Kāla in the Mausala Parva
Kāla means Time. In the Mahābhārata it is the highest cause and the fate that cannot be escaped, ruling over all creation and dissolution. At the close of the Mausala Parva (the book of the Mahābhārata that tells of the end of Śrī Kṛshṇa’s clan), Vyāsa Ṛshi teaches Arjuna that Kāla is the seed and the root of the whole world.
Kāla is the source of both good fortune and ruin. Before it even the mightiest are helpless. By its decree the Vṛshṇis (Kṛshṇa’s people) perished, and Kṛshṇa laid aside his earthly form.
Kāla as the Root of All
Arjuna was broken with grief at the ruin of the Vṛshṇis and the departure of Kṛshṇa. He came to Vyāsa’s āśrama (hermitage) and begged for advice. The ṛshi taught him that this whole world has Kāla for its seed and its root. Kāla brings forth all that is, and in its own time Kāla draws everything back into itself. Time is Īśvara itself. At one moment one is strong, at another weak. By the working of Kāla the mighty become feeble and the feeble mighty. And even the master of Time moves in turn by a higher law.
Vyāsa taught further that in a time of good fortune, intelligence, tejas (radiance and vigour) and courage arise by themselves, while in a time of ruin they fail and come to nothing. So, he advised, one should not grieve for what passes away. The dissolution of beings is the work of Time, and it is not fitting to grieve for the destruction of what is destined to be destroyed.
The Working of Kāla in the Mausala Parva
All through the Mausala Parva the hand of Kāla can be seen. Omens troubled Dvārakā in the thirty-sixth year of Yudhishṭhira’s reign. Kāla was said to roam through the houses of the Vṛshṇis and Andhakas in terrible forms, seen and unseen, as the destroyer of all beings, whom even the mightiest archers could not strike down. Driven by Kāla, the kinsmen quarrelled at Prabhāsa and killed one another with the musala (iron club) born of a curse. Driven by Kāla, the Gāṇḍīva bow failed in Arjuna’s hands at Pañcanada. Kṛshṇa himself read the omens and saw that Kāla was ripe and the appointed hour had come.
Why It Matters
Kāla is the heart of the teaching of the Mausala Parva. It is the truth that turns the sorrow of the destruction into understanding. The ruin of the Vṛshṇis came about through a brāhmaṇa’s curse, but in the end it is the working of Time, which even Kṛshṇa did not wish to turn aside. To know Kāla as the root of everything is to accept that empires and heroes, weapons and fortunes all rise and dissolve in their season. The wise neither cling nor grieve, but recognise the appointed hour of their own going.
Sources
- Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 2
- Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 3
- Mahābhārata, Mausala Parva, Chapter 8