Pratisarga Itihāsa

Pratisarga Itihāsa, “the history of the secondary creation”

Kali has other meanings too: see all meanings of Kali. Sahadeva has other meanings too: see all meanings of Sahadeva. Śveta has other meanings too: see all meanings of Śveta. Sūratha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Sūratha. Daśaratha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Daśaratha. Dilīpa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Dilīpa. Mādhava has other meanings too: see all meanings of Mādhava. Mura has other meanings too: see all meanings of Mura. Tāmasa has other meanings too: see all meanings of Tāmasa.

The Pratisarga Parva is the third of the five parvas (books) of the Bhavishya Purāṇa. It is given over to vaṃśānucarita, the sacred account of royal dynasties, great heroes (mahāvīras), ācāryas (great teachers) and divine events across all four yugas (ages) of the present Vaivasvata Manvantara (the age of the seventh Manu).

It has four khaṇḍas (sections). The first gives the solar and lunar royal lines, age by age. The second holds the stories of Vikrama and Betāla and the Satyanārāyaṇa Vrata-kathā. The third tells the warrior stories of medieval times (the Ālhā-khaṇḍa) as the rebirth of the ātmās of the Pāṇḍavas and Kauravas. The fourth traces the births of the great ācāryas of the Kali Yuga (Śaṅkarācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Jayadeva and Caitanya Mahāprabhu), of ṛshis (Vālmīki and Pāṇini), and of physicians (Dhanvantari), as direct descents of divine light through lines of families devoted to Sūrya.

In all, the Parva tells of the kings from Ikshvāku to Sudarśana in the Satya Yuga, with the storm that drowned Bharatakhaṇḍa; the Raghu and Candra lines of the Tretā; the Candra and Sātvata lines of the Dvāpara, with the avatāra of Śrī Kṛshṇa; and Parīkshit‘s line down to Kshemaka and Pradyota. It then gives its account of the mleccha line from Ādama and Havyavatī, of the languages, of Kāśyapa in Brahmāvarta and the Magadha and Bauddha kings, and of the four kshatriyas born from the fire on Mount Ābū, whose lines it follows name by name. The later chapters tell of Śālivāhana and Bhojarāja, of the kings of Dillī, of Timiraliṅga and the śālagrāma, of Mukunda and his twenty disciples, of Akbara and Navaraṅga, of the Guruṇḍas and the Maunas, of Vātya, son of the great wind, and at last of Kalki and the return of the Satya Yuga. Sūta tells nearly all of it to Śaunaka and the munis, and the ṛshis twice leave Naimishāraṇya for Badarī as the age darkens.

What Is Pratisarga?

Pratisarga is one of the pañca-lakshaṇas, the five marks that define a Purāṇa. It means the secondary creation (prati, “again” or “secondary”, and sarga, “creation”) that takes place within the first, primary creation. It covers how the world takes shape again after each time of dissolution, how dynasties arise, how divine ātmās take birth, and how the events of human history unfold in each cycle of the universe. The Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa is devoted wholly to this part of sacred history.

The Parva is told by Sūta Maharshi to Śaunaka and the gathered munis at Naimishāraṇya, the same setting used all through the Bhavishya Purāṇa. Sūta in turn draws on the direct teachings of Bṛhaspati (given to Indra at Prayāga) and on the vaṃśa-carita (histories of lineages) handed down in the Purāṇic tradition.

How the Pratisarga Parva Is Arranged

Khaṇḍa 1: Royal Dynasties Across the Yugas (Chapters 1–7)

The first khaṇḍa traces the royal lines of Bhārata from the very start of the Vaivasvata Manvantara.

Satya Yuga: Vaivasvata Manu was born from Sūrya‘s tapas (spiritual discipline) on the banks of the Sarayū. Ikshvāku was born from his nostril. The Ikshvāku dynasty had kings who lived extraordinarily long lives, such as Kuvalayāśva (34,800 years) and Dṛḍhāśva (33,800 years), and those who came after them. Among them were the famous Triśaṅku, Hariścandra, Sagara (who had 60,000 sons from one queen) and Ambarīsha. A great pralaya (dissolution) took place within the Satya Yuga, and before it came Sudarśana led the groups who survived to the Himālayas. The Sūrya-vaṃśa (solar dynasty) kings of the Satya Yuga are counted among the most virtuous in all sacred history.

Tretā Yuga: the Sūrya-vaṃśa and the Candra-vaṃśa (lunar dynasty) are described one after the other.

Dvāpara Yuga: the kings of the Candra-vaṃśa, ending with the Kurukshetra war.

Kali Yuga: the focus moves to kingdoms bordering the mlecchas (foreigners), the rise of the Parihar dynasty, and then to the birth and mission of Vikramāditya.

Khaṇḍa 2: Vikrama and Betāla and Other Sacred Stories (Chapters 1–35)

The second and largest khaṇḍa contains:

• 23 chapters of the moral stories of Vikramāditya and Betāla (the Vaitāla-Pañcaviṃśikā)
• 6 chapters of the Satyanārāyaṇa Vrata-kathā
• 3 chapters on the birth of Pāṇini and the debate of Pitṛśarman and Vararuci
• 3 chapters of the Durgā Saptaśatī māhātmya (the Ādi, Madhyama and Uttara carita stories)

Khaṇḍa 3: The Ālhā-Khaṇḍa, Warrior Stories of Medieval Times (Chapters 1–4)

The third khaṇḍa gives the Purāṇic basis for the Ālhā-Udal cycle of medieval warrior stories, the oral tradition of Bundelkhand and Bhojpur. It tells how the ātmās of the Pāṇḍavas, Kṛshṇa and Draupadī were born again in the Kali Yuga as Ālhā, Udal, Malkhan and the other medieval heroes. It also includes the stories of Śālivāhana (Vikramāditya‘s grandson), his meeting with the mleccha teacher on the Himālayan peaks, and Bhoja Rāja‘s digvijaya (conquest of the directions) and the Mahābalīśvara episode.

Khaṇḍa 4: Kali Yuga, Its Ācāryas and Ṛshis, and the End of the Yuga (Chapters 1–26)

The fourth and last khaṇḍa is the richest in spiritual teaching in the Pratisarga Parva. It is arranged like this:

• Chapters 1–6: royal dynasties of the later Kali Yuga: the Āndhra-vaṃśa, Rājputāna, the Delhi sultanate, and the destruction caused by Taimūr-laṅga (shown as naraka come to earth)
• Chapters 7–12: the births of ācāryas through Sūrya‘s grace: Śaṅkarācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Jayadeva, Dhanvantari, Vālmīki, Pāṇini and others
• Chapters 13–21: detailed stories of Caitanya Mahāprabhu: his previous life (as Vishṇuśarman), his divine origin, the gathering of the bhakti sants, and his dialogue with Bhagavān Vishṇu
• Chapters 17–18: past-life stories of Kabīr, Narasī Mehtā, Pīpā, Nānak, Nityānanda, Raidāsa and Sādhana
• Chapters 22–23: accounts of the past lives of Akbar and Sūradāsa, and a description of conditions in the later Kali Yuga
• Chapters 24–26: the four pādas (quarters) of the Kali Yuga; the birth of Bhagavān Kalki; the defeat of the mleccha forces; the dawn of the Satya Yuga; and the setting up of Ikshvāku‘s line in Ayodhyā

How the account is told

The Pratisarga Parva opens with the verse that stands before every work called Jaya, and the same verse opens the third khaṇḍa. One bows first to Bhagavān Śrī Kṛshṇa, the avatāra form of Nara-Nārāyaṇa; to his companion Arjuna, the best of men; to Bhagavatī Sarasvatī, who makes their līlās manifest; and to Veda Vyāsa, who tells their deeds. Only then does one recite the eighteen Purāṇas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and the other works called Jaya.

