Maitreya had asked, and Parashara answered him. The Kuru house had dwindled almost to nothing, and the last child of it, Abhimanyu’s son in Uttara’s womb, had already been burned to ash by the brahmastra Ashvatthama loosed. That child lived. He lived by the power of Krishna, whose lotus feet gods and asuras alike worship, who had taken a human body by his own will and wore it as long as he chose. So Parikshit was born to Uttara by Abhimanyu, and at that very hour, Parashara said, he ruled the whole earth by dharma, so that his prosperity would not fail in the years to come. Then the sage said, “Now I will describe the kings who are still to come,” and he began to name men who had not yet been born.
Parikshit’s Line, Down to Kshemaka
Parikshit would have four sons: Janamejaya, Shrutasena, Ugrasena and Bhimasena. Janamejaya’s son would be Shatanika, who would study the Veda under Yajnavalkya and take the science of weapons from Kripa, and then, his mind drawn away from the harshness of the senses, grow expert in the knowledge of the self by Shaunaka’s teaching and reach the supreme nirvana. Shatanika’s son would be Ashvamedhadatta, his son Adhisimakrishna, and his son Nichakru, in whose days the Ganga would carry Hastinapura away, so that he would leave it and make his home in Kaushambi.
From Nichakru would come Ushna, and after him, each the son of the one before, Vichitraratha, Shuchiratha, Vrishniman, Sushena, Sunitha, Nripa, Chakshu, Sukhavala, Pariplava, Sunaya, Medhavi, Ripunjaya, Mridu, Tigma, Brihadratha, Vasudana, a second Shatanika, Udayana, Ahinara, Dandapani, Niramitra, and at the last Kshemaka. A shloka everyone knows is sung of him: “The line that is the source of Brahmins and Kshatriyas and honored by many rajarshis will end in Kali Yuga with King Kshemaka.”
The Future Ikshvakus
Among the Ikshvaku kings still to come, Brihadbala’s son would be Brihatkshana, and after him Urukshaya, Vatsavyuha, Prativyoma, Divakara, Sahadeva, Brihadashva, Bhanuratha, Pratitashva, Supratika, Marudeva, Sunakshatra, Kinnara, Antariksha, Suparna, Amitrajit, Brihadraja, Dharmi, Kritanjaya, Rananjaya, Sanjaya, Shakya, Shuddhodana, Rahula, Prasenajit, Kshudraka, Kundaka, Suratha and Sumitra: Brihadbala’s line in the house of Ikshvaku. Of this house too a shloka is sung: “This Ikshvaku line will last to King Sumitra, for in Kali Yuga, reaching King Sumitra, it will end.”
Magadha, the Nandas, and the Mauryas
Then Parashara turned to Magadha and the Barhadratha line, in which the mighty Jarasandha had been chief. Jarasandha’s son was Sahadeva, and from him the line would run through Somapi, Shrutashrava, Ayutayu, Niramitra, Sunetra, Brihatkarma, Senajit, Shrutanjaya, Vipra, Shuchi, Kshemya, Suvrata, Dharma, Sushrava, Dridhasena, Subala, Sunita, Satyajit and Vishvajit to Ripunjaya, and these Barhadratha kings would rule Magadha for a thousand years. Ripunjaya, the last of them, would have a minister named Sunika, and Sunika would kill his master and set his son Pradyota on the throne. Pradyota’s son would be Balaka, and after him Vishakhayupa, Janaka and Nandivardhana: five Pradyota kings, who would hold the earth for one hundred thirty-eight years.
Then would come Shishunabha, and the house that took its name from him: his son Kakavarna, then Kshemadharma, Kshataujas, Vidhisara, Ajatashatru, Arbhaka, Udayana, Nandivardhana and Mahanandi, Shaishunabha kings who would reign for three hundred sixty-two years. From Mahanandi, in the womb of a Shudra woman, would be born a Nanda named Mahapadma, a man of enormous greed and enormous strength, who like a second Parashurama would destroy every Kshatriya on the earth; from his day on, kings of Shudra birth would rule. Mahapadma would hold the whole earth under one umbrella, his command unbroken anywhere, and his eight sons, Sumalya and the others, would rule after him; father and sons together would reign a hundred years. Then a Brahmin named Kautilya would uproot these nine Nandas, and after them the Mauryas would hold the earth, for Kautilya himself would anoint Chandragupta king. Chandragupta’s son would be Bindusara, and after him Ashokavardhana, Suyasha, Dasharatha, Samyuta, Shalishuka, Somasharma, Shatadhanva and Brihadratha: ten Maurya kings, one hundred thirty-seven years.
