिनाथकालभैरवं भजे ॥ ६ ॥
अट्टहासभिन्नपद्मजाण्डकोशसन्ततिं
दृष्टिपातनष्टपापजालमुग्रशासनम् ।
अष्टसिद्धिदायकं कपालमालिकाधरं
काशिकापुराधिनाथकालभैरवं भजे ॥ ७ ॥
भूतसङ्घनायकं विशालकीर्तिदायकं
काशिवासलोकपुण्यपापशोधकं विभुम् ।
नीतिमार्गकोविदं पुरातनं जगत्पतिं
काशिकापुराधिनाथकालभैरवं भजे ॥ ८ ॥
कालभैरवाष्टकं पठन्ति ये मनोहरं
ज्ञानमुक्तिसाधनं विचित्रपुण्यवर्धनम् ।
शोकमोहदैन्यलोभकोपतापनाशनं
ते प्रयान्ति कालभैरवाङ्घ्रिसन्निधिं ध्रुवम् ॥ ९ ॥
devarājasevyamānapāvanāṅghripaṅkajaṃ
vyālayajñasūtraminduśekharaṃ kṛpākaram
nāradādiyogivṛndavanditaṃ digambaraṃ
kāśikāpurādhināthakālabhairavaṃ bhaje ‖ 1 ‖
bhānukoṭibhāsvaraṃ bhavābdhitārakaṃ paraṃ
nīlakaṇṭhamīpsitārthadāyakaṃ trilocanam
kālakālamambujākṣamakṣaśūlamakṣaraṃ
kāśikāpurādhināthakālabhairavaṃ bhaje ‖ 2 ‖
śūlaṭaṅkapāśadaṇḍapāṇimādikāraṇaṃ
śyāmakāyamādidevamakṣaraṃ nirāmayam
bhīmavikramaṃ prabhuṃ vicitratāṇḍavapriyaṃ
kāśikāpurādhināthakālabhairavaṃ bhaje ‖ 3 ‖
bhuktimuktidāyakaṃ praśastacāruvigrahaṃ
bhaktavatsalaṃ sthitaṃ samastalokavigraham
vinikvaṇanmanojñahemakiṅkiṇīlasatkaṭiṃ
kāśikāpurādhināthakālabhairavaṃ bhaje ‖ 4 ‖
dharmasetupālakaṃ tvadharmamārganāśakaṃ
karmapāśamocakaṃ suśarmadāyakaṃ vibhum
svarṇavarṇaśeṣapāśaśobhitāṅgamaṇḍalaṃ
kāśikāpurādhināthakālabhairavaṃ bhaje ‖ 5 ‖
ratnapādukāprabhābhirāmapādayugmakaṃ
nityamadvitīyamiṣṭadaivataṃ nirañjanam
mṛtyudarpanāśanaṃ karāladaṃṣṭramokṣaṇaṃ
kāśikāpurādhināthakālabhairavaṃ bhaje ‖ 6 ‖
aṭṭahāsabhinnapadmajāṇḍakośasantatiṃ
dṛṣṭipātanaṣṭapāpajālamugraśāsanam
aṣṭasiddhidāyakaṃ kapālamālikādharaṃ
kāśikāpurādhināthakālabhairavaṃ bhaje ‖ 7 ‖
bhūtasaṅghanāyakaṃ viśālakīrtidāyakaṃ
kāśivāsalokapuṇyapāpaśodhakaṃ vibhum
nītimārgakovidaṃ purātanaṃ jagatpatiṃ
kāśikāpurādhināthakālabhairavaṃ bhaje ‖ 8 ‖
kālabhairavāṣṭakaṃ paṭhanti ye manoharaṃ
jñānamuktisādhanaṃ vicitrapuṇyavardhanam
śokamohadainyalobhakopatāpanāśanaṃ
te prayānti kālabhairavāṅghrisannidhiṃ dhruvam ‖ 9 ‖
Meaning
Refrain: I worship Kalabhairava, Lord of the city of Kashi.
1. Whose holy lotus feet are served by Indra, king of the devas; who wears a serpent as his sacred thread and the moon on his head; the merciful one; whom Narada and hosts of yogis praise; clothed by the directions.
2. Shining like a crore of suns, who carries us across the ocean of becoming, the Supreme; blue-throated, giver of what we long for, three-eyed; Death to Death himself, lotus-eyed, holding the rosary and the trident, imperishable.
3. Holding the trident, the axe, the noose and the staff, the first cause of all; dark of body, the first Deva, imperishable, free of all illness; of terrible valour, the Lord, who loves the wondrous tandava.
4. Giver of enjoyment and liberation, of fine and lovely form; tender to devotees, steadfast, whose body is all the worlds; whose waist shines with a girdle of golden bells that ring sweetly.
5. Guardian of the bridge of dharma, destroyer of the paths of adharma; who frees us from the noose of karma, giver of true happiness, all-pervading; whose body shines with golden-hued serpents coiled about it.
6. Whose two feet are lovely with the light of jewelled sandals; eternal, without a second, the chosen deity, stainless; who destroys the pride of Death, whose terrible fangs set us free.
7. Whose great laugh shatters the shells of the cosmic eggs born of Brahma; whose glance destroys the net of sin; the stern ruler; giver of the eight siddhis, wearing a garland of skulls.
8. Leader of the hosts of bhutas, giver of wide fame; the all-pervading one who sifts the merit and sin of those who live in Kashi; knower of the path of right conduct, the ancient Lord of the world.
9. Those who read this lovely Kalabhairava Ashtaka, the means to knowledge and liberation, which increases many kinds of merit and destroys grief, delusion, poverty, greed, anger and burning pain, surely reach the presence of Kalabhairava's feet.
About this bhajan
In Kashi, Kalabhairava is the kotwal, the keeper of the city, and pilgrims go to his temple near Vishveshvarganj before they consider their yatra complete. The Kashi Khanda tells how Bhairava came forth from Shiva and how he was set to guard Kashi, judging the deeds of all who live there; the eighth verse remembers this. Every line of the ashtaka is in the same driving metre, sixteen syllables, short and long in turn, and the refrain falls like a staff on stone. The text follows the 1910 Srirangam edition, corrected in three places from the 1953 Brihat Stotra Ratnakara where the 1910 transcription has clear slips; the 1910 edition reads "svarṇavarṇakeśapāśa" in verse 5, where most prints read "śeṣapāśa".
Adi Shankaracharya, Kalabhairava Ashtakam, vv. 1–9: Works of Sri Sankaracharya (Vani Vilas Press, Srirangam, 1910), sa.wikisource "कालभैरवाष्टकम् (मूलसहितम्)", with readings of vv. 1, 4, 5, 9 from Brihat Stotra Ratnakara (1953), sa.wikisource "कालभैरवाष्टकम् (बृहत्स्तोत्ररत्नाकरान्तर्गतम्)"