Kali-Purusha

The tradition of Sanātana Dharma divides time into four great ages called yugas. The last and darkest of them is the Kali Yuga, the age in which we live now. Kali-Purusha is the being who presides over this age. He is a deva-like figure who gives a face to its darkness, decline and moral confusion. He wants to rule over all beings and spread adharma (wrong living, the opposite of dharma), but he can only act within the limits set by Bhagavān Vishṇu.

The Bhavishya Purāṇa tells how Kali-Purusha once came to Śrī Kṛshṇa, bowed down fully before him and begged for mercy. Kṛshṇa accepted that the Kali Yuga is a needed part of the turning of time, and he gave Kali both mercy and a fixed area in which to act. Several Purāṇas also describe how conditions on earth get worse through the four quarters of the Kali Yuga, until Bhagavān Kalki appears at the end.

The Family Line of Kali: the Adharma Vaṃśa

The first part (Prathamāṃśa) of the Kalki Purāṇa gives the fullest account of where Kali came from. Kali is not a formless idea of an age. He is a being with a clear family line, the last in a chain of wickedness that began with Brahmā, the creator.

After the dissolution of the universe, Brahmā was busy with creation once more. From the back of his body he made a dark and frightening form called Adharma, the living form of wrongdoing. From this one unplanned act of creation the whole family of pāpa (wrongdoing) came down:

• Adharma + Mithyā (falsehood) → Dambha (hypocrisy) and his sister Māyā (illusion)
• Dambha + Māyā → Lobha (greed, male) and Nikṛti (deception, female)
• Lobha + Nikṛti → Krodha (anger, male) and Hiṃsā (violence, female)
• Krodha + Hiṃsā → Kali and his sister Duruktī (evil speech)
• Kali + Duruktī → Bhaya (fear, male) and Mṛtyu (death, female)
• Bhaya + Mṛtyu → Niraya (naraka, the place of punishment)
• Niraya + Yātanā (torment, his sister) → thousands of beings who work to destroy dharma

The text describes Kali-Purusha’s body. He is black like collyrium (the black eye-paint called kajal). He has a snake-like belly, a frightening and ugly face, a restless darting tongue, and a body that gives off a foul smell. He is devoted to gambling, wine, women and gold, and these four are the places where he lives. He always holds his private parts in his left hand. His relatives, such as Lobha, Krodha, Dambha and Māyā, and all their children, swarm across the world in groups. They bring every kind of suffering: illness of the mind, fever, illness of the body, old age, addiction, grief and fear. These are the beings who wear away the order of the world from the inside.

The text also says: “Merely by hearing, speaking, or remembering the names of this Adharma-vaṃśa, human beings become free of all pāpa.”

The Nature of Kali-Purusha

In the Purāṇas, Kali-Purusha is not just an idea. He is a living, aware being, a kind of officer in the running of the universe (compare Vishṇu-māyā and Kāla-purusha, the person of Time). His job is to manage the age of Kali, with all its suffering and moral confusion. He tries to enter and live in the weak points of human nature: desire, anger, pride, falsehood and poor judgement.

Various Purāṇas list the places where Kali lives: gambling houses, slaughterhouses, wine shops, places of prostitution, and hoards of gold. The Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa adds certain foods: a fruit called kaḷinda, and the tāṇḍra tree, from which tāḍī (palm wine) is made.

The Pratisarga Parva also tells of a devoted brāhmaṇa named Prāṃśu-śarman who lived in the Kali Yuga. His conduct was so pure that Kali-Purusha came to him disguised as a king. Kali tried to tempt him with gold and accused him of eating Kali’s foods. The brāhmaṇa calmly answered every charge. Kali-Purusha then had him thrown into prison, but Bhagavān Sūrya (the Sun) stepped in directly and rescued him.

Kali Bows Down Before Kṛshṇa

The third khaṇḍa (section) of the Pratisarga Parva is set in the medieval part of the Kali Yuga. Pṛthvīrāja Cauhāna has fallen and the power of the mlecchas (foreigners outside the Vedic way of life) is spreading. Kali-Purusha becomes troubled. A divine warrior named Vātyuḍa, born from a divine bhrama-yantra (a whirling machine) made by Viśvakarman, the architect of the devas, was destroying the mleccha armies. This threatened Kali’s hold over the earth.

