Who Bhairava is
Bhairava is Shiva at his most terrifying. He was made out of Shiva's anger, the Puranas say, when Brahma boasted that he was the greatest of the gods, and his first act was to pinch off Brahma's fifth head with a fingernail.
The skull stuck to his hand. For killing a brahmin he had to wander the world as a beggar, the skull as his begging bowl, until he came to Kashi and it fell from his palm. Shiva made him the lord of the city, its kotwal, the officer who keeps its peace. Pilgrims to Varanasi still go first to Kaal Bhairav, to ask his leave.
Kashika puradhinatha Kalabhairavam bhaje: the refrain of the Kalabhairavashtakam, I worship Kalabhairava, lord of the city of Kashi.
His name means the frightening one, and he is shown dark and fanged, with a garland of skulls, and always with a dog. He is the guardian of places. A Bhairava stands beside every shrine of the goddess among the Shakti Peethas, and many temples have one at the gate, who holds the keys at night. In north India, under the name Bhairon, he is a village god, offered liquor and sweets.
He has many forms. The tradition counts eight Bhairavas, the Ashta Bhairava, and each of those has eight more, sixty-four in all. At Ujjain he drinks liquor from a saucer. In Kathmandu, a great black Bhairab watches the royal square, and a white one pours beer for the crowd once a year.
