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It
is repeated in the scriptures that Kali Maha Yuga started at the exit of
Krishna from the earth. Foremost among them is Hari
Vamsam.
Mahabharata
includes Hari Vamsam as a Khila (supplement)
written by Vyasa himself. This is stated in the second chapter of Adi Parva.
hari vaṃśas
tataḥ parva purāṇaṃ khila
saṃjñitam
bhaviṣyat parva cāpy uktaṃ khileṣv evādbhutaṃ mahat
etat
parva śataṃ pūrṇaṃ vyāsenoktaṃ
mahātmanām [1]
Meaning:
Hari Vamsa Purana known as Khila (supplement) and Vavishya (Bhavishya) Parva
also spoken as Khila (after the 18 Parvas) are wonderful and great. They are
also spoken by the great Vyasa.
Hari
Vamsam has 12,000 verses and together with the 18 parvas forms “Parva Sangraha” of the Mahabharata. In other words,
Hari Vamsam and Bhavishya Parva at the end of Hari Vamsam form the body of
Mahabharata and were composed by Vyasa himself.
Vyasa
had written about the beginning of Kali Yuga in Hari Vamsam.
When
Krishna departed the world, Māheśwara
Yuga started, says Vyasa in Hari Vamsam
Skeptics
may say that this is some other Yuga by name Māheśwara Yuga, and not Kali Yuga.
They should know that the birth of a new Yuga at the exit of Krishna was
unanimously told in many scriptures. Initially the new Yuga was characterized by
Vyasa as Rudra Yuga or Māheśwara Yuga – of the time ‘Raudram’ manifested.
We
must recall the other name Pushya Yuga - the
name Sanjaya mentioned in the place of Kali in his talk with Dhritarashtra. Those
in power (Dhritarashtra) would definitely detest the idea that Kali would
appear in their times. However on seeing the change of time on the Pushya day
with the comet-hit, this name seemed to have fallen out of favor. The war
fought out of enmity did not put a stop to the spread of enmity even after one
side vanquished the other. Enmity kept brewing till the Vrishnis annihilated
one another. Krishna quit at that moment by not stopping it, sensing that time
had changed. That change was initially characterized by Vyasa as Māheśwara Yuga, of Rudra,
the annihilator. Thus Hari
Vamsam offers the earliest perception of the birth of a New Era at the
departure of Krishna from the earth.
Why
it was added as a supplement is understood from the fact that Vyasa didn’t
release Mahabharata until the Pandavas had left the world. The first 14
chapters of Mahabharata till Ashwamedha parva must have been finished soon
after the Ashwamedha yajna. The
events of the last four parvas occurring in quick succession with all the leading
characters leaving the earth, they must have been written after Kali Yuga was
born even though a concurrence on the date was yet to happen then among the Purā-Vidah.
In
fact Krishna’s end was not known to anyone in Hastinapur until Arjuna broke the
news to Vyasa first. At that time Vyasa referred to the
change of Time and advised Arjuna to depart from the world along with
his brothers. [2]
Shortly
before Arjuna’s return to Hastinapur, Vidura
had paid a visit to Hastinapur and urged Dhritarashtra to retire to the forest.
As per the account of Srimad Bhagavatam, he was aware of the end of the Yadu clan but chose not to
reveal it to the Pandava brothers. [3] So
this visit had happened after
Kali Yuga began!
The
time of Vidura’s visit is known from his request to Yudhishthira that
Dhritarashtra wanted to conduct Shraddha -rites for the departed elders and his
sons before leaving to the forest in Kartika month.[4]
Amawasya being the time of doing the rites, the rites must have been conducted on Aswayuja Amawasya. Counted from Shukla
Pratipat in Mesha, seven months were getting over
by then.
The
lapse of seven months since Arjuna left for Dwaraka is told in Srimad Bhagavatam
in the words of Yudhishthira.[5]
At
that time Yudhishthira also perceived the arrival of “Raudram”
though he did not know that Krishna had left.
He
was found telling “kālasya
ca gatiṁ raudrāṁ” – the direction of Time was fearful – as recorded by
Vyasa in Srimad Bhagavatam. [6] From
then onwards, the name ‘Kali’ gets mentioned often to refer to the change of Time.
Srimad
Bhagavatam, which gives the continuity of events after the Mahabharata war
expresses the version of Vyasa in Sauti’s words that Kali
had manifest fully at the exit of Krishna. From Māheśwaram in Hari Vamsam, the name of the era changed to Kali in
Srimad Bhagavatam.
yadā
mukundo bhagavān imāṁ mahīṁ
jahau sva-tanvā śravaṇīya-sat-kathaḥ
tadāhar evāpratibuddha-cetasām
abhadra-hetuḥ kalir anvavartata[7]
Meaning:
“When the Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, left this earthly planet in His
selfsame form, from that very day Kali, who had already partially
appeared, became fully manifest to create inauspicious conditions for
those who are endowed with a poor fund of knowledge.”[8]
In
the very next verse it is said that Yudhishthira having understood the arrival
of Adharma (adharma-cakraṁ) in the
capital, in his country, at home and in person in the form of avarice (lobha), falsehood (anṛta),
dishonesty (jihma), violence (hiṁsa) and more
of that kind, decided to exit the world.[9] It
is again repeated that the arrival of Kali Yuga (kalinādharma)
was perceived by the younger Pandavas prompting them to leave the earth.[10]
This perception of arrival of Kali is
reported only after Krishna left and not during the war
or before the war. The decision of the Pandavas to leave
was not prompted by the pangs of suffering on account of losing Krishna, but by
the increase in Adharma noticed at that time.