नारायणं नमस्कृत्य नरं चैव नरोत्तमम्।
देवी सरस्वती व्यासं ततो जयमुदीरयेत्॥
nārāyaṇaṃ namaskṛtya naraṃ caiva narottamam
devī sarasvatī vyāsaṃ tato jayamudīrayet

Bowing to Nārāyaṇa, to Nara, the best of men, to Devī Sarasvatī and to Vyāsa, let one then recite the Jaya.

Mahāmuni Śaunaka asks Sūta which kings arose in the mahākalpa named Bhavishya, in the second half of Brahmā‘s life, in its first year, on its third day, in the Vaivasvata Manvantara, in the twenty-eighth Satya Yuga. He asks for their deeds and the lengths of their reigns. Sūta answers that in the Śvetavārāha Kalpa, on the third day of Brahmā’s year, at the start of the seventh muhūrta, Mahārāja Vaivasvata Manu arose.

The telling is not one unbroken speech. It rests and resumes, and the rests are part of the account:

• After the line of Nyūha, Sūta enters samādhi. After many years his samādhi opens, and he goes on with the line of Sima.
• After the kings of Ārya Pṛthu, Śaunaka and the ṛshis bow to Sūta and stay in dhyāna of Bhagavān Vishṇu for four years. Then they rise, perform their nitya and naimittika rites, and ask for the kings of Magadha.
• When Śaunaka asks for the Agnivaṃśī kings, Sūta says he has come under yoganidrā. The munis turn to dhyāna of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and Sūta speaks again after a long interval.
• After the war of Kurukshetra, Sūta sends the munis to their own places and enters samādhi on the Parabrahman beyond the guṇas. The munis of Naimishāraṇya stay in nearness to the ātmā. After a long time Śaunaka and the others rise from dhyāna, return to him, and ask for the kings who came after.
• After the kings of Dillī, Sūta tells that he will now give the account of the kalpa he saw in yoganidrā.
• In the last chapters the speaker changes: Vyāsa speaks to Manu, and everything he tells is in the future.

Twice the ṛshis leave Naimishāraṇya. When Sunanda, son of Vedavān, died without offspring, Āryāvarta waned in every way and little by little the strength of the mlecchas grew. Then the eighty-eight thousand ṛshis and munis of Naimishāraṇya went to the Himālaya, came to Badarī-kshetra and engaged in kathā of Bhagavān Vishṇu. Again, in the age of the kings of Dillī, Sūta said to the munis that the mleccha kings had broken many temples and defiled all tīrthas and āśramas, and called them to the Badarīvana. Grieved, all the ṛshis of Naimishāraṇya left Naimisha with him and went to Badarī-kshetra. There they entered samādhi, fixed in dhyāna of Śrī Hari, and then asked Sūta about the itihāsa of the kalpa.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapters 1, 4–7; Khaṇḍa 3, Sections 1–2; Khaṇḍa 4, Chapters 6, 24–25

The Satya Yuga: the line of Ikshvāku

Vaivasvata Manu performed tapas on the bank of the Sarayū for divine years, and King Ikshvāku was born as his son. Ikshvāku was a supreme bhakta of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and by that grace he ruled 36,000 years. Sūta gives the line that followed, with each king’s reign. Each king is the son of the one before, except where the table says otherwise.

In the time of Śrāvasta, the text says, dharma stood in all Bhāratavarsha on its four feet: tapas, śauca, dayā and satya. All these kings of Ikshvāku’s line ruled the whole earth from Udayācala to Astācala with nīti and dharma. With Tridhanvā the second pāda of the Satya Yuga ended. The kings up to Ruka were all Vishṇu bhaktas with vast armies. In their kingdoms gems, gold and plentiful wealth were within everyone’s reach, and the full dharma of the Satya Yuga stood.

In the middle of the third caraṇa, Mahārāja Sagara was born, son of Ruka, a Śiva bhakta full of sadācāra. The munis reckon his reign at 30,000 years. His sons, sixty thousand of one queen, were known as the Sāgaras, and they perished by the śāpa of Kapila Muni. From the second queen came one son, Asamañjasa. His son was Aṃśumān; his son Dilīpa; and Dilīpa‘s son Bhagīratha, by whom Gaṅgā was brought to earth and became famed as Bhāgīrathī. Bhagīratha’s son was Śrutasena. All the kings from Sagara to Śrutasena were Śaivas.

Śrutasena’s son was Nābhāga, and Nābhāga’s son was King Ambarīsha, a greatly renowned Vishṇu bhakta, for whose protection the Sudarśana cakra stood appointed night and day. By then the third caraṇa had ended.

In the fourth caraṇa came Sindhudvīpa, Ayutāśva, Ṛtuparṇa, Sarvakāma and Kalmāshapāda, each the son of the one before. Kalmāshapāda’s son Sudāsa received, by the blessing of Vasishṭha, a son named Aśmaka, also called Saudāsa, born of Madayantī. These seven kings up to Saudāsa are called Vaishṇavas. By the śāpa of his guru, Saudāsa surrendered his whole kingdom to the guru.

Aśmaka’s son Harivarmā honoured the sādhus. His son was the first Daśaratha, and his son the first Dilīpa. Dilīpa’s son Viśvāsaha ruled 10,000 years, and his conduct brought a terrible drought of a hundred years that ruined the kingdom. At the queen’s insistence Vasishṭha Maharshi performed a yajña and through it brought forth a son, Khaṭvāṅga. Khaṭvāṅga took up arms and with the help of Indra ruled 30,000 years. Then, with a vara from the devas, he attained mukti. His son Dīrghabāhu ruled 20,000 years.

Dīrghabāhu’s son was Sudarśana, the great-minded, who married the daughter of the king of Kāśī and by the prasāda of the Devī conquered the kings and ruled the whole of Bharatakhaṇḍa with dharma for 5,000 years. One day in a dream Mahākālī told him to go to the Himālaya with his wife, with Vasishṭha Maharshi and the others, for on the seventh day a terrible storm would come upon Bhāratavarsha, as storms had already sunk many upadvīpas of the east and the west into the ocean. Sudarśana went with the chief kings, the vaiśyas, the brāhmaṇas and his attendants. A great part of the land of Bhārata was destroyed. All living beings perished and the whole earth lay under water, until after some time land appeared again.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapter 1

The Tretā Yuga: the Raghu line and the Candra line

On the tṛtīyā of the śukla paksha of Vaiśākha, a Thursday, Mahārāja Sudarśana returned from the Himālaya to Ayodhyā. By the power of Māyādevī the city again became full of every grain and wealth. He ruled 10,000 years and attained the Nityaloka.

His son was the second Dilīpa, who by the vara of the cow Nandinī had an excellent son, Raghu, and ruled 10,000 years. Raghu ruled as long as his father, and in the Tretā these Sūryavaṃśī kshatriyas became famed as Raghuvaṃśīs. By the vara of a brāhmaṇa Raghu had a son, Aja, who ruled as long as his father. Aja’s son was the second Daśaratha, and as Daśaratha‘s son Śrī Rāma himself was born, the avatāra of Bhagavān Vishṇu. He ruled 11,000 years. Śrī Rāma’s son Kuśa ruled 10,000 years.

The line of Kuśa runs, each the son of the one before: Atithi; Nishadha; Nala, a supreme upāsaka of Śakti; Nabha; Puṇḍarīka; Kshemadhanvā; Devānīka; Ahīnaga (also printed Mahīnaga); and Kuru, who made Kurukshetra, a hundred yojanas in extent, in the Tretā Yuga.

