Triyugī and the Promise of Kali

Triyugī · tri-yugī, “he of the three yugas”

Daksha has other meanings too: see all meanings of Daksha.

Triyugī and the Promise of Kali is the answer that Sūta gives Śaunaka Maharshi, in the Pratisarga Parva of the Bhavishya Purāṇa, to the question of how Hari, called Triyugī, descends in the Kali Yuga. After a great tempest in the Cākshusha manvantara, Bhagavān Vishṇu with Bhagavān Śaṅkara and Brahmā set the lights of the sky in their places, and Brahmā brought forth the four rājas of the varṇas. Bhagavān Vishṇu became Vāmana, and from him Triyugī arose in three colours: white Haṃsa in the Satya Yuga, red Yajña in the Tretā and yellow Svarṇagarbha in the Dvāpara. In the twilight of the Dvāpara he was born of Devakī at Mathurā, and he promised the devatās his secret krīḍā in Kali, the coming of the śrutis as gopīs, and his form as Kalki.

The tempest of the Cākshusha manvantara

The Pratisarga Parva tells that when midday came for Brahmā, in the Cākshusha manvantara, a great tempest arose. Its force made even the Himālaya tremble, and most creatures of the creation perished. The earth of seven dvīpas and the oceans became one water. Only the Lokāloka mountain standing in the north remained. At the laya (dissolution) of the manvantara the whole earth dissolved, and for a thousand years it stayed in the midst of the water.

Then Bhagavān Vishṇu, with Bhagavān Śaṅkara and Brahmā, set the Śiśumāra-cakra in the sky and set all the nakshatra-maṇḍalas and grahas in their places as before. Through those luminaries the water of the earth dried and the earth became firm. After one ayuta (ten thousand) years the earth appeared as dry land.

The four rājas of the varṇas

Then Brahmā produced:

• from his mouth, Soma, king of dvijas, very wise and master of all vidyās;
• from his two arms, Sūrya, king of kshatriyas, of great strength, expert in rājanīti;
• from his thighs, Samudra, master of the rivers, the Ratnākara, king of vaiśyas;
• from his feet, Daksha, king of śūdras, expert in the arts, doer of the works the śāstras ordain, maker of the excellent world.

From Soma the brāhmaṇas were established, from Samudra all the vaiśyas and from Daksha the śūdras. Vaivasvata Manu himself arose from the Sūrya-maṇḍala and ruled over all beings.

Bhagavān Vishṇu in the four yugas

Bhagavān Vishṇu, Viśvarūpa, arose in the first half of Brahmā‘s life, and Vāmana in the second half.

Vāmana and Triyugī

In Brahmā‘s second half, when the avatāra of Vāmana took place, Bhagavān Vishṇu became Vāmana, the younger brother of Mahendra. He was four-armed, dark in colour and seated on the divine vāhana Garuḍa. For the good of the Viśvarūpa he became Triyugī.

• In the Satya Yuga, from half of Vāmana, Triyugī-Nārāyaṇa Hari himself, white in form, arose with the name Haṃsa.
• In the Tretā, Bhagavān Yajña arose, taking a red form.
• In the Dvāpara, Svarṇagarbha Hari arose in a yellow form.

The birth at Mathurā and the promise

In the twilight of the Dvāpara, as the Kali Yuga came, when all the kalās of Vishṇu and of Vāmana became one, Bhagavān Vishṇu himself was born of the womb of Devakī, in the house of Vasudeva, in Mathurā.

Brahmā and the others praised the sanātana Brahman. Then Bhagavān Vishṇu, pleased, said to the devatās: “Devas, for the good of the devas and the destruction of the daityas I shall be born in the Kali Yuga, and in the Kali Yuga I shall play a secret, solitary krīḍā in the subtle, delightful, divine Vṛndāvana that stands on the earth. In the terrible Kali Yuga all the śrutis will come in the form of gopīs and play the rāsa-krīḍā with me in the rāsa-maṇḍala. At the end of the Kali Yuga, prayed to by Rādhā, I shall complete the secret krīḍā and become Kalki. At the end of the Kali Yuga, after pralaya, I shall again be established in the Satya Yuga as Satya-dharma.” Hearing this, the devatās vanished there.

“Muni,” says Sūta, “thus in yuga after yuga the krīḍās of Bhagavān Śrī Hari go on. Only Vishṇu-bhaktas know this secret of the all-pervading Bhagavān Śrī Hari.”

By the will of Bhagavān Vishṇu, the sanātanī Vishṇumāyā, having created the various lokas, will become Mahākālī, swallow the whole moving and unmoving world in Kāla, and will become Mahāgaurī.

Source: Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 5

Sources

• Bhavishya Purāṇa, Pratisarga Parva, Khaṇḍa 4, Chapter 5