Krishna's Lineage

by Simon Brodbeck

  31 When the end of the age is at hand, everyone will know everything without taking any notice of the elders, and there’ll be no one who isn’t said to be a seer. 32 When the end of the age is at hand, it’s not kshatriyas who’ll go into battle but brahmins doing the wrong deeds, and most of the kings will be thieves. 33 At the end of the age, Janamejaya, bastards, he-men, con-men, and drunks will teach the Veda and perform the horse sacrifice. 34 When the end of the age comes, brahmins will be afflicted by greed for wealth, and they’ll officiate at the rites of people who aren’t fit to perform sacrifices, and eat what shouldn’t be eaten. 35 They’ll turn up for the refreshments but no one will do the recitation, and there’ll be women there dressed just in tear-grass beads and one conch shell.

  36 At the far end of the age, the planets won’t visit the constellations, the directions will be inverted, and the twilight will burn a crimson colour. 37 In those days sons will tell their fathers what to do, young wives will tell their mothers-in-law what to do, men will have affairs with low-born women, 38 people who maintain the ritual fire will eat without performing the preparatory rites, people will eat for themselves without first giving the gift of alms-food, 39 women will sneak away from their sleeping husbands and have sex with other men, and men will have sex with the wives of others while their own wives are asleep. 40 When time is on the wane, no one will be free of disease, no one will be free of pain, everyone will be indignant, and no one will reciprocate good deeds.

  117. The End of the Kali Age Continued

  1 Janamejaya said:

  When the world is out of joint like this, who will protect the people? How will the people living at that time behave? What will they do for food? What will they do for pleasure? 2 What will their rites be like? What will their ambitions be? What will their standards be? How long will they live? And what course will they have to follow before they then reach the krita age?

  3 Vyāsa said:

  When virtue has fallen away, the only way is up from there. In those days the people will have no redeeming features. Through getting into ruinous habits some will have shorter lives, 4 through having shorter lives some will lose their strength, through lack of strength some will lose their colour, through lack of colour some will be plagued by ailments, through being pained by ailments some will become disaffected with worldly affairs, 5 through becoming disaffected some will come to understand the self, and through that understanding some will get into virtuous habits. Following the highest course in this way, they’ll then reach the krita age.

  6 Some will just talk about virtuous habits, and they’ll achieve mediocrity. Some will want to talk about the whys and wherefores, and they’ll take up the practice of argumentation. 7 Some will settle upon direct perception and inference as the only sources of certainty, some, thinking themselves clever, will say there’s no source of certainty, and some people will decide that being stated in the Veda doesn’t constitute a source of certainty. 8 Some people, thinking themselves clever when they’re actually misguided fools, will embrace a position of non-belief and discourage virtuous behaviour. 9 There’ll be hypocrites hooked on the habit of talking, who trumpet their knowledge of the Shāstras and yet believe in nothing beyond the present moment.

  10 In those days, when virtue has fallen away, only the people who prioritise the little virtue that remains will still be touched by truth and charity, and will do good deeds. 11 In those days most people will be omnivorous and indiscreet, worthless and shameless. That’s the sign of the ochre age. 12 When low-class people, in order to keep themselves alive, take up the role that should always be reserved for brahmins, that’s the sign of the ochre age.

  13 At the time of the ochre affliction, when wisdom and learning are destroyed, people who remain pure will attain salvation quite quickly.

  14 When the age has waned, there’ll be a great war, a great scream, a great storm, a great horror. That’s the sign of the ochre age.

  15 When the end of the age is at hand, monsters will take the form of brahmins, and the kings who enjoy the earth will listen to them. 16 There’ll be self-important sages who neither study the Veda nor make the call of vashat, there’ll be meat-eaters in brahmin form, there’ll be brahmins who eat anything, brahmins whose vows are false, 17 avaricious idiots obsessed with their own advantage, wretches with wretched clothes, brahmins who’ve fallen from their constant duty and taken up commerce, 18 brahmins who steal other people’s jewels, who violate other men’s wives, who are licentious, wicked, or deceitful, or who enjoy being inconsiderate. 19 What with these springing up on all sides, as well as others with similar habits, there’ll be many different kinds of sages who should never be sages.