They felt that they could not put up with the level of Adharma prevailing then
and therefore decided to leave. Thus the advent of Kali is clearly made out
by the event of the Pandavas departing their kingdom and ultimately leaving the
earth.
Thus
there is consistency in the narration on the change of the Yuga and the birth
of a new Yuga, which by the time of Pandavas
relinquishing the throne, came to be named as Kali. Pushya or Māheśwara was no
longer used.
The
same view is repeated in Vishnu Purana [11]
Brahma Purana also repeats the view that Kali Yuga
started when Krishna left the world.[12]
The
flooding of Dvaraka was perhaps the first disaster of Kali Yuga.
Matsya Purana also states that from the time Krishna
left his mortal coils, the Yuga of Kali started.[13]
Bhagavata Purana (Srimad Bhagavatam) repeats the
same view again and again. [14]
The
verses from Srimad Bhagavatam are reproduced below
The
last line “iti prāhuh
purā-vidah” – thus say the experts of the past – conveys that the linking the departure of Krishna with the advent of
Kali was not an arbitrary decision, but one that seemed to have been
discussed and accepted
unanimously.
The
departure of Krishna coming to be known to the outside world only after seven
months, considerable discussion must have taken place among the sages on the
date of his departure and the planetary conditions they were tracking all the
time. This is indicated by the term “purā-vidah” in the above verse by Vyasa. They had unanimously declared that both
the events – Krishna
leaving the earth and the congregation of all the planets
marking the start of a Yuga – had occurred at the same
time.
The
earliest reference was made in Hari Vamsam going
with the name Māheśwara Yuga. With the
declaration of “purā-vidah” the new Yuga was
recognized as Kali Yuga
and mentioned so in the Puranas after that. In fact the Puranas were compiled by Vyasa before he wrote Mahabharata, says Devi Bhagavatam.[15] Vyasa must have updated Bhagavatam
afterwards. Bhagavatam as it exists today is rendered in the words of Sauti incorporating the final version of
Vyasa. The declaration on the start of the Yuga in Harivamsam – a part of Mahabharata
and the Puranas leaves no doubt about the beginning of
Kali Maha Yuga at the time Krishna left this world. This date forms
the solid basis for building up the date of Mahabharata war before and the
events of the Kali Yuga after that.
Kali Dharma remained
subdued
Though
Kali Maha Yuga started at the exit of Krishna, the chastisement of the king as
the controller of Dharma made sure that Kali Dharma did not increase in the
country. King Pariskhit
was keen on restricting Kali only within five places where gambling, drinking, prostitution, animal slaughter and gold were
present.[16]
By gambling the Dvapara
continued to exist thereby indicating an extension of Dvapara Sandhi.
Restricted
Kali activities had gone on until Yudhishthira
Shaka 2526 (575 BCE) when the Saptarishis were crossing the star Magha.
Only with the advent of the Nanda Dynasty, the
Kali Yuga in terms of measure of Adharma started, according to Srimad
Bhagavatam. It accelerated thereafter.[17]
Applying
the yardsticks for Kali discussed earlier (yuddhe kṛṣṇa
kalir nityaṃ), we can see that the country was relatively calm till the
6th century BCE. There were no wars or aggressions from outside until
then. Where there is war, there Kali starts residing.
Such situation started appearing only from the 6th century BCE
onwards followed by regular aggression from
outside India by Mlechas such as Shakas and Yavanas. From physical aggression, the entire
population is now bound by invasion in all spheres.
This
kind of Dharma based Yuga doesn't follow any specific time scale. Only the
level of Dharma held in place by the ruler decides the beginning or end of Kali
Yuga. This is not so with the computational Kali Maha
Yuga which was marked by an important historical event – of Krishna leaving the earth exactly at the time
of the birth of the Yuga when all the planets congregated at the beginning of Aries.
This was closely followed by two more historical events and formulation of a neat plan for
the entire Kali Maha Yuga of 4,32,000 years. We will discuss them in the next part.
(To
be continued)
[1]
Mahabharata: 1-2-69
[2]
Mahabharata: 16-9-36
[3]
Srimad Bhagavatam: 1- 13-12
[4] Mahabharata:
15-17-3
[5] Srimad
Bhagavatam: 1-14-7
gatāḥ saptādhunā māsā bhīmasena tavānujaḥ
nāyāti kasya vā hetor nāhaṁ vededam añjasā
[6]
Srimad Bhagavatam: 1-14-36
[7]
Srimad Bhagavatam: 1-15-36
[8] Srimad Bhagavatam: 1-15-36
[9] Srimad Bhagavatam: 1-15-37
[10] Srimad Bhagavatam: 1-15-45
[11]
Vishnu Purana: 5-38-8
[12]
Brahma Purana: 2-103-8
[13]
Matsya Purana: 271 – 51,52
[14]
Srimad Bhagavatam: 1-18-6
[15]
Devi Bhagavatam: 1-3 17
[16]
Srimad Bhagavatam: 1-17- 38, 39
[17]
Srimad Bhagavatam: 12-2-31, 32