After him come Pāriyātra; Balasthala; Uktha; Vajranābhi; Śaṅkhanābhi; Vyutpanābhi; Svarṇanābhi; Pushpasena; Dhruvasandhi; Apavarmā; Śīghragantā; Marupāla; Prasuśruta; Susandhi, who ruled from one end of the earth to the other; Amarshaṇa, who ruled as long as his father; Mahāśva; Bṛhadbala; Bṛhadeśāna; Murukshepa; Vatsapāla; Vatsavyūha; Prativyoma; Devakara; Sahadeva; Bṛhadaśva; Bhānuratna; Supratīka; Marudeva; Sunakshatra; Keśīnara; Antariksha; Suvarṇāṅga; Amitrajit; Bṛhadrāja; Dharmarāja; Kṛtamaya; Raṇañjaya; Sañjaya; Śākyavardhana; Krodhadāna; Atulavikrama; Prasenajit; Śūdraka; and Suratha. All these were descendants of Mahārāja Raghu, absorbed in the pūjā of the Devī and devoted to yajñas, and at the end they all reached Svargaloka. The text adds that those who became descendants of Buddha were not all fully pure kshatriyas.

From the start of the third caraṇa of the Tretā a new thing came about. Devarāja Indra sent Candramā, husband of Rohiṇī, to the earth. Candramā made Tīrtharāja Prayāga his capital, was absorbed in the pūjā of Bhagavān Vishṇu and Bhagavān Śiva, performed a hundred yajñas for the pleasure of Bhagavatī Mahāmāyā, ruled 18,000 years and went back to Svargaloka.

His son Budha married Ilā with due rites, and from her came Purūravā, who ruled 14,000 years. Purūravā’s son Āyu, absorbed in the pūjā of Bhagavān Vishṇu, ruled 36,000 years, reached Gandharvaloka and enjoys delight in svarga like a deva. Āyu’s son Nahusha ruled with dharma as long as his father, then attained the state of Indra and brought the three lokas under his sway. Later, by the śāpa of Durvāsā Maharshi, he became an ajagara.

Nahusha’s son Yayāti had five sons. Three became rulers of the mleccha lands and two attained āryatva; of these two Yadu was the eldest and Puru the youngest. The next line, naming no king, tells of a reign of 100,000 years by the strength of tapas and the prasāda of Bhagavān Vishṇu, and of going to Vaikuṇṭha.

The line of Yadu runs: Kroshṭu, 60,000 years; Vṛjinaghna, 20,000 years; Svāhārcana; Citraratha; Aravinda; Śravas, devoted to Vishṇu bhakti; Tāmasa; Uśana; Śītāṃśuka; Kamalāṃśu; Pārāvata; Jyāmagha; Vidarbha; Kratha; and Kuntibhoja. Kuntibhoja married the daughter of the daitya Puru, who lived in Pātāla, and from her was born Vṛshaparvaṇa. His son Māyāvidya, a bhakta of the Devī, ruled 10,000 years at Pratishṭhānapura of Prayāga and went to svarga. Then come the first Janamejaya, Pracinvān, Pravīra, Nabhasya, Bhavada, Sudyumna, Bāhugara, Saṃyāti, Dhanayāti, Aindrāśva, Rantīnara (also printed Ratīnara), Sutapā and Saṃvaraṇa.

Saṃvaraṇa went to the Himālaya for tapas, and after a hundred years Bhagavān Sūrya gave him his daughter Tapatī in marriage, and he went to Sūryaloka. Then the end of the Tretā came. The four oceans rose, and for two years the earth with its mountains lay sunk in the ocean. The storms dried the ocean, by the tejas of Agastya Maharshi land appeared, and within five years the earth was rich again with trees and dūrvā. By the command of Bhagavān Sūrya, Saṃvaraṇa came back with Tapatī, Vasishṭha Maharshi and the people of the three varṇas.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapter 2

The Dvāpara Yuga: the Candra line and the Sātvatas

On the trayodaśī of the kṛshṇa paksha of Bhādrapada, a Friday, Mahārāja Saṃvaraṇa came with the munis to Pratishṭhānapura. Viśvakarmā built there a vast palace half a krośa high, and the king settled the city over five yojanas. At one and the same time Prasena of Budha‘s line and the Yaduvaṃśī king Sātvata Śūrasena became rulers of Madhurā, and Śamaśupāla of the mleccha line became ruler of Marudeśa. Gradually the number of kings grew along with the people.

Saṃvaraṇa ruled 10,000 years, and so did his son Arcājña. Arcājña’s son Sūryajāpī ruled half his father’s time. Then came Sūryayajña, devoted to the solar yajña; Ādityavardhana; Dvādaśātmā; and Divākara, who each ruled somewhat less than his father.

The line goes on: Prabhākara; Bhāsvadātmā; Vivasvakshā; Haridaśvārcana; Vaikartana; Arkeshṭimān; Mārtaṇḍavatsala; Mihirārtha; Aruṇaposhaṇa; Dyumaṇi; Taraṇiyajña; Maitreshṭivardhana; Citrabhānūrjaka; Vairocana; Haṃsanyāyī; Vedapravardhana; Dhanapāla; Mlecchahantā; Ānandavardhana; Dharmapāla; Brahmabhakta; Brahmeshṭivardhana; Ātmaprapūjaka; Parameshṭhī; Hairaṇyavardhana; Dhātṛyājī; Vidhātṛprapūjaka; Druhiṇakratu; Vairañcya; Kamalāsana; Śamavartī; Śrāddhadeva; Pitṛvardhana; Somadatta; Saumadatti; Somavardhana; Avataṃsa; Prataṃsa; Parātaṃsa; Ayataṃsa; Samātaṃsa; Anutaṃsa; Adhitaṃsa; Abhitaṃsa; Samuttaṃsa; Taṃsa; and Dushyanta.

From Dushyanta’s wife Śakuntalā came Bharata, always absorbed in the pūjā of Bhagavān Sūrya, who by the grace of Mahāmāyā Bhagavatī ruled the whole earth as a cakravartī for 36,000 years. His son was Mahābala; then Bharadvāja; then Manyumān, who ruled 18,000 years; then Bṛhatkshetra; then Mahotra, also printed Sutotra; then Vītihotra, who ruled 10,000 years; then Yajñahotra; then Śakrahotra.

Indra, pleased, gave Śakrahotra svarga. At that time a very mighty king, Pratāpendra, ruled Bhārata from Ayodhyā for 10,000 years. His son was Maṇḍalīka, whose son was Vijayendra, whose son was Dhanurdīpta. By Indra’s command Śakrahotra came back to earth with Ghṛtācī, defeated Dhanurdīpta and ruled the earth. His son by Ghṛtācī was Hastī. Mounted on a young one of the elephant Airāvata, Hastī built in the west the city of Hastinā, ten yojanas across, on the bank of the Svargaṅgā, and ruled there 10,000 years. His son was Ajamīḍha, then Rakshapāla, then Suśamyarṇa, then a Kuru who by Indra’s vara went to svarga in his body.

At that time in Mathurā, in the Sātvata line, the very mighty King Vṛshṇi held the whole kingdom for 5,000 years by the vara of Bhagavān Vishṇu. His line, each ruling as long as his father: Nirāvṛtti; Daśārī; Viyāmuna; Jīmūta; Vikṛti; Bhīmaratha; Navaratha; Daśaratha; Śakuni; Kuśumbha; Devaratha; Devakshetra; Madhu; Navātha; Kuruvatsa; Anuratha; and Puruhotra. Later in the line come Sātvatavān; Bhajamāna; Vidūratha; Surabhakta; Sumanā; Tatikshetra; Svāyambhuva; Haridīpaka; Devamedhā; and Surapāla.