  20 Everyone who was born in the krita age, and who had recourse to the distinguished authorities of that age, will be honoured in the kali age by people telling their stories.

  21 There’ll be thieves who steal grain, thieves who steal clothes, thieves who steal food that needs chewing, thieves who steal food that doesn’t, thieves who steal merchandise, 22 and thieves who steal from the thief, and then there’ll be someone who kills the thief, and it’ll only be safe after the thieves have wiped out the thieves.

  23 When the world continues to be unsteady, without substance, rituals, or distinctions, people will be oppressed by the burden of their taxes, and will retire to the forest. 24 When the ritual actions are discontinued, people will be preyed on by monsters and wild beasts, and by tens of millions of rats and snakes. 25 At the end of the age, peace, plenty, good health, and a full set of relatives will be things that only exist in conversation, best of men.

  26 One by one, in country after country, bands of men will come to power who’ve assembled the requisites of the age, who protect themselves and steal for themselves. 27 In those days there’ll be people who, together with their relatives, have been ousted from their own lands, have lost heart, and are all just waiting to die. 28 In those days people afflicted by hunger and fear will put their children on their shoulders, run away in terror, and plunge into the River Kaushikī. 29 People will seek refuge with the Angas, the Vangas, the Kalingans, Kashmiris, and Mekalas, and in the mountain valleys at the head of the River Rishikā. 30 All over the slopes of the Himālaya, on the shores of the briny ocean, and in the forests, people will live in the company of barbarian hordes. 31 The jewel-bearing earth will still be there, but she’ll be desolated, for the rulers who emerge to protect won’t protect. 32 People will live on deer, fish, birds, wild beasts, all kinds of insects, honey, vegetables, fruits, and roots, 33 and they’ll wear clothes that they’ve made themselves out of various barks, skins, rags, and leaves, just as the sages do. 34 They’ll long for the sight of grains growing in the hollows of the land, and they’ll use their sticks of wood carefully to guard their goats, sheep, donkeys, and camels.

  35 People will obstruct the flow of rivers by coming to the riverbank for water and making money there by selling cooked food to each other. 36 People will be cruel and without redeeming features, their dirty orifices covered by body-hair growing willy-nilly, and they’ll have lots and lots of children or no children at all. 37 In those days, the time will force the people to be like that.

  In those days, children will behave less and less properly.

  38 In those days, a person’s lifespan will be thirty years at the most. People will be weak and riddled with impurity, their faculties fragile. 39 In those days their powers will be sapped by sickness, and they’ll renounce violence in an attempt to stop their lives dwindling away. 40 They’ll become keen to learn from living saints and obsessed with catching sight of them, and they’ll neglect their businesses and pursue truth. 41 By not gratifying their desires they’ll get into virtuous habits, and when they’re troubled by the deaths of people close to them they’ll become humble. 42 And in this way, people who are attentive to charity, truth, and the preservation of life will arrive at a moral code that stands on all fours.*43 Those who are proud of their good works might roam around in the
realm of the senses asking what tastes good, but virtue will be the only thing that really tastes good. 44 As decay comes about step by step, so does growth, and when virtue is accepted once more, the krita age will come round again.

  45 They say that there’s good behaviour in the krita age and ruin in the ochre age, but that time itself is always the same. It just loses its lustre, like the moon does. 46 In the kali age it’s as if the moon’s hidden by darkness. In the krita age it’s as if the moon’s full, but without burning heat.

  47 They say that virtuous behaviour is the purpose of the Veda and the best explanation of its meaning. It’s like an heirloom that endures even when it’s not polished or noticed. 48 It consists of ritual activity, charity, and austerity, and chastity is also very highly regarded. The results of an action depend on these qualities, and these qualities depend on acting truthfully.