After them, ten Shunga kings. The first would be Pushyamitra, a general who would kill his master and rule in his place; then his son Agnimitra, then Sujyeshtha, Vasumitra, Udanka, Pulindaka, Ghoshavasu, Vajramitra, Bhagavata and Devabhuti, and the Shungas would enjoy the earth for one hundred twelve years. Then the earth would pass to the Kanvas. Devabhuti, a Shunga king given over wholly to his pleasures, would be killed by his own minister, a Kanva named Vasudeva, who would take the throne himself; his son would be Bhumitra, Bhumitra’s son Narayana, and Narayana’s son Susharma, and these four Kanva kings would rule for forty-five years. Susharma in his turn would be killed by his servant Balipuchchhaka, a man of Andhra birth, who would rule the earth after him. Balipuchchhaka’s brother Krishna would follow him, then Krishna’s son Shantakarni, and after him a chain of kings running through Purnotsanga, Shatakarni, Lambodara and the rest, down to Pulomachi: thirty Andhrabhritya kings in all, who would reign four hundred fifty-six years.
After them would come seven Abhira kings and ten Gardabhilas, then sixteen Shakas, then eight Yavanas, fourteen Turushkas, thirteen Mundas and eleven Maunas, and between them these would rule the earth for one thousand ninety years, the eleven Maunas alone for three hundred. When the Maunas were uprooted, Kainkila Yavanas would rule without ever being anointed by rite; of their blood would come Vindhyashakti, his son Puranjaya, then Ramachandra, Dharmavarma, Vanga, Nandana, Sunandi and Sunandi’s brothers Nandiyasha, Shukra and Pravira, one hundred six years of them; then thirteen more of that line and three Bahlika kings; then thirteen kings, Pushyamitra, Patumitra and the others, and seven Andhra Mandalikas. Nine kings would rule in Kosala, and the same nine would be lords of Nishadha. In Magadha a king named Vishvasphatika would bring the other varnas into power, setting Kaivartas, Vatus, Pulindas and Brahmins on thrones. Nine Nagas would rule in Padmavatipuri after rooting out the whole order of Kshatriyas, and along the Ganga, at Prayaga and in Gaya, the Magadha and Gupta kings would hold their kingdoms. A king named Devarakshita would protect Kosala, Andhra, Pundra, Tamralipta and the city on the sea; the Guha kings would rule Kalinga, Mahishaka, Mahendra and the Bhauma lands; the Manidhanyaka line would hold Naishadha, Naimishaka, Kalakoshaka and the janapadas around them; a king named Kanaka would hold Trairajya and the Mushika country. Saurashtra, Avanti, the Shudra and Abhira lands and the desert along the Narmada would fall to Vratyas, Abhiras, Shudras and their kind, and the banks of the Sindhu, Davikorvi and Chandrabhaga and the valley of Kashmira to Vratya, Mlechchha and Shudra kings. All these kings would live in one and the same age: men of little grace and quick wrath, lovers of adharma and falsehood, killers of women and children and cows, snatchers of other men’s wealth, weak, heavy with tamas, rising fast and falling fast, short-lived, large in their desires and small in their merit, and greedy past measure. They would stir every country into every other, and under their protection the strong Mlechchhas and men of conduct hostile to the Aryas, copying their masters’ nature, would ruin the whole people.
The Marks of Kali Yuga and the Avatar of Kalki
As dharma and artha wear thin day by day, the world will decline with them. Then wealth alone will make a man well-born. Strength alone will be the whole of dharma. Liking each other will be reason enough to marry, and that a woman is a woman will be reason enough to take her, with no thought for her family or her line. Falsehood will be the whole art of success in any dealing. Land will be judged good wherever water is easy to reach, and by nothing else. The sacred thread will be the only mark left of a Brahmin, jewels on the body the only ground of praise, outward dress the only proof of which ashrama of life a man stands in, and the nerve to speak boldly the only measure of learning. Injustice will be a livelihood and weakness the cause of unemployment. Poverty will pass for goodness, a bath for adornment, giving for the whole of dharma; a woman will be a wife as soon as a man takes her, and a man dressed well enough will be counted a worthy recipient of gifts. Water carried from far away will make a tirtha, and a costume worn to deceive will raise a man high. With faults like these spread over the whole earth, whoever is strongest in any varna will make himself king. Unable to bear the taxes of those greedy kings, the people will take shelter in mountain valleys and live on honey, greens, roots, fruit, leaves and flowers; leaves and bark will be their clothing and their covering; they will have many children, and cold and wind and sun and rain will fall on every one of them. No one will live to twenty-three years. So in Kali Yuga the whole people will steadily waste away.
When the Shrauta and Smarta dharma have all but vanished and only a sliver of Kali Yuga is left, the creator of all, guru of everything that moves and everything that stands still, without beginning, middle or end, Brahman in form and the Self in form, Bhagavan Vasudeva, will be born with a portion of himself as Kalki, carrying the eight lordly powers, in the house of Vishnuyasha, the foremost Brahmin of the village of Shambhala. With a power and a greatness that have no limit he will destroy every Mlechchha, every robber, every wicked and evil-minded man, and set all people back inside their own dharma. Then, at the very end of Kali, the minds of the people of that time will turn pure as clear crystal, like the minds of men waking at the end of a night. Those seed-humans, old as the age has made them, will beget children, and their children will follow the dharma of Satya Yuga. Of this it is said: when the moon, the sun and Brihaspati stand together in one rashi, in the Pushya nakshatra, Satya Yuga begins.