When the third caraṇa of the Dvāpara ended, a Kuru became king, husband of the apsarā Sukeśī, who came by the command of Devarāja Indra. He made Kurukshetra, twenty yojanas in extent, which the learned declare a puṇyakshetra, and ruled 12,000 years. His line was Jahnu; Suratha; Vidūratha; Sārvabhauma; Jayasena; and Arṇava, whose rule reached the four oceans. Arṇava’s son Ayutāyu ruled 10,000 years. Then come Akrodhana; Ṛksha; Bhīmasena; and Dilīpa, each ruling as long as his father. Dilīpa’s son Pratīpa ruled 5,000 years, and Pratīpa’s son Śantanu 1,000 years. Śantanu’s son Vicitravīrya ruled 200 years, his son Pāṇḍu 500 years and his son Yudhishṭhira 50 years. Suyodhana ruled 60 years and met his death at Kurukshetra at the hands of Bhīmasena, the brother of Yudhishṭhira.

Sūta tells why Śrī Kṛshṇa came. Long ago the devas slew the daityas in great numbers, and those same daityas were born again on earth in the reign of Śantanu. Vasundharā, weighed down by the vast army of Duryodhana, went for refuge to Indra. Then Bhagavān Śrī Hari took avatāra from the womb of Devakī through Vasudeva, remained on earth 135 years and went to Goloka. This avatāra took place at the end of the fourth caraṇa of the Dvāpara.

Then Parīkshit, son of Abhimanyu, ruled in Hastināpura; then his son Janamejaya; then Śatānīka. The line goes on: Yajñadatta (also given as Sahasrānīka); Niścakra (also given as Nicaknu); Ushṭrapāla; Citraratha; Dhṛtimān; Susheṇa; Sunīsha; Makhapāla; Cakshu; Sukhavanta (also given as Sukhāvala); Pāriplava; Sunaya; Medhāvī; Nṛpañjaya; Mṛdu; Tigmajyoti; Bṛhadratha; Vasudāna; Śatānīka; Udayana; Ahīnara; Niramitra; and Kshemaka. Kshemaka left the kingdom and went to Kalāpagrāma, and his death came at the hands of the mlecchas. Through the teaching of Nārada Maharshi he had a son, Pradyota, who performed the mleccha-yajña.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapter 3

The mleccha line from Ādama

The Pratisarga Parva tells that after Pradyota’s mleccha-yajña Kali did pūjā of Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa with his wife, and Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa promised him that from a man named Ādama and his wife Havyavatī would be born those who increase the mleccha lines.

The text tells that Ādama was the first man of the mlecchas. He and Havyavatī restrained their senses and were devoted to dhyāna. Īśvara made a beautiful great forest, four kos in extent, in the eastern part of the city of Pradāna. Going beneath the pāpa-vṛksha, the tree of pāpa, Kali took the form of a serpent and came to Havyavatī. He deceived her, wrapped a fruit filled with tainted air in leaves of the gūlara, and fed it to her. By this the command of Bhagavān Vishṇu was broken. From this many sons were born, and all were called mlecchas. Ādama went with his wife to svarga.

The line runs on. Ādama’s excellent son was Śveta, whose life is given as 112 years. His son Anuha ruled a little less than his father, and Anuha’s son Kīnāśa ruled as long as his grandfather. Then came Mahallala; Mānagara; and Virada, in whose time a city was founded in his name.

Virada’s son Hanūka was devoted to Vishṇu-bhakti. By offering fruits in homa he gained knowledge of the adhyātma-tattva, and, devoted to the mleccha-dharma, he went to svarga in his body. He kept the conduct of the dvijas and did deva-pūjā, yet the learned still called him a mleccha. The munis, the text says, have declared these to be the dharma of the mlecchas: Vishṇu-bhakti, agni-pūjā, ahiṃsā, tapas and restraint of the senses.

Hanūka’s son was Matocchila, and his son Lomaka, who at the end attained svarga. Lomaka’s son was Nyūha, with three sons, Sīma, Śama and Bhāva. In Nyūha’s time came the flood that Bhagavān Vishṇu foretold to him in a dream, and the Badarī-kshetra of the Himālaya alone stayed above the water. Sūta says that Bhagavān Vishṇu, pleased with Nyūha’s bhakti, increased his line, and that the names of the three sons became Sima, Hāma and Yākūta.

After his samādhi Sūta tells the line of Sima, the eldest. Sima ruled 500 years; Arkansada 434 years; Siṃhala 460 years; Inna as long as his father; Phalaja 240 years; Raka 237 years; Jūja as long as his father; Nahūra 160 years, destroying many enemies; and Tāhara as long as his father. Tāhara had three sons, Avirāma, a second Nahūra, and Hārana. Sūta says he has told these lines by name only, and that by the śāpa of Sarasvatī these kings became speakers of the mleccha-language and low in conduct, and that their numbers grew greatly in the Kali Yuga.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapters 4–5

The languages and the first ages of Kali

The Pratisarga Parva tells that a language outside the Veda-vākya and Saṃskṛta was spread in Nyūha‘s line, and that to increase Kali the Brāhmī language was made a language of corrupt words. Saṃskṛta survived in Bhāratavarsha alone, and in the other parts the mleccha-language gave joy.

When two thousand years of the Kali Yuga had passed, the text says, the mleccha line grew much and doctrines of many kinds arose. Only the bank of the Sarasvatī, the Brahmāvarta-kshetra, remained pure. A person named Mūśā, ācārya and forefather of the mlecchas, spread his doctrine through all the world. When three thousand years had passed there was a king named Śaka in the city of Avantī, and in the mleccha country the king of the Śakas ruled.

With the coming of Kali, deva-pūjā and the language of the Veda were almost destroyed in Bhārata, and little by little Prākṛta and the mleccha-language spread there too. Vrajabhāshā and Mahārāshṭrī are the main divisions of Prākṛta; Yāvanī and Guruṇḍikā are the main divisions of the mleccha-language; and these languages have a further four lakh subtle divisions. The text gives examples.

Even in the seven sacred purīs, Ayodhyā, Mathurā, Kāśī and the rest, the text says, hiṃsā had begun. Robbers, Śabaras, Bhillas and foolish people filled the Ārya land, while those who kept the mleccha-dharma in the mleccha country lived in comfort, which is the special nature of the Kali Yuga. Sūta closes: “The rule of the mlecchas will be over Bhārata and its dvīpas. Understanding this, O best of munis, you should all do bhajana of Hari.”

The Pratisarga Parva names one thing that kept the mlecchas out of Brahmāvarta: the power of Sarasvatī. When a thousand years of Kali had passed, a brāhmaṇa named Kāśyapa came from svargaloka to Brahmāvarta by command of the devas. By Āryāvatī he had ten sons, Upādhyāya, Dīkshita, Pāṭhaka, Śukla, Miśra, Agnihotrī, Dvivedī, Trivedī, Pāṇḍya and Caturvedī, their qualities matching their names.

