kala

Kala is a term with multiple meanings across languages and cultures. In Sanskrit and many Indian languages, it exists in two related forms. As kala or kāla (काल), it denotes time, the cosmic order that governs birth and death, and is sometimes personified as Kala in Hindu thought. In contrast, kala (कला) means art, skill, or craft and is the common word for the arts in Sanskrit and many modern Indian languages.

Kala as color: In several Indo-Aryan languages such as Hindi, kaala means black or dark and appears in everyday usage and compounds describing color, mood, or complexion.

Other uses: Kala is also used as a personal name in various cultures and appears in geographic names and family names in parts of South Asia and beyond.

Variations and transliteration: The same phonetic form may be written kala, kāla, or kaala depending on language, orthography, and the intended sense. This can lead to overlap in meaning when transliterated into the Latin alphabet.

In summary, kala can refer to time or death, to the arts, or to color, and it functions as a common noun, a proper name, and a cultural motif in different linguistic contexts.