“I have described to you,” Parashara said, “the kings of these lines, past, present and still to come. From the birth of Parikshit to the anointing of Nanda, know the span to be one thousand fifty years.” He gave Maitreya the measure by which such spans are counted. Of the seven rishis who wheel through the sky, two rise first; whichever nakshatra is seen at night in the middle between those two, in that nakshatra the Saptarshis are said to stand, and they stand in each for a hundred years. In Parikshit’s time they stood in Magha, and there Kali Yuga began, a yuga of twelve hundred years. When Bhagavan Vasudeva, Vishnu’s own portion, went to his abode, Kali came down on the earth; as long as he had touched this earth with his lotus feet, Kali had not dared to touch it. When that eternal Purusha went to svarga, Yudhishthira, Dharma’s son, left his kingdom with his brothers; the Pandavas had seen the omens turn against them after Krishna’s disappearance, and they anointed Parikshit king. When the Saptarshis reach Purvashadha, from the time of King Nanda, Kali’s hold will tighten. “The day Bhagavan Krishna went to the supreme abode, Kali Yuga arrived that very day. By human reckoning it will run three hundred sixty thousand years, and when those are spent, the Krita Yuga returns.” In every yuga there have been thousands of great Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras, and Parashara did not name them all, because they were so many and the same names return again and again down the lines. Two men he did name. Devapi, a king of the Puru line, and Puru of the line of Ikshvaku are both alive even now, holding themselves by great yogic power in the village of Kalapa, and when Satya Yuga begins they will come back to the world of mortals and found the Kshatriya line again; they are the seed of the Manu line to come. In every Satya, Treta and Dvapara the descendants of Manu enjoy the earth in this order, and in every Kali some of them stay behind as that seed, as Devapi and Puru do now.
The Earth’s Laughter
“I have told you the royal lines in brief,” Parashara said. “Their full telling could not be finished in a hundred years.” Many kings, blinded by attachment to a body that perishes, have each called this earth their own. How will this earth be mine, immovably mine, and my son’s, and my line’s after him? Worn down by that one worry, all those kings came to their end, and the kings before them went the same way, and the kings still to come will walk into the mouth of death with the worry still on them. Watching them strain without rest to conquer her, the Earth laughs, and her laughter is the autumn flowers she puts out. Long ago the muni Asita recited her shlokas to King Janaka called Dharmadhvaja, and Parashara recited them now. The Earth says, “Ah, how deluded these kings are, and intelligent men too. They last no longer than a bubble of foam, and such is their faith in their own permanence. First they conquer themselves, then their ministers, then in order their servants, their citizens and their enemies. ‘In this order we shall conquer the whole earth to the shore of the ocean,’ they tell themselves, and with that deluded mind they never see death standing beside them. And if this whole earth girdled by the sea came into one man’s hands, what is it worth beside the conquest of his own mind? Moksha comes from the conquest of the mind. This me, whom their forefathers left behind, whom even their fathers could not take with them, these kings in their great folly wish to conquer; and with their minds full of mamata, for my sake father and sons and brothers quarrel with one another. Every king who has ever been here has had the same evil thought: ‘This whole earth is mine, and after me it will be my descendants’ forever.’ One king who held me as his own leaves me and goes into the mouth of death, and his heir watches him go, and still makes room in his heart for that same mamata of me. How? When kings send word to their enemies through envoys, ‘This earth is mine, leave it at once and go,’ I laugh long, and then I pity those fools.”
Parashara said, “Whoever hears these shlokas the Earth spoke will feel his mamata melt like snow in the sun. I have set before you the line of Manu, whose kings were portions of a portion of Vishnu, the maintainer, and whoever hears this line in its order, with devotion, has every sin destroyed; whoever hears the full account of these praiseworthy solar and lunar houses with his senses held in gains wealth and grain and prosperity without equal.” Then he closed the account. Ikshvaku, Jahnu, Mandhata, Sagara, Avikshit, the kings of the Raghu house, Nahusha, Yayati and the others, men of great strength and great valor, of endless wealth and supreme devotion: Kala has left them as stories and nothing more, and a wise man who hears their deeds will feel no mamata for sons or wife or house or field or wealth. The mighty men who stood for years in tapas with their arms raised and performed yajna after yajna, Kala has left as stories too. Prithu, who conquered his enemies and roamed every world as he pleased, is gone like a tuft of silk-cotton thrown into fire by the wind of Kala. Kartavirya, who conquered all the dvipas and enjoyed them after slaying his enemies, is told of now in stories that leave a doubt whether he ever lived. The lordship of Ravana, of Avikshit, of Ramachandra and the rest lit up every quarter, and under one moment’s frown of Kala not even its ash remained. Mandhata, emperor of the whole earth, is known now only in stories, and what dull man, hearing it, would feel mamata even for his own body? “Bhagiratha, Sagara, Kakutstha, Ravana, Ramachandra, Lakshmana, Yudhishthira and the others were; that is true, and where they are now, no one knows. The mighty kings of the present and the future whom I have described will remain, like the former ones, as stories only. Knowing this, a wise man should hold no mamata even for his own body, let alone for sons and daughters, fields and other beings.”
Source: Vishnu Purana (Gita Press, Gorakhpur)