The Brahma Parva also speaks of the Śakas: among the Haihayas, Tālajaṅghas, Turushkas, Yavanas and Śakas, those who kept the Pratipat upavāsa vrata gained the brāhmaṇatva they desired.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 16; Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapters 4–6

The Magadha kings and the Bauddhas

In the land of Magadha, Māgadha took up the burden of the kingdom and divided the Ārya land. Pleasing Śrī Balarāma with a yajña, the king gained Śiśunāga, born from an aṃśa of Balabhadra, who ruled 100 years. The line of Śiśunāga comes down through Kākavarmā, Kshemadharmā, Kshetraujā, Vedamiśra, Ajātaripu, Darbhaka, Udayāśvara, Nandavardhana, Nanda, Prananda, Parananda, Samānanda, Priyānanda, Devānanda, Yajñabhaṅga, Mauryānanda and Mahānanda.

The Pratisarga Parva tells that after this Kali remembered Hari, and then a devatā named Gautama was born from Kāśyapa, who refined the Bauddha dharma and ruled ten years. In the line that followed stood Śākyamuni, Śuddhodana and Śakyasiṃha, in whose rule nearly everyone became Bauddha, and then Buddhasiṃha, Candragupta, Bindusāra and Aśoka.

At that time a brāhmaṇa of Kānyakubja performed a Brahmahotra on Mount Ābū, and by the power of the Veda-mantras four kshatriyas arose from the yajña-kuṇḍa: Pramara, Sāmavedī; Capahāni, Kṛshṇa Yajurvedī; Trivedī, Śukla Yajurvedī; and Parihāraka, Atharvavedī. Riding elephants of the Airāvata line, they brought Aśoka’s descendants under their power and destroyed all the Bauddhas of Bhāratavarsha.

Bhagavān Vishṇu, telling Bopadeva the glory of the Bhāgavata, speaks of the time when the kingdom had passed to the Bauddhas, given to dambha and pākhaṇḍa, and when Bhagavān Śiva with Devī Pārvatī settled at an excellent ground in Kāśī.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapter 6; Khaṇḍa 2, Chapter 32

The four lines of the Agnivaṃśa

The ṛshis of Naimishāraṇya, having heard from Sūta the carita of Kṛshṇāṃśa, ask him for the kings born in the Agnivaṃśa. He gives four lines.

The line of Pramara

At the close of the first khaṇḍa Sūta says that when 3,710 years of the Kali Yuga had passed, a king named Prabhā began to rule. His son Mahāmada ruled half his father’s period, and Devāpi, son of Mahāmada, as long as his father. Devāpi’s son was Devadūta, and Devadūta’s son Gandharvasena ruled fifty years. He anointed his son Śaṅkha and went to the forest. Śaṅkha ruled thirty years, and from the devāṅganā Vīramatī, whom Indra sent to the earth, he had a jewel of a son, a second Gandharvasena. Flowers rained from the sky at the birth, the devas sounded dundubhis and a cool, gentle breeze blew. When three thousand years were complete, the brāhmaṇa Śivadṛshṭi came from Kailāsa by the command of Bhagavān Śaṅkara, for the destruction of the Śakas and the growth of Ārya dharma, and became famous as Vikramāditya.

In the fourth khaṇḍa Sūta tells the line from Pramara himself. He was a Sāmavedī who ruled six years in the southern city of Ambāvatī, made by Ambā. Then:

• Mahāmara (also printed Mahāmada): 3 years.
• Devāpi and Devadūta: each as his father.
• Gandharvasena: 50 years, then he went to the forest for tapas.
• Vikrama, born by the blessing of Śiva: 100 years.
• Devabhakta: 10 years; he was killed by the wicked Śakas.
• Śālivāhana, who conquered the Śakas: 60 years.
• Śālihotra: 50 years. Śālivardhana: as his father.
• Śakahantā, then Mahotra, then Havirhotra: 50 years.
• Indrapāla, who built Indrāvatī; Mālyavān, who built Mālyavatī.
• Śambhudatta, a bhakta of Śaṅkara; Bhaumarāja; Vatsarāja; Bhojarāja.
• A second Śambhudatta, son of Bhojarāja: 40 years.
• Bindupāla, who founded the rāshṭra called Bindukhaṇḍa and ruled happily, as his father had.
• Rājapāla; Mahānara (also printed Mahīnara); Somavarmā; Kāmavarmā; Bhūmipāla, famed as Vīrasiṃha; Raṅgapāla; Kalpasiṃha, who built Kalāpa; and Gaṅgāsiṃha, born by the grace of Gaṅgā, who ruled 90 years and gave up his life fighting in Kurukshetra.

So the holy Pramara line came to its end. The kshatriyas who remained after Gaṅgāsiṃha, the text says, lived by vaiśya-vṛtti.

The line of Cayahāni

Cayahāni settled Ajamera in Madhyadeśa, a city made by Brahmā, and ruled ten years. Aja means Brahmā and mā means Lakshmī; Lakshmī came there and built a delightful city for Brahmā, and so it was called Ajamera. His son Tomara had Indraprastha from Bhagavān Śiva after a year of pārthiva-pūjana, and from him came the Tomara kshatriyas. Tomara’s younger son, a second Cayahāni, was famed as Sāmaladeva and ruled seven years.

After him come Mahādeva; Ajaya; Vīrasiṃha, 50 years; Bindusura, 25 years, who gave his daughter Vīrā to Vikrama and his kingdom to his son Vīravihāttaka; Māṇikya, 50 years; Mahāsiṃha; Candragupta, 25 years; Pratāpavān; Mohana, 30 years; Śvetarāya; Nāgavāha; Lohadhāra; a second Vīrasiṃha; Vibudha, 50 years; Candrarāya; Harihara; Vasanta; Balāṅga; Pramatha; Aṅgarāya; Viśāla; Śārṅgadeva; Mantradeva; and Jayasiṃha, who conquered the whole of Āryadeśa and performed a very great yajña with its wealth. The text says these kings ruled fifty years each. Then come Ānandadeva and Someśvara, who married Kīrtimālinī, the elder daughter of Anaṅgapāla. Their sons were Dhundhukāra, king of Mathurā; Kṛshṇakumāra; and Pṛthvīrāja, lord of Dillī, whom Sahoddīna conquered by deceit and killed, and who reached svarga.

The line of Śukla

Chapter 3 names Śukla’s father as Kāśyapa, and Chapter 21 names him as Kaṇva. Kāśyapa, a follower of Manu-dharma, taught Manu-dharma to his son Śukla and ordered him to do tapas on the Raivata peak. There Śukla pleased Jagannātha Vāsudeva, of sat-cit-ānanda form. Bhagavān Dvārakānātha, pleased, took him by the hand to the seashore and showed him his divine, radiant city of Dvārakā. After about two thousand years Śukla went by the Agnidvāra to Mount Arbuda, and there with his three brothers and dvijas he conquered the Bauddhas and by Hari’s grace established Dvārakā again. He lived there absorbed in dhyāna of Śrī Kṛshṇa and ruled ten years in western Bhāratavarsha.

The first khaṇḍa speaks of another king of the name, Śukla of Ānarta, whose capital was Dvārakā.

After Śukla come Vishvaksena, 20 years; Jayasena, 30 years; Visena, 50 years, who gave his daughter Pramodā to Vikrama; Modasiṃha; Sindhuvarmā, who ruled on the Sindhu, the place becoming famous as Sindhudeśa; Sindhudvīpa; Śrīpati, who married Kāchapī of the Gautama line and conquered the Pulindas and yavanas; Bhujavarmā, who conquered the Śabaras and Bhīlas and settled Bhujadeśa; Raṇavarmā; Citravarmā, who settled a city named Citra in the middle of the forest; Dharmavarmā; Kṛshṇavarmā; Udaya, who settled Udayapura in the forest; and Vāpyakarmā, who built many vāpīs, wells, tanks and palaces.

