“Then the virtuous king Yudhishthira in all humility again enquired of
the illustrious Markandeya, saying, ‘O great Muni, thou hast seen many
thousands of ages pass away. In this world there is none so longlived as
thou! O best of those that have attained the knowledge of Supreme Spirit,
there is none equal to thee in years except the great-minded Brahma
living in the most exalted place. Thou, O Brahmana, worshippest Brahma at
the time of the great dissolution of the universe, when this world is
without sky and without the gods and Danavas. And when that cataclysm
ceaseth and the Grandsire awaketh, thou alone, O regenerate Rishi,
beholdest Brahma duly re-create the four orders of beings after having
filled the cardinal points with air and consigned the waters to their
proper place. Thou, O great Brahmana, hast worshipped in his presence the
great Lord and Grandsire of all creatures with soul rapt in meditation
and entirely swallowed up in Him! And, O Brahmana, thou hast many a time
witnessed with thy eyes, the primeval acts of creation, and, plunged in
severe ascetic austerities, thou hast also surpassed the Prajapatis
themselves! Thou art esteemed as one who is nearest to Narayana, in the
next world. Many a time in days of yore hast thou beheld the Supreme
Creator of the universe with eyes of spiritual abstraction and
renunciation, having first opened thy pure and lotus-like heart--the only
place where the multiform Vishnu of universal knowledge may be seen! It
is for this, O learned Rishi, by the grace of God neither all-destroying
Death, nor dotage that causeth the decay of the body, hath any power over
thee! When neither the sun, nor the moon, nor fire, nor earth, nor air,
nor sky remains, when all the world being destroyed looketh like one vast
ocean, when the Gods and Asuras and the great Uragas are annihilated, and
when the great-minded Brahma, the Lord of all creatures, taking his seat
on a lotus flower, sleepeth there, then thou alone remainest to worship
him! And, O best of Brahman as thou hast seen all this that occurred
before, with thy own eyes. And thou alone hast witnessed many things by
the senses, and never in all the worlds hath there been any thing unknown
to thee! Therefore do I long to hear any discourse explaining the causes
of things!”
“Markandeya replied, ‘Indeed, I shall explain all, after having bowed
down to that Self-existent, Primordial Being, who is eternal and
undeteriorating and inconceivable, and who is at once vested with and
divested of attributes. O tiger among men, this Janardana attired in
yellow robes is the grand Mover and Creator of all, the Soul and Framer
of all things, and the lord of all! He is also called the Great, the
Incomprehensible, the Wonderful and the Immaculate. He is without
beginning and without end, pervades all the world, is Unchangeable and
Undeteriorating. He is the Creator of all, but is himself uncreate and is
the Cause of all power. His knowledge is greater than that of all the
gods together. O best of kings and pre-eminent of men, after the
dissolution of the universe, all this wonderful creation again comes into
life. Four thousand years have been said to constitute the Krita Yuga.
Its dawn also, as well as its eve, hath been said to comprise four
hundred years. The Treta-Yuga is said to comprise three thousand years,
and its dawn, as well as its eve, is said to comprise three hundred
years. The Yuga that comes next is called Dwapara, and it hath been
computed to consist of two thousand years. Its dawn, as well as its eve,
is said to comprise two hundred years. The next Yuga, called Kali, is
said to comprise one thousand years and its dawn, as well as eve, is said
to comprise one hundred years. Know, O king, that the duration of the
dawn is the same as that of the eve of a Yuga. And after the Kali Yuga is
over, the Krita Yuga comes again. A cycle of the Yugas thus comprised a
period of twelve thousand years. A full thousand of such cycles would
constitute a day of Brahma. O tiger among men, when all this universe is
withdrawn and ensconced within its home--the Creator himself--that
disappearance of all things is called by the learned to be Universal
Destruction. O bull of the Bharata race, towards the end of the last
mentioned period of one thousand years, i.e., when the period wanted to
complete a cycle is short, men generally become addicted to falsehood in
speech. O son of Pritha, then sacrifices and gifts and vows, instead of
being performed by principals are suffered to be performed by
representatives! Brahmanas then perform acts that are reserved for the
Sudras, and the Sudras betake themselves to the acquisition of wealth.
Then Kshatriyas also betake themselves to the practice of religious acts.