Kali went to Bali, king of the asuras, and poured out his troubles. Then Bali and Kali went together to Vāmana, the eternal guardian whom Bali knew from long ago, and both bowed down before him.

Kali prayed to Śrī Kṛshṇa, who was present in this Vāmana form as an aṃśa (part of himself): “O Prabhu Kṛshṇa! I bow before you in complete prostration. Protect me. You are the destroyer of all pāpa in all ages. In the Satya Yuga your form was white, in Tretā red, in Dvāpara dark (śyāma). Now, O Kṛshṇa, what form will you take? I have come to you as my only refuge.”

Kṛshṇa smiled and answered: “O Kali! The wheel of time must turn properly, and the Kali Yuga is itself needed for the next Satya Yuga to arise. For this reason I must show you mercy. My aṃśa will appear in Mahāvatī-pura as the son of Deśarāja, as a great warrior, and will bring justice. Kali, your presence too is needed for the turning of the ages.”

This conversation makes an important point. Even Kali-Purusha is in the end under Bhagavān Kṛshṇa’s will. He is a servant of the order of the universe, not its master.

The Four Quarters of the Kali Yuga

Chapter 24 of the fourth khaṇḍa of the Pratisarga Parva describes how things get steadily worse through the four quarters (pādas) of the Kali Yuga.

First quarter: This is the time of the great kings of the Kali Yuga: Vikramāditya, Śālivāhana, Bhoja Rāja and Pṛthvīrāja. Although the age is Kali, dharma still works. Kings still uphold ārya-dharma (the noble way of life), and great ācāryas (teachers) are born.

Second quarter: The mleccha powers grow strong. Kiṃnaras (semi-divine beings) begin to take human birth. These humans, who carry a part of the daityas (a class of asuras), grow to only two and a half feet tall and live only forty years. They live like birds, without karmic agency (without making choices that bear fruit as karma). By the end of the second quarter, marriage no longer exists, kings no longer rule, and no one lives with real effort (udyama-śīla).

Third quarter: Through Bhṛṅgu Ṛshi and his wife Surabhī, a race of extremely powerful warriors called the Kailakalpas is born. They devour the remaining kiṃnaras. Twenty-six thousand years pass in the third quarter, and then, at Rudra’s command, this new warrior race is created. All values fall apart. Harsh and destructive beings, more terrible than the mlecchas, spread everywhere. They live without marriage bonds, driven only by passion.

Fourth quarter: The human lifespan falls to twenty years. Every being who dies goes to naraka. Civilisation breaks down completely. People live in water and forests and eat whatever they can find, like water creatures and wild animals. The narakas, such as Tāmisra and others, fill up with the ātmās (souls) of the wrongdoers of this age. The very ground of civilisation has been turned over.

At the end of this last quarter, Bhagavān Kalki comes down to earth.

Kali’s Defeat and the Return of the Satya Yuga

Bhagavān Kalki comes riding a divine horse and carrying a sword and shield. He completely destroys the mleccha and daitya forces. After his victory he spends sixteen thousand years in tapas (spiritual discipline), absorbed in yoga, and the world is made pure in the fire of his tapas. He then performs the Brahma-satra yajña (a great fire offering). Through it the Vedas, the śāstras (sacred teachings) and the Purāṇas once again take bodily form (mūrti-manta) in the world.

On Kārtika Śukla Navamī (the ninth day of the bright half of the month Kārtika), which falls on a Thursday, the Satya-yuga-purusha, the living form of the new Satya Yuga, rises out of the yajña-kuṇḍa (the fire pit). All the pāpas of the Kali Yuga are destroyed on that tithi (lunar day).

The family line of Ikshvāku is set up again in Ayodhyā. The shortest human lifespan rises to four hundred years. Dharma stands again on all four of its feet: jñāna (knowledge), dhyāna (meditation), śama (calmness of mind) and dama (self-control).

The Kali Yuga in the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa

In Chapter 7 of the Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Nārāyaṇa Muni describes the Kali Yuga to Nārada. It is one of the most vivid accounts of moral decline in the Purāṇas.