A king named Vīrabalada, a follower of Mahāmada, attacked Vāpyakarmā with one lakh soldiers. Vāpyakarmā conquered the Paiśācas and mlecchas and celebrated the Kṛshṇotsava. Then came Guhila; Kālabhoja; Rāshṭrapāla, to whom Śāradā Devī gave the city of Mahāvatī, and who ruled ten years; and Prajaya, also called Jayapāla, for whom Śāradā Devī made the city of Kānyakubja, and who ruled ten years.

His son Veṇuka married Kanyāmatī, given by the Devī. Seven daughters were born of her from the auspicious kalā of the Mātṛkās, and each became famous under a Mātṛkā’s name, in this order:

Afterwards a son, Yaśovigraha, was born of that queen, very mighty, a dharmātmā, who ruled twenty years. Then come Mahīcandra; Candradeva; Sandapāla, 10 years; and Kumbhapāla.

Mahāmoda, a follower of mleccha and paiśāca dharma and lord of the city of Rājanīyā, had plundered many lands and gathered wealth. He went to Kumbhapāla and gave him much wealth. Kumbhapāla ruled twenty years. His son Devapāla married Candrakānti, daughter of King Anaṅgapāla, by the proper rite, gained Kānyakubja and conquered many kings. His sons Jayacandra in the east and Ratnabhānu in the north conquered Āryadeśa. Ratnabhānu’s son Lakshaṇa died fighting in Kurukshetra.

Kings of Vishvaksena’s family are called Vishvaksenavaṃśīya, of Visena’s family Visenavaṃśīya, of Guhila’s family Gauhila, and of Rāshṭrapāla’s family Rāshṭrapālavaṃśīya. After Lakshaṇa all the chief kshatriya kings came to their end in Kurukshetra, and the small kings who remained came to stay in the mleccha kingdom.

The line of Parihāra

Parihāra, knower of the Atharvaveda, conquered all the Bauddhas and worshipped with śraddhā the Devī who is all śakti, and she built for him the city of Kaliñjara on Citrakūṭa. He ruled there twelve years. His son Gauravarmā handed Kaliñjara to his younger brother Ghoravarmā and went to rule in Gauḍadeśa. Ghoravarmā’s son was Śārdūla, from whom came the Śārdūlīya kings, who by the prasāda of Mahāmāyā spread over the whole earth.

In Gauḍadeśa the line came down to Rūpaṇa and Kāmavarmā, who ruled fifty years and gave his daughter Bhogavatī to Vikrama and his kingdom to his son Bhogavarmā. Meanwhile a king named Śaka worshipped Mahālakshmī, and after three years she took the form of Kāmākshī and dwelt there to protect her bhakta.

Bhogavarmā’s son Kālivarmā worshipped Mahākālī with bhakti. Bhagavatī Kālī, pleased, came herself to grant him a vara. She made buds, kalikā, of many flowers, and from them a lovely city arose, famous on earth as Kalikātāpurī.

From Kālivarmā the line runs: Kauśika; Kātyāyana; Hemavata; Śivavarmā; Bhavavarmā; Rudravarmā, each ruling as his father did; Bhojavarmā, who made Bhojarāshṭra; Gavavarmā; Vindhyavarmā, who went to Vaṅga; Sukhasena; Balāka, 10 years; Lakshmaṇa; Mādhava; Keśava; Surasena; Nārāyaṇa; Śāntivarmā, who settled Śāntipura on the Gaṅgā; and Nadīvarmā.

Then came the very mighty Gaṅgādatta, who settled the delightful city of Nadīhā in the direction of Gauḍa rāshṭra. He called an expert Vidyādhara, by whom Nadīhā, devoted to the Vedas, was protected, and ruled there twenty years. From then the Gaṅgāvaṃśīs of his family became famous on earth. After him came Śārṅgadeva, a Vishṇu-bhakta absorbed in dhyāna of Śrī Hari, 10 years; Gaṅgādeva, 20 years; Anaṅga, lord of Gauḍadeśa; Rājeśvara; Nṛsiṃha; Kalivarmā, who conquered Rāshṭradeśa and ruled in Mahāvatī; Dhṛtivarmā; and Mahīpati, who built Urvīyā by the command of Jayacandra and ruled twenty years. All the kshatriya kings of the Candravaṃśa were killed at Kurukshetra, and the kings born from the kalā-aṃśa of Suyodhana were killed there by Sahoddīna.

Sūta closes the four lines with their phala: “Just as pāpa is destroyed by remembering the Candra and Sūrya lines, so too this Agnivaṃśa purifies.”

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapter 7; Khaṇḍa 4, Chapters 1–4, 21

From Śālivāhana to Pṛthvīrāja

After Vikramāditya went to svarga there were many kings. Bhāratavarsha at that time was bounded by Kapila-sthāna in the east, the Sindhu in the west, Badarī-kshetra in the north and Setubandha in the south. In it were eighteen kingdoms: Indraprastha, Pāñcāla, Kurukshetra, Kampila, Antarvedī, Vraja, Ajamera, Marudhanva, Gurjara, Mahārāshṭra, Draviḍa, Kaliṅga, Avantī, Uḍupa, Baṅga, Gauḍa, Māgadha and Kauśalya. Separate kings ruled them, the languages differed, and various dharma-pracārakas arose from time to time.

The Pratisarga Parva tells that when a hundred years had passed, hearing of the loss of dharma, the Śaka and other foreign kings crossed the Sindhu, some by the snow-route of the Himālaya, conquered the Āryas, plundered their wealth and went home. Then Śālivāhana won victory over the armies of the Śaka and Cīna lands and others, and fixed the boundaries: the Sindhu region as the best place for the Āryas, and the land beyond it for the mlecchas.

The text tells that in Śālivāhana’s line there were ten kings, who ruled five hundred years. The tenth, Bhojarāja, seeing the maryādā of the country waning, set out for digvijaya with ten thousand soldiers, Kālidāsa and other learned brāhmaṇas. He crossed the Sindhu and defeated the kings of Gāndhāra, the Mlecchas and Kāśmīra. In that course, the text says, a mleccha named Mahāmada came there with ācārya and a circle of disciples.

King Bhoja had darśana of Bhagavān Mahādeva in the desert, bathed him with Gaṅgā water mixed with pañcagavya, and praised him. In the text’s account Bhagavān Śiva then told him to go to the Mahākāleśvara tīrtha, for this land of Vāhīka had been defiled and held no ārya-dharma. In those words of Bhagavān Śiva as the text gives them, Mahāmada is named as the great māyāvī Tripurāsura, sent there by the daitya king Bali, ayonija, who had a vara from Bhagavān Śiva and increased the daitya community. King Bhoja returned to his own country, spread Sanskrit speech for the dvijas and Prākṛta for the śūdras, ruled fifty years and reached svargaloka.

After Bhojarāja seven kings of his line, short-lived and of little tejas, died within three hundred years, and many small kings arose. The seventh was Vīrasiṃha, and those who followed died within two hundred years. Gaṅgāsiṃha ruled by dharma, Jayacandra held Kānyakubja, and Anaṅgapāla of the Tomara line held Indraprastha. Between Kapilasthāna in the east, Bāhīka in the west, the Cīna country in the north and Setubandha in the south there were sixty lakh bhūpālas and grāmapālakas of great strength. In their rule the people performed agnihotra and wished the good of cows and brāhmaṇas. It seemed everywhere to be the Dvāpara Yuga: abundant wealth in every house, dharma in every person, temples in every village and yajñas in every land. Even the mlecchas kept the ārya-dharma.