  49 In age after age, whatever the location in time, the seers look at a person and pronounce a blessing that’s suited to that place and time. 50 And in this world, in age after age, attention to propriety, profit, pleasure, and the Vedas is always rewarded by pleasant and holy blessings, and long life.

  51 The cycles of ages were set up of old

  by nature and command,

  so not for a moment do creatures stay put:

  changing they fall and they stand.

  118. The Removal of Shatakratu’s Stain

  1 The storyteller said:

  While the seer was cheering King Janamejaya up with this speech about the past and the future, the assembly listened to it too. 2 The draught constituted by the great seer’s words was like the taste of nectar or the light of the moon, and it pleased their ears. 3 The assembly listened to the whole delightful tale, which was full of propriety, profit, and pleasure, full of pathos, and thrilling with its heroes, 4 and after hearing the account that Parāshara’s son the seer had made public, some of them shed tears, and others were lost in thought.

  5 The holy seer took his leave of the superintending priests, performed a circumambulation, said they would meet again, and left. 6 He was the truest seer and finest orator in the world, and when he left, all the rest of the ascetics followed him. 7 After Lord Vyāsa had left, the brahmins, great seers, priests, and kings went home by the way that they’d come.

  8 Now that he’d had his revenge upon the most terrible snakes, the king put away his anger as a snake puts away its poison, and departed.*9 The great sage Āstīka also departed for his ashram, having saved Takshaka whose head had been singed by the sacrificial fire.†10 Surrounded by his people, the king entered Hāstinapura the Town of the Elephant, and then the happy man ruled his happy subjects.

  11 Some time later, King Janamejaya, whose habit was to give generously to the priests in the proper fashion, was consecrated for the horse sacrifice. 12 During the rite his Kāshi queen, Vapushtamā the Best-Looking, acting as prescribed by the regulations, approached the suffocated horse and had sex with it.‡13 But she was faultless in every feature and Vāsava was in love with her, and so he took possession of the suffocated stallion and had sex with her like that.

  14 When that deviation from the norm occurred and Janamejaya noticed what was actually happening, he said to the operating priest: You haven’t suffocated the stallion! Get out of my sight.

  15 The operating priest was in the know, and he told the royal seer what Indra had done. Then Janamejaya cursed the smasher of citadels.

  16 Janamejaya said:

  If I’ve earned any merit from my rites or from my duty of protecting my subjects, then I’m about to use all that merit to make a statement, so listen to it. 17 The chief of the gods hasn’t conquered his senses and can’t be trusted, so from today onwards, kshatriyas won’t honour him with the horse sacrifice.

  That’s what he said, Shaunaka. 18 Then the furious King Janamejaya said to the priests: It’s because of your impotence that this rite has been violated. 19 Get out of my kingdom! Get out, and take your relatives with you!

  When they heard this, the brahmins took offence, and they abandoned the king.

  20 In his fury he gave these orders to the women in the wives’ compound:

  This unfaithful woman Vapushtamā has put her foot, which has been standing in dust and ashes, on my head. Throw her out of my house! 21 She’s shattered my pride and ruined my reputation and standing. I don’t even want to look at her! It would be like looking at a worn-out garland. 22 In this world, a man who consorts with a beloved wife after she’s been fondled by another man can never taste sweetness or sleep peacefully on his own.

  23 While Parikshit’s son the king was declaiming loudly and angrily in this fashion, Vishvāvasu, the king of the light-elves, made this speech:

  24 You’re a man who’s performed three hundred rites, and Vāsava won’t put up with it. But this wife of yours hasn’t done anything wrong. Vapushtamā’s been bestowed upon you, 25 and the queen is actually a celestial nymph named Rambhā, passing for the daughter of the Kāshi king. She’s a precious woman, your majesty, a real gem, and you should embrace her.

