Kāla, Time — in the epics not a neutral backdrop but the power that grants and withdraws. Vyāsa invokes it to explain why Arjuna’s celestial weapons deserted him after Kṛṣṇa’s departure: kāla-mūlam idaṁ sarvam, “all this is rooted in Time.” Strength, intelligence, splendour and capacity arise when their hour has come and dissolve when it has passed.