At the end of this time Pṛthvīrāja attained vīragati, and Sahoḍḍīna handed the rule to his dāsa Kutukoḍḍīna, plundered much wealth and went back to his own country.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 3, Sections 2–4

Dillī, Kutukoddīna and Timiraliṅga

When Śaunaka asks who ruled after Pṛthvīrāja, Sūta tells that the Paiśāca king Kutukoddīna was ruler of Dillī. The very delightful Valīgaḍha was protected by the Yādavas. Kutukoddīna went there with ten thousand soldiers, conquered the excellent Bhūpasena, grandson of Vīrasena, and ruled in Dillī. Kings of many lands then came, conquered Kutukoddīna and drove him out. Hearing this, Sahoddīna reached Dillī again from Gaura. The text calls him a daityarāja and says he conquered the kings and broke many mūrtis and devamandiras. Many mlecchas came to live there, ruling five, six or seven years, and died.

In the kalpa that Sūta saw in yoganidrā, the Pratisarga Parva goes on, Mukula became a mleccha king, and the mleccha king Timiraliṅga, the very form of Kāla, came to Madhyadeśa, conquered all the Ārya and mleccha kings and did great outrage in Dehalī. He called the Āryas and mocked them as mūrtipūjakas. The śālagrāma was a stone, he said, and all their Vedas and śāstras were made by the munis to cheat the world. He took the śālagrāma mūrti by force and threw it into burning fire, loaded all the worshipped śālagrāma-śilās on camels and went to his own land. In Taicira he built a strong fort and had a footstool made of the śālagrāma-śilā for mounting his throne.

Seeing this, all the devatās went in grief to Devarāja Indra and said: “Our abode is in the śālagrāma-śilā, but the mleccha king has made the śālagrāma a footstool.” Devarāja Indra in anger took the vajra and hurled it with great speed toward Taicira. By its terrible sound the whole land was broken into pieces, and the mleccha died with all his courtiers. The devatās, delighted, took the śilās and released them into the Gaṇḍakī, and went back to svarga.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 3, Section 4; Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 6

The mlecchas of Misra, Maya and the yantras

Bhagavān Jagannātha, speaking to Śrī Kṛshṇa Caitanya, tells that the mlecchas born in Misra, ruled by Kāśyapa, became refined and attained the brāhmaṇa varṇa. They wore śikhā and sūtra, studied the Veda and worshipped Śacīpati by yajñas.

In the next chapter he tells it more fully. Kaṇva, son of Kaśyapa Maharshi, and his wife Āryāvatī went to the bank of the Sarasvatī, and by the vara of Sarasvatī Devī he had ten sons. By her order Kaṇva came to Misra, taught Sanskrit to ten thousand mlecchas and returned to Brahmāvarta. They pleased Sarasvatī Devī by tapas, and after five years she appeared and made them, with their wives, of the śūdra varṇa. They took up kāru-vṛtti and had many sons, and among them were two thousand vaiśyas. One of these, Ācārya Pṛthu, pleased Kaṇva by twelve years of tapas. By the vara of the devas Kaṇva made him a kshatriya king and gave him Rājaputrapura. Pṛthu’s wife Rājanyā bore him Māgadha, to whom Kaṇva gave the eastern country of Māgadha. After Kaṇva went to svarga, those mlecchas did arcanā of Indra by yajñas. Grieved at this, Indra with his brother was born again on earth by his aṃśa in brahma-yoni. Then the devagaṇas left the earth for svarga, the mlecchas became Bauddhas and the rest became devoted to the Veda.

The text tells that when 2,700 years of Kali had passed, the asura Maya, sent by Bali, came to earth and set up yantras of māyā at all the tīrthas, and whoever went beneath them became a Bauddha. About ten crore Āryas took up the Bauddha path, and the remaining five lakh went to the mountain peaks. Kings of the Agnivaṃśa defeated the Bauddhas by the power of the four Vedas, refined the Āryas and set them south of the Vindhya, and five lakh remained in Āryāvarta.

Later, the text says, Kali prayed to Bali, and Bali told Maya to help Sukandara, the mlecchapati, who was ever intent on their advancement. Maya came with a hundred daityas and taught the mlecchas jyotir-vidyā, and they had yantras made in all seven purīs. The Vaishṇavas of Śrī Kṛshṇa Caitanya went to the purīs and made them powerless, and Maya and the other daityas went back to Bali.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapters 20–21

Mukunda and his twenty disciples

The Pratisarga Parva tells that in the days of Bābara an excellent brāhmaṇa named Mukunda, of the gotra of Śaṅkarācārya, was performing tapas at Prayāga with twenty disciples. Learning that Bābara had broken and ruined the mūrtis of the devas, Mukunda in grief offered his life as an āhuti into the fire, and his twenty disciples followed the path of their guru. Once Mukunda had drunk a hair of a cow with the cow’s milk, and by this one fault he was born in his next birth in the mleccha yoni.

When Humāyūm was staying in Kaśmīra, a son was born to him. An ākāśavāṇī said that the child would be very mighty and fortunate, born of a vara received unexpectedly, akasmāt, and so named Akbara, and that he would not follow the path of the mlecchas or piśācas. It said that he was Mukunda of the former birth. Humāyūm, glad at heart, gave dāna to those who suffered hunger. When the child was ten years old Humāyūm defeated Sheshaśāka at Dehalī, ruled one year, and Akbara became king after him. Akbara ruled without a rival for fifty years, and at the end he died and went to svarga.

Seven of the disciples were born again and came to Akbara’s court. The thirteen beginning with Śrīdhara were established in other places. The text gives each former name with its new birth.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapters 22–23

Navaraṅga, Sevājaya and the last rulers of Dehalī

The text tells that Akbara’s son Salomā-Salīma ruled as his father did, and his son Khurdaka ruled ten years and had four sons. The middle son, Navaraṅga, conquered his father and brother and ruled. In a former birth, the text says, he was the daitya Andhaka, and he came to the karmabhūmi by Andhaka’s aṃśa at the order of the daityarāja. He destroyed many mūrtis on all sides.

The devas came to Kṛshṇacaitanya and said that a king who was an aṃśa of the daityarāja had been born, destroying the devas and the Vedas and increasing the daitya party. Hearing this, Yajñāṃśa, who stood in the forest of Nadīhā, gave a śāpa of the destruction of his line. Navaraṅga ruled forty-nine years.

At that time Sevājaya arose in Mahārāshṭra, who increased the deva party. He killed Navaraṅga, gave the place to his son and went away to the southern land. Navaraṅga’s son Ālomā ruled five years and passed away. In the kula of Tālana arose a strong mleccha, Phalarusha, who destroyed the Mukala kula, ruled ten years and was killed by his enemies. His son Mahāmada ruled twenty years.

At that same time a great plunderer named Nādara came to the land, killed the Āryas, conquered the devas and went away to the land of Khuraja. Mahāmada’s son Mahāmatsya ruled five years and was killed by the Mahārāshṭriyas. Mādhava ruled in Dehalī ten years and obtained the kingdom of the mleccha Ālomā. Then many kings born of the soil arose, with hardly a cakravartī, the land divided under petty maṇḍalīkas, some holding only a village or two. Thirty years passed in this way.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapters 22–23

The Guruṇḍas

The Pratisarga Parva tells that all the devas came to Kṛshṇacaitanya, who knew their suffering, stood in dhyāna for one muhūrta and spoke to them of a former time.