The five-thousand-year mark: Gaṅgā, Sarasvatī and Lakshmī, in their river forms, will stay on earth for five thousand years of the Kali Yuga and keep it pure. After five thousand years, all three will return to the home of Śrī Hari. After ten thousand years of the Kali Yuga, many holy things will leave Bhārata (India) at Śrī Hari’s command. These are: all sacred tīrthas (holy places), Śālagrāmas (sacred stones of Vishṇu), Jagannātha, the Vaishṇavas (devotees of Vishṇu), the Purāṇas, Vedic rites, Hari-pūjā, Hari-nāma-saṃkīrtana (singing Hari’s names), truth, dharma and the Vedas themselves, and even the village devatās. This means that devotion to them will become extremely rare. Only Kāśī and Vṛndāvana will stay sacred.

Signs that Kali is at its fullest: The text describes a world in which:

• Hari-pūjā is done without Tulasī (the sacred basil plant)
• People are addicted to falsehood, deceit and vāmācāra (left-hand, improper practices)
• Ekādaśī vratas (fasts on the eleventh lunar day) are given up
• All four varṇas (social classes) give up their proper conduct (ācāra) and take up mleccha customs
• Women control their husbands, and men act like servants
• Crops fail, cows give no milk, rivers and wells dry up, and trees bear no fruit
• Women become mothers at eight years old and old at sixteen
• Out of a lakh (one hundred thousand) people, barely one is virtuous

Physical decline: Trees will grow only a hand’s span tall. Human beings will shrink to the size of a thumb. Everyone will be deformed, sick and short-lived.

Kalki’s appearance: A son named Kalki will be born to a brāhmaṇa named Vishṇuyaśa, as an aṃśāṃśa (a part of a part) of Nārāyaṇa. He will be mighty and armed with a long sword. He will destroy all the mlecchas on earth in three days and then disappear. The earth will be left without a king and will fall under the control of thieves. Then six days and nights of heavy rain will cover all homes and trees. The twelve Ādityas (sun devas) will rise together and dry the earth completely.

Return of the Kṛta Yuga: After Kali, the Kṛta Yuga (Satya Yuga) comes back. Dharma stands on all four feet. Brāhmaṇas know the Vedas and practise tapas. All women are pativratās (faithful wives). Kings, vaiśyas (merchants) and śūdras (workers) all follow their own dharma. Everyone is devoted to Vishṇu-mantra-japa (repeating Vishṇu’s mantra) and Vishṇu-yajña.

The rule of dharma in the yugas: In the Kṛta Yuga dharma stands complete. In the Tretā it has three feet, in the Dvāpara two, and in the Kali only one. After that, all dharma comes to an end.

Kṛshṇa’s Teaching on the Four Yugas (Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 90)

The last chapter of the Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa of the Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa holds Kṛshṇa’s own teaching on the four yugas. He gives it to Nanda as a farewell. It stands out because it is a personal and loving explanation of how time works.

Dharma in Each Yuga

Kṛta Yuga: Dharma stands on all four legs: truth, purity, compassion and dāna (giving). There is no disease, no painful old age, no greed and no deceit. All beings are sāttvika (pure and peaceful) and honour Bhagavān Kṛshṇa through tapas and meditation. Lives are immensely long, and the land gives plenty without farming.

Tretā Yuga: Dharma loses one leg, and the world is three-quarters good. Yajñas become the main way of honouring the devas. Society is mostly orderly, and kings are devoted to dharma. Lives are long, but shorter than before. The Rāma avatāra belongs to this age.

Dvāpara Yuga: Dharma loses two legs, and half the world follows adharma. The Purāṇas are composed in this age, because dharma now needs to be kept in writing. Kṛshṇa’s own avatāra comes at the meeting point of the Dvāpara and the Kali. Temple pūjā and pūjā of sacred images become important.

Kali Yuga in detail: Kṛshṇa describes the conditions of the Kali Yuga closely. Brāhmaṇas give up their dharma and become greedy. Kings become oppressors. Merchants cheat. Children stop respecting their parents. Food is adulterated. Sacred rivers and tīrthas lose their holiness. The Vedas are neglected. More and more of the world is filled with people of mixed and fallen character. Nature shows the same decline: the rains become unreliable, the earth loses its fertility, and the seasons become irregular.