  26 Indra Vāsava found a weak spot in the ritual and made trouble for you, because you, best of the Kurus, are as successful a sacrificer as he is. 27 Indra Shakra’s afraid that your ritual rewards will exceed his own, and that’s why he stirred up your ritual, your excellent majesty. 28 Indra Vāsava used this trick because he wanted to make trouble here. He found a weak spot in the ritual, saw that the stallion had been suffocated, and took his pleasure with Rambhā, whom you know as Vapushtamā.

  29 Now you’ve cursed your gurus, the men who officiated at the three hundred rites, and so thanks to you, you and the brahmins have lost the reward that comes from offering three hundred rites, which was parity with Indra, something that’s very hard to come by in this world. 30 For Shakra Vāsava was always afraid of you, and of those brahmins, and so now he’s solved two problems with one trick, hasn’t he! 31 The smasher of citadels is fiercely brilliant, and he likes to win. But how could he violate the wife of his own direct descendant? That’s something no one else has done.

  32 But if the one with the bay horses is supreme in his judgement, supreme in his duty, supreme in his self-control, supreme in his sovereignty, and well known, then so too are you, since you’re the performer of three hundred rites, unconquerable king. 33 Don’t lay the blame on Vāsava, on your guru, on yourself, or on Vapushtamā, for the power of time can’t be overcome in the slightest. 34 You’re furious with the chief of the gods because he used his supernormal power to take possession of the horse, but a person who seeks happiness must remain on good terms with that god, 35 for when he’s against you he’s hard to overcome, like water is if you go against the stream.

  This woman is without sin, and she’s a real gem. So leave your sorrow behind and enjoy her.

  36 If women who are without sin are abandoned, they too can cast curses. But women aren’t villains, your majesty, especially not celestial women. 37 The light of the sun, the flame of the fire, and the offering upon the sacrificial altar remain untainted even after they’ve been touched by someone else, and it’s the same with women: they remain uncorrupted. 38 Wise men should always honour women of good character—they should accept, caress, and revere them. Women should be revered like goddesses of fortune.

  39 The storyteller said:

  So, persuaded by Vishvāvasu,

  he forgave Vapushtamā,

  and with a mind free of false suspicion

  he fostered a perfect peace conducive to virtue.

  40 Janamejaya turned his back on mental turmoil,

  and seeking his own fame

  he ruled his realm with duty in his mind,

  and made love with Vapushtamā with joy in his heart.

  41 He never stops receiving brahmins,

  he never stops performing rituals,

  he never stops protecting the realm,

  and he never finds fault with Vapushtamā.

  42 The sensible king stayed free of angst


  by remembering what Vyāsa said earlier.

  The inconceivably austere seer had claimed

  that what fate fixes can’t be changed.

  44 When someone studies this chapter

  called the Removal of Shatakratu’s Stain,

  their stains are removed, their wishes all granted,

  and they rejoice in fulfilment for many years.

  43 This is the great seer Vyāsa’s great poem.

  People who study it become most praiseworthy,

  live lives of rare length and distinction,

  and receive the reward of total omniscience.

  45 For just as a fruit that grew from a flower

  falls from the tree and makes more trees,

  likewise these verses that the great seer made

  tumble out and make that seer flourish anew.

  46 A childless person gets glorious children,

  a fallen person finds their own place again

  and goes years without torment or trouble,

  and a virtuous person gets a good job.

  47 After the sage’s pure words reach her ear

  a young woman marries into a fine family

  and gives birth to sons with fine qualities,

  sons with the courage to ruin their foes.

  48 A kshatriya who hears it conquers the earth,

  conquers his foes, and wins untold wealth,

  a vaishya also obtains great wealth,

  and someone from a shūdra family thrives.

  49 This is the ancient tale telling of great characters,

  after pondering which a person attains the perfect perspective,

  leaves sorrows and attachments behind,

  and moves over the jewel-bearing earth free of desires.

  50 So now that I’ve told you this tale