When Rāghava conquered the rākshasa Rāvaṇa and brought the vānaras back to life by a rain of amṛta, seven small vānaras, Vikaṭa, Vṛjila, Jāla, Baralīna, Siṃhala, Java and Sumātra, asked him for a vara. Dāśarathi Śrī Rāma gave them the kanyās born of Rāvaṇa from the devāṅganās. He told them they would be kings of the dvīpas built by Jālandhara that would bear their names. The mlecchas born from the trunk, the ruṇḍa, of the cow Nandinī would be called Guruṇḍa, and by conquering them the vānaras would gain a fine kingdom. They bowed to him and went joyfully to the dvīpas.

Kṛshṇacaitanya went on. The vānara-faced Guruṇḍas, born in the line of Vikaṭa and sent by him, had come for trade, and their heart held to the mata of Īśa-putra. He called them truthful, conquerors of desire, free of anger and devoted to Sūrya, and he told the devas to stay and do their work. The devas worshipped Bhagavān Sūrya and came to Kalikātā.

In the western dvīpa a king named Vikaṭa arose, and his wife Vikaṭāvatī ruled by the Ārya kauśala path. Seven more Guruṇḍa kings of his line ruled sixty-four years and perished. When the Guruṇḍas had ruled justly as far as the eighth king, Bali of Kali’s party sent the great asura Mura to the devadeśa. Mura brought king Vārḍila under his power and set about destroying Ārya-dharma. The devas who stood in the mūrtis went to Mahāprabhu Caitanya Yajñāṃśa and told him. Kṛshṇāṃśa gave a śāpa on the Bauddha-following Guruṇḍa: “Those who are in the mata of Mura will perish.” Driven by Kāla, all the wicked Guruṇḍas perished with their armies within one year, and Vārḍila too.

The ninth Guruṇḍa, the vigorous Mekala, ruled justly twelve years. The tenth, the renowned Lārḍala, ruled by dharma thirty-two years and went to svarga. After him Āryas born in the Makaranda kula ruled.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapters 22–23

The Maunas of Himatuṅga and the later kings

After that, the text says, the Maunas, dwellers of Himatuṅga, gained the kingdom. They are brown, with small round noses and long heads, followers of the Bauddha path, and they came to Dehalī in lakhs. Their king was Ārjika. His son Devakarṇa performed fierce tapas for twelve years on the peak of Gaṅgotragiri for the growth of the kingdom. Bhagavatī Gaṅgā gave him darśana, and Kubera gave him the rank of maṇḍalīka of the Āryas. He protected his people and ruled the earth sixty years. In his line eight kings who did pūjā of the devas ruled two hundred years and went to svargaloka. The eleventh king, Pannagāri, ruled forty years and met his death through the pannagas. After them kings of the Nāga and Āndhra vaṃśas and of Kausala, Naishadha, Saurāshṭra and Gurjara ruled many years.

The text then tells of the line of Rāhu, son of an Ābhīrī, an aṃśa of Kali, whose descendants spread again the mata of Mahāmada, until there was neither Veda-study nor order of varṇas. The remaining brāhmaṇas came to the peak of Arbuda and worshipped the devas for twelve years, and from the peak a kshatriya named Arvabalī appeared, bearing sword and shield. He conquered the mlecchas, built Arvapurī and ruled fifty years, with a hundred and fifty kings in his line. At last a hundred thousand mlecchas of Malaya-deśa fought a terrible battle with the Āryas of Arbuda and won.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapters 22–23

Vātya and the end of the Kali Yuga

The Pratisarga Parva tells that the daityas built many ships and came to Harikhaṇḍa. Its people were very strong, like the devas, and fought with terrible astras and śastras, but after ten years they were defeated by the daityas’ māyā-yuddha and took refuge in Mahendra.

Mahendra spoke to Viśvakarmā of the yantra called bhrami, which Viśvakarmā had made, standing in the seven sindhus and keeping men from going from one khaṇḍa to another. The māyāvī Maya had ruined it, and so the mlecchas had begun to go everywhere in the seven dvīpas. Viśvakarmā made a divine bhrami yantra, and by its power all of them were bewildered. From it arose a great wind (mahāvāyu), the destroyer of mlecchas, and from that wind a son was born, called Vātya. The wise Vātya conquered the daityas, yakshas and piśācas, honoured the dvijas of the three varṇas, established the mlecchas in their own varṇa and adorned the rank of maṇḍalīka. Thousands of kings of his line ruled sixteen thousand years, all upāsakas of Vāyu.

Kali went in distress to Bali, and Bali with Kali came to Bhagavān Vāmana. By his aṃśa Bhagavān Vāmana was born as Bhogasiṃha and Kelisiṃha, in the house of the brāhmaṇa Kāmaśarmā on the Yamunā, and they conquered the kings born of Vātya. In the second caraṇa of Kali, humans became two and a half hands tall with a span of forty years, and there was no marriage and no king.

Vyāsa tells Manu what is to come. Yajñāṃśa Caitanya will go to devaloka in a vimāna with Āhlāda, the yogī Gorakha, Śaṅkara and the other Rudrāṃśas, King Bhartṛhari, his other disciples and the munis of Viśālāpura. In the third caraṇa the Kaulakalpas, born by the command of Rudra, will eat the Kinnaras, and after ten years of war Bhogasiṃha and Kelisiṃha will go to Pātāla. In the fourth caraṇa the span of humans will be twenty years, and the twenty-one narakas will be so full that they go to Dharmarāja. He goes with Citragupta to Brahmā, and Brahmā goes with them to the Kshīrasāgara.

Then Kaśyapa will take birth in Sambhala grāma as Vishṇuyaśā, with his wife Vishṇukīrti. From her the pūrṇa Bhagavān Nārāyaṇa will be born in the form of Kalki, on the ashṭamī of the kṛshṇa paksha of Mārgaśīrsha, in the darkness of night. Bearing sword, armour and shield, on a divine horse, Bhagavān Kalki will slay the mlecchas of daitya form and take to yoga-mārga. For sixteen thousand years the karmabhūmi will burn in the fire of his yoga. The rain of pralaya will fall, and Kali will go away to Bali.

Bhagavān Hari will again make the karmabhūmi dry land. From the mouth of Kalki will arise the brāhmaṇa varṇa, from his arms the kshatriya, from his knees the vaiśya and from his feet the śūdra. Vaivasvata will take the kingship at Ayodhyā by his command, and his son will be Ikshvāku. At the brahmasatra of Bhagavān Kalki, on the navamī of the śukla paksha of Kārtika, a Thursday, an excellent purusha will arise from the yajña-kuṇḍa, showing the path of truth, and he will be called Satya Yuga. Dharma has four pādas, jñāna, dhyāna, śama and dama, and when dharma grows the span of life grows with it.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapters 24–26

The Vision Behind the Parva

The Pratisarga Parva gives one unified vision: all of history, from the royal dynasties of the Satya Yuga to the bhakti sants of the Kali Yuga, is the field of Bhagavān Vishṇu‘s divine play (līlā). The same Bhagavān Vishṇu who came down as the Ikshvāku kings in the Satya Yuga came down as Vikramāditya, as Caitanya, as Dhanvantari, and at last as Kalki. Bhagavān Sūrya in particular is shown as the thread linking all these descents. It is through Sūrya’s grace, through the Sūrya-upāsanā (devotion to Sūrya) of brāhmaṇa families generation after generation, that the great ācāryas and ṛshis of the Kali Yuga were born.

The message the Parva returns to again and again is this: even in the darkest age, Bhagavān Vishṇu does not leave the world. He sends particular instruments, teachers, warriors, physicians, grammarians and poets, each carrying the gathered grace of their family’s devotion.

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva (all khaṇḍas)
• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 1, Chapters 1–7
• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 2, Chapter 32
• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 3, Sections 1–4
• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapters 1–4, 6, 20–26
• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 16