The unmatched gift of the Kali Yuga: Yet the Kali Yuga has one special blessing that no other age has. In this age, simply hearing the name of Bhagavān Kṛshṇa or Rāma destroys the pāpa gathered over crores (tens of millions) of births. What takes ten thousand years of tapas in the Kṛta Yuga can be gained by saying the divine name once, sincerely, in the Kali Yuga. This is the great gift hidden in the darkest age: the amazing power of nāma-kīrtana (singing the divine names).

The hope of renewal: After the Kali Yuga has run its full course, the earth will recover. The land will be renewed and dharma will be restored. The wheel of time turns again.

Kṛshṇa’s closing words to Nanda were: “Kāla (Time) is the true agent of all things. It creates, maintains, and dissolves everything. What cause for wonder is there in anything? Know this, return to Vraja, and be at peace.”

Kṛshṇa’s Prophecy at Bhāṇḍīravana (Chapter 128)

The fullest prophecy about the Kali Yuga in this Purāṇa was spoken by Kṛshṇa himself. He spoke it to Nanda and all the people of Gokula under the Bhāṇḍīra banyan tree, just before he left for Goloka, his eternal home. It is special because Bhagavān Kṛshṇa gave it directly to the people he loved most.

Breakdown of society:

• All rules for men, women and varṇas will break down in the Kali Yuga
• Brāhmaṇas will give up their Saṃdhyā-vandana (daily prayers at dawn, noon and dusk); only the Yajñopavīta (sacred thread) will show that they are brāhmaṇas
• Yajña, tapas and vrata (vows) will slowly fade away
• Women will roam freely and prefer lovers (jāra) to husbands
• Sons will strike their fathers, and students will disrespect their gurus
• Mlecchas will become kings, and the earth will be ruled without dharma
• Food, water, trees and rivers will all lose their quality

Islands of grace within the Kali Yuga:

• The full span of Kali is 10,000 years
• For the first 5,000 years, Gaṅgā keeps her power to purify; bathing in her still removes pāpa
• Tulasī stays sacred all through the Kali Yuga; her touch removes pāpa
• The Vaishṇavas (Kṛshṇa’s devotees) remain like lamps; where they are, Kali’s darkness cannot fully win
• After the Vaishṇavas leave, all class distinctions collapse and Kali takes full hold of the earth

Kali’s special gift:

“What requires thousands of years of tapas in Kṛtayuga to achieve, liberation and union with me, can be achieved through Nāma-saṅkīrtana (the singing of my names) in a single day of Kali Yuga. This is Kali’s greatest blessing: the ease of access to me through my Name.”

The three highest practices for the Kali Yuga, confirmed by Kṛshṇa to Gaṅgā at the time of his rise to Goloka (Goloka-ārohaṇa):

1. Nāma-saṅkīrtana: singing and chanting the divine names
2. Purāṇa-śravaṇa: listening to the sacred Purāṇas
3. Vaishṇava-saṅga: keeping the company of Kṛshṇa’s devotees

The Eighteen Signs of Kali in the Vishṇu Purāṇa

Chapter 24 of the fourth part (Caturthāṃśa) of the Vishṇu Purāṇa keeps eighteen Sanskrit ślokas (verses) that list the signs of the Kali Yuga at its deepest point. These verses come after the lists of future royal families and before the prophecy of the Kalki avatāra. They form the bridge between the history of kings and the vision of the end of the age.

1. Brāhmaṇas give up svādhyāya (Vedic study) and take up business and trade
2. Kings oppress their people and take their wealth by force
3. People are driven only by kāma (desire) and artha (wealth) and give up dharma
4. The varṇa distinctions dissolve; birth and conduct no longer match
5. The earth gives smaller crops, and rain comes at the wrong times
6. Human lifespans become much shorter
7. Relatives act like enemies, and social bonds break apart
8. Women become unrestrained and men follow their lead
9. Śūdras take over the duties of brāhmaṇas; the qualified are pushed aside by the bold
10. Mleccha customs in dress, food and speech spread to every class
11. Sacred rivers, tīrthas and temples of the devatās lose their power through neglect
12. Tapas is given up, and everyone seeks only bodily comfort
13. Teachers charge money for Vedic teaching, and students treat gurus as servants
14. Lying becomes normal in all dealings
15. The unlearned are honoured and the learned are looked down on
16. Animals are killed freely and cows are treated badly
17. No one performs śrāddha (rites for the ancestors) or honours the pitṛs (ancestors) properly
18. The whole earth is overrun by adharma until Kalki comes down

The Vishṇu Purāṇa gives these eighteen signs not as a prophecy but as a description. They are the natural end point of the decline of the royal families traced in Chapters 21 to 23. The Dharaṇī Gītā (the Song of the Earth) that follows in the same chapter explains their meaning. All these kings, all these families and all these signs of decline are the Earth’s own witness to the universal law that nothing lasts.

