Kotiswarar swami at Chetty Koyil is sometimes just full of interesting insights. We are asking about puja kaalams, and he explains them this way.
He gives us this agamic reference which roughly means: ““O Lord, puja is threefold: uttama, madhyama, and adhama, distinguished according to the number of principal elements of the puja …” ): – in Sivan temples, said Kotiswarar, this is the agama vidhi, how to do puja for Siva, and that follows a series of ritual levels according to the number and elaborateness of the upacaras, offerings, ablutions, etc.
This comes close to this 3-fold “evaluation” in the Kamikagama:
उत्तमं मध्यमं नीचं त्रिविधं स्यान्मदार्चनम् । केवलैः शुद्धशैवोत्थैर्मन्त्रैरुत्तममुच्यते ॥
uttamam madhyamam nicam trividham syan mad-arcanam | kevalaih suddhasaivotthair mantrair uttamam ucyate || Kamikagama, Uttara-pada 1, verses 75–76
• Usha Kaala: Dawn / early morning. NA
• Pratah Kaala/ Kaalasandhi: Morning, within 10am
• First vilakku
• Abhishekam (no specific order), vastram chaathi, pottu pottu
• Kaalasandhi puja naivedyam: sakalam purvam aradhya [having worshipped everything [prescribed]...], Suryan, Vinayaka, ganapati parameswarasya, Parameswaran, parivararchanangal [all in the parivaram], Parvati, Bhairava-Bhairavadhvanisandoha (the “mass” of Bhairava’s resonances or sounds, but why mention these)/ Chandikeswara, then Bali
• Sangava Kaala/ Upasandhi: Late morning. NA
• Madhyahna/ Ucchi Kaalam, mid-day, when the sun (Kathiravan) is at its Zenith
• Abhishekam for Sivan and Parvati (pradhanam)
• Naivedyam only for Sivan and Parvati
• No Bali
• Sayam Kaala/ Saya Raksha: Evening (around 6:05pm)
• Abhishekam for Sivan and Parvati (pradhanam)
• Naivedyam for all, order as above
• Bali
• Ardha Yama: Midnight
• Palliyarai purappadu
• Naivedyam for Siva Parvati only
He then describes the 8 possible puja Kaalams as follows; the Tamil explanation is particularly amusing–eg. “0 kaalam puja, no worship at all: It’s wrong, and even so it’s wrong” but also indicates leeways, flexibilities, allowances, which are just very forgiving–not how we think of ritual as an almost punitively strict form of worship:
8 kaalam puja: Uttamattil Uttamam (sirappu, aanaalum mika sirappu)
7 kaalam puja: Uttamattil Madhyamam (sirappu, aanaalum paravaalai)
6 kaalam puja: Uttamattil Adhamam (sirappu, irundaalum thappu/lowest/inferior)
5 kaalam puja: Madhyamatthil Uttamam (paravaallai, irundaalum sirappu)
4 kaalam puja: Madhyamatthil Madhyamam (paravaallai, irundaalum paravaallai)
3 kaalam puja: [Madhyamatthil Adhamam (paravaallai, irundaalum thappu/lowest/inferior)]
2 kaalam puja: Adhamatthil Uttamam (thappu/lowest/inferior, irundaalum sirappu)
1 kaalam puja: Adhamatthil Madhyamam (thappu, irundaalum paravallai)
[0 kaalam puja: Adhamatthil Adhamam (thappu, anaalum thappu)]
(I’ve extrapolated 3 and 0, based on the pattern he set).
Siva temples usually run on 4 kaalams, as a compromise and as a way of managing resources. Ritual is a matter of following shastras and accommodating all possible local realities (according to the rule or kaalam, according to the substances, according to the circumstances).