Kings of Kali Yuga
The 12th Skandha of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa opens with the words of Śuka Mahārshi to Parīkshit before Parīkshit’s death. Śuka tells which royal dynasties will rule the earth through the Kali Yuga. The account starts with the Pradyota dynasty. It goes on through the Śiśunāga, Nanda, Maurya, Śuṅga, Kaṇva and Āndhra kings. It then names many smaller lines of rulers, and it ends with Viśvasphūrji, also called Purañjaya. After him the age sinks into adharma (the opposite of dharma, right living).
The setting
Parīkshit asks Śuka Mahārshi about the lines of kings who will rule the earth after Śrī Kṛshṇa has gone to his dhāma (abode). Śuka tells the whole political history of the Kali Yuga in the future tense. The last verse of the chapter reminds the hearer that all these kings, however mighty, will be left as mere names and stories through kāla (time). Their bodies will turn to dust and their kingdoms will pass. Only the kīrtana (praise) of their deeds in the Purāṇas will remain.
The Pradyota dynasty (5 kings, 138 years)
The Bṛhadratha dynasty, the line of Jarāsaṃdha, will end with a king called Purañjaya, also known as Ripuñjaya. His minister Śunaka will kill him and make his own son Pradyota king. A servant kills his master to take the throne. This begins the political disorder of the Kali Yuga.
The five Pradyota kings are:
- Pradyota
- Pālaka (son of Pradyota)
- Viśākhayūpa (son of Pālaka)
- Rājaka (son of Viśākhayūpa)
- Nandivarddhana (son of Rājaka)
These five will rule for one hundred and thirty-eight years.
The Śiśunāga dynasty (10 kings, 360 years)
Nandivarddhana’s son Śiśunāga will found a new dynasty. The ten kings are:
- Śiśunāga
- Kākavarṇa
- Kshemadharma
- Kshetrajña
- Vidhisāra
- Ajātaśatru
- Darbhaka
- Ajaya
- Nandivarddhana
- Mahānandi
These ten Śiśunāga kings will rule for three hundred and sixty years.
The Nanda dynasty and the end of the kshatriya age (100 years)
Mahānandi will father a son named Nanda by a śūdra woman. This Nanda will have vast military power. He is called Mahāpadma Nanda because he commands armies numbering in the mahāpadma (a very great number). He will be an ekacakravartin, the sole ruler of the whole earth, with no rival. In destroying the kshatriya lines he will be like a second Paraśurāma. From him on, kings will behave like śūdras and will have no dharma.
Mahāpadma Nanda will have eight sons, the first being Sumālya. These nine Nanda rulers, the father and his eight sons, will rule for one hundred years.
The Maurya dynasty (10 kings, 137 years)
A brāhmaṇa, Cāṇakya, will destroy the nine Nandas and bring the Candra lineage of the Kali Yuga to an end. He will make Candragupta king, and the Maurya age will begin.
The Maurya kings are:
- Candragupta
- Vārisāra (son of Candragupta)
- Aśokavardhana (son of Vārisāra, the great Aśoka)
- Suyaśaska
- Saṃgata
- Śāliśūka
- Somaśarma
- Śatadhanvā
- Bṛhadratha
These Maurya kings will rule for one hundred and thirty-seven years.
The Śuṅga dynasty (10 kings, 112 years)
The Maurya line will end when the army commander Pushyamitra Śuṅga kills Bṛhadratha and takes the throne. The ten Śuṅga kings are:
- Pushyamitra
- Agnimitra
- Sujyeshṭha
- Vasumitra
- Bhadraka
- Pulinda
- Ghosha
- Vajramitra
- Bhāgavata
- Devabhūti
These ten will rule for more than one hundred years, one hundred and twelve years in all.
The Kaṇva dynasty (4 kings, 345 years)
The last Śuṅga king, Devabhūti, will be dissolute and full of desire. His minister Vasudeva Kaṇva, a man of great mind, will kill him and rule in his place. The four Kaṇva kings are:
- Vasudeva Kaṇva
- Bhūmitra
- Nārāyaṇa
- Suśarma
These four will rule for three hundred and forty-five years.