Parīkshit Meets Kali: the Bhāgavata Account

The first skandha (book) of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa gives a separate and detailed account of Kali-Purusha meeting King Parīkshit. In all the Purāṇas, this is the most direct clash between a dharmic king and adharma in bodily form.

While Parīkshit was on his digvijaya (campaign to bring the world under his rule), he saw Kali-Purusha, dressed as a king, beating a bull that stood on one leg and a weeping cow. The bull was Dharma himself, and the cow was Bhūmi Devī, the earth. Parīkshit saw through the disguise at once. He raised his sword and moved to kill him. Kali fell at the king’s feet and surrendered. A king’s dharma is to give refuge to anyone who surrenders, so Parīkshit spared Kali’s life. But he gave him five fixed places to live, and no more:

1. Gambling (dyūta), where falsehood lives
2. Alcohol and intoxication (madya), where dullness of mind lives
3. Improper relations with women (strī), where passion and lust live
4. Killing of animals (hiṃsā), where cruelty lives
5. Gold (kāñcana), where enmity and greed live

When Kali asked for a sixth place, Parīkshit gave him gold once more. He saw that hoarding wealth is the very seat where all the other vices gather. The Bhāgavata says that as long as Parīkshit ruled, Kali’s influence could not spread in the world, even though the Kali Yuga had already begun. A dharmic king who keeps Kali within bounds holds back the worst effects of the age.

Kali’s Defeat and Exile in the Kalki Purāṇa

The third part (Tritīyāṃśa) of the Kalki Purāṇa gives the most detailed account of how Kali-Purusha was actually defeated during the Kalki avatāra.

Kali heard that Kalki was advancing on his digvijaya. In a rage, he set out from his capital, Viśasana Pura. He rode a chariot flying the ulūka-dhvaja (owl banner), with his whole family and his chief helpers. His army was lined up against Kalki’s side pair by pair:

Kali was not beaten by Kalki in direct combat. He was beaten by Dharma-Purusha (Dharma in person) and the Kṛtayuga-Being (the Kṛta Yuga in person), the two companions who went with Kalki through the whole campaign. Dharma and the Kṛta Yuga defeated Kali in battle. Bleeding, with his chariot smashed, Kali fled back toward Viśasana Pura. He left his chariot at the city gates and hid in the inner rooms of a household ruled by women.

Dharma then entered Viśasana Pura and burned the city to ash with a fire of arrows (bāṇāgni). Kali’s wives, his children and all his followers died in the blaze. Viśasana Pura had been the stronghold of all adharma. It stank of cow-flesh, it was full of crows and jackals, its households had turned the proper order upside down, and its streets were given over to gambling. Now it was reduced to nothing.

Only Kali survived, stripped of everything: city, family, power, weapons and home. Weeping and unseen, he fled into exile, alone and with no refuge. This is how the Kalki Purāṇa tells of Kali’s power being broken. It was not Kalki’s weapons that did it directly, but Dharma’s fire of arrows, which burned up the very stronghold and family of adharma. Kali still exists, but he has no power and lives in exile. He cannot rule over the new Kṛta Yuga that Kalki set up.

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 3
• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 5 (via Chapter 8)
• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapters 24–26
• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Prakṛti Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7
• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapter 90
• Brahma Vaivarta Purāṇa, Śrī Kṛshṇa Janma Khaṇḍa, Chapters 128–129
• Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 1, Chapters 16–17
• Vishṇu Purāṇa, Caturthāṃśa (Part 4), Chapter 24
• Kalki Purāṇa, Prathamāṃśa (Part 1), Chapter 1
• Kalki Purāṇa, Tritīyāṃśa (Part 3), Chapters 5–7