Monday, April 12, 2021

Physical exit of Krishna marked the beginning of Kali Yuga – evidences from Mahabharata and other texts (Supplement to Mahabharata date series: 11)

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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