The Āndhra (Sātavāhana) dynasty (30 kings, 456 years)
The last Kaṇva king, Suśarma, will be killed by his śūdra servant Bali, of the Āndhra jāti. This wicked Āndhra servant will rule for a time. Then his brother Kṛshṇa will reign, and a long line will follow. The thirty Āndhra kings include these:
Bali, Kṛshṇa, Śrī Śāntakarṇa, Paurṇamāsa, Lambodara, Cibilaka, Meghasvāti, Aṭamāna, Anishṭakarma, Hāleya, Talaka, Purīshabhīru, Sunandana, Cakora, then (eight sons, the eighth being) Śivasvāti, Gomati, Purīmanta, Medasiras, Śivaskanda, Yajñaśrī, Vijaya, Candravijñu and Salomodhi.
These thirty kings will rule for four hundred and fifty-six years.
Divided rule: Ābhīra, Gardabhī, Kaṅka and others
After the Āndhra dynasty, rule over the earth will be split among many small lines at the same time:
- Ābhīra kings (7 kings) from Avabhṛtī-nagara
- Gardabhī kings (10 kings)
- Kaṅka kings (14 kings)
These will be followed by:
- 8 Yavana kings (Greek or Western)
- 14 Turushka kings (Turk)
- 10 Gurunda kings
- 11 Mauna kings, who will rule for 300 years
The Yavana, Turushka and Gurunda kings together will rule for one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years. After them Bhūtananda and his followers Vāṃgiri, Śiśunandi, Yaśonandi and Pravīraka will rule from Kilikila-nagara for one hundred and six years. These Bāhlika branches will at the same time rule the lands of Āndhra, Kosala, Vidūra and Nishadha.
The last king: Viśvasphūrji (Purañjaya)
A king called Viśvasphūrji, also known as Purañjaya, will rise from the Magadha line. He is not the same as the ancient Purañjaya of the Kṛtayuga. He will rule from Padmavatī and hold sway from Hardvāra to Prayāga. His mind will be corrupt and his body very strong. He will make up new groups called Pulindas, Yadus and Madrakas. He will place them in the roles that brāhmaṇas and kshatriyas have always held, and so he will destroy the Vedic varṇa order.
Under his rule the brāhmaṇas of the lands of Saurāshṭra, Avantī, Ābhīra, Śūra, Arbuda and Mālava will go without the sacred thread. The rulers will behave like śūdras. The banks of the Sindhu and Candrabhāgā rivers, Kuntīpura and Kāśmīra will be ruled by śūdras, uninitiated brāhmaṇas and mlecchas who know nothing of the Vedic order.
The nature of Kali Yuga rulers
Śuka Mahārshi ends with a picture that fits all the rulers of the Kali Yuga. They will be like bandits. They will be greedy, without mercy, and cruel to women, children, cattle and brāhmaṇas. They will long for the wealth and wives of others. Their anger will be fierce, and their strength and life short. They will lack the sacred saṃskāras (rites of passage). Their subjects will take on the same nature. People and rulers will crush one another until all are lost.
The last teaching is both a lament and a lesson on liberation. These great kings will each swell with pride and call the earth their own. They will leave it as they came, empty-handed. Their bodies will become worms, food for birds, or ash. Only their names in the Purāṇas will remain.
The Vishṇu Purāṇa account (Caturdhāṃśa, Chapters 21–23)
The Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa gives its own account of the future dynasties of the Kali Yuga in Chapters 21 to 23 of the Caturdhāṃśa. Chapters 21 and 22 give future Kuru and Ikshvāku kings. They are short runs of names for the lines that go on after the Pāṇḍava age into the Kali Yuga.
Chapter 23 turns to the future kings of Magadha. It runs in this order: Bṛhadratha, then Nanda, then Maurya (Candragupta, made king by Cāṇakya), then Śuṅga (Pushyamitra kills the last Maurya), then Kaṇva, then Āndhra (Sātavāhana, 30 kings). The Vishṇu Purāṇa lists thirty Āndhra kings over many centuries. After the Āndhra line, small kingdoms arise side by side, ruled by mleccha rulers, Ābhīra kings and Yavanas, as the Kali Yuga deepens.
The marker in the stars
Śuka Mahārshi gives a firm marker from the stars. From Parīkshit’s birth to Nanda’s crowning will be one thousand one hundred and fifteen years. When the cluster of the Saptarshis (the seven ṛshis) passes from Maghā to Pūrvāshāḍhā, the time of Nanda begins and the Kali Yuga grows deeper. When Śrī Kṛshṇa went to Vaikuṇṭha, the Kali Yuga began at the same moment.
Sources
- Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 12th Skandha, Chapter 1
- Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 12th Skandha, Chapter 2
- Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Caturdhāṃśa, Chapters 21–23