Kāla (Skt., ‘time’). A general Hindu word for time, displacing the Vedic ṛtu, which focused on the seasons. Kal means ‘enumerate’, or ‘calculate’ and moved the interest in time to the longer sequences of past, present, and future. Both Viṣṇu and Śiva are regarded as aspects of cosmic time. Yama, death, is associated with kāla (and is sometimes called Kāla), and the kāladaṇḍa, the staff of death, is one of Yama's emblems. Kāla is also the bringer of, in addition to death, destiny from the gods (daiva).

Kalā (limit on efficacy): see KAÑCUKA.