In the Kali age, the Brahmanas also abstain from sacrifices and the study
of the Vedas, are divested of their staff and deer-skin, and in respect
of food become omnivorous. And, O son, the Brahmanas in that age also
abstain from prayers and meditation while the Sudras betake themselves to
these! The course of the world looketh contrary, and indeed, these are
the signs that foreshadow the Universal Destruction. And, O lord of men,
numerous Mleccha kings then rule over the earth! And those sinful
monarchs, addicted to false speech, govern their subjects on principles
that are false. The Andhhas, the Sakas, the Pulindas, the Yavanas, the
Kamvojas, the Valhikas and the Abhiras, then become, O best of men,
possessed of bravery and the sovereignty of the earth. This, O tiger
among men, becometh the state of the world during the eve, O Bharata, of
the Kali age! Not a single Brahmana then adhereth to the duties of his
order. And the Kshatriyas and the Vaisyas also, O monarch, follow
practices contrary to those that are proper for their own orders. And men
become short-lived, weak in strength, energy, and prowess; and endued
with small might and diminutive bodies, they become scarcely truthful in
speech. And the human population dwindles away over large tracts of
country, and the regions of the earth, North and South, and East and
West, become crowded with animals and beasts of prey. And during this
period, they also that utter Brahma, do so in vain. The Sudras address
Brahmanas, saying, Bho, while the Brahmanas address Sudras, saying
Respected Sir. And, O tiger among men, at the end of the Yuga, animals
increase enormously. And, O king, odours and perfumes do not then become
so agreeable to our sense of scent, and, O tiger among men, the very
tastes of things do not then so well accord with our organs of taste as
at other periods! And, O king, women then become mothers of numerous
progeny, endued with low statures, and destitute of good behaviour and
good manners. And they also make their very mouths serve the purposes of
the organ of procreation. And famine ravages the habitations of men, and
the highways are infested by women of ill fame, while females in general,
O king, become at such periods hostile to their lords and destitute of
modesty! And, O king, the very kine at such periods yield little milk,
while the trees, sat over with swarms of crows, do not produce many
flowers and fruits. And, O lord of the earth, regenerate classes, tainted
with the sin of slaying Brahmanas, accept gifts from monarchs that are
addicted to falsehood in speech. And filled with covetousness and
ignorance, and bearing on their persons the outward symbols of religion,
they set out on eleemosynary rounds, afflicting the people of the Earth.
And people leading domestic lives, afraid of the burden of taxes, become
deceivers, while Brahmanas, falsely assuming the garb of ascetics, earn
wealth by trade, with nails and hair unpared and uncut. And, O tiger
among men, many of the twice-born classes become, from avarice of wealth,
religious mendicants of the Brahmacharin order. And, O monarch, men at
such periods behave contrary to the modes of life to which they betake
themselves, and addicted to intoxicating drinks and capable of violating
the beds of their preceptors, their desires are all of this world,
pursuing matters ministering to the flesh and the blood. And O tiger
among men, at such period the asylums of ascetics become full of sinful
and audacious wretches ever applauding lives of dependence. And the
illustrious chastiser of Paka never showers rain according to the seasons
and the seeds also that are scattered on earth, do not, O Bharata, all
sprout forth. And men, unholy in deed and thought, take pleasure in envy
and malice. And, O sinless one, the earth then becometh full of sin and
immorality. And, O lord of the earth, he that becometh virtuous at such
periods doth not live long. Indeed, the earth becometh reft of virtue in
every shape. And, O tiger among men, the merchants and traders then full
of guile, sell large quantities of articles with false weights and
measures. And they that are virtuous do not prosper; while they that are
sinful proper exceedingly. And virtue loseth her strength while sin
becometh all powerful. And men that are devoted to virtue become poor and
short-lived; while they that are sinful become long-lived and win
prosperity. And in such times, people behave sinfully even in places of
public amusements in cities and towns. And men always seek the
accomplishment of their ends by means that are sinful. And having earned
fortunes that are really small they become intoxicated with the pride of
wealth. And O monarch, many men at such periods strive to rob the wealth
that hath from trust been deposited with them in secrecy. And wedded to
sinful practices, they shamelessly declare--there is nothing in deposit.
And beasts of prey and other animals and fowl may be seen to lie down in
places of public amusement in cities and towns, as well as in sacred
edifices. And, O king girls of seven or eight years of age do then
conceive, while boys of ten or twelve years beget offspring. An in their
sixteenth year, men are overtaken with decrepitude and decay and the
period of life itself is soon outrun. And O king, when men become so
short-lived, more youths act like the aged; while all that is observable
in youth may be noticed in the old. And women given to impropriety of
conduct and marked by evil manners, deceive even the best of husbands and
forget themselves with menials and slaves and even with animals. And O
king, even women that are wives of heroes seek the companionship of other
men and forget themselves with these during the life-time of their
husbands.
“O king, towards the end of those thousands of years constituting the
four Yugas and when the lives of men become so short, a drought occurs
extending for many years. And then, O lord of the earth, men and
creatures endued with small strength and vitality, becoming hungry die by
thousands. And then, O lord of men, seven blazing Suns, appearing in the
firmament, drink up all the waters of the Earth that are in rivers or
seas. And, O bull of the Bharata race, then also everything of the nature
of wood and grass that is wet to dry, is consumed and reduced to ashes.
And then, O Bharata, the fire called Samvartaka impelled by the winds
appeareth on the earth that hath already been dried to cinders by the
seven Suns. And then that fire, penetrating through the Earth and making
its appearance, in the nether regions also, begetteth great terror in the
hearts of the gods, the Danavas and the Yakshas. And, O lord of the
earth, consuming the nether regions as also everything upon this Earth
that fire destroyeth all things in a moment. And that fire called
Samvartaka aided by that inauspicious wind, consumeth this world
extending for hundreds and thousands of yojanas. And that lord of all
things, that fire, blazing forth in effulgence consumeth this universe
with gods and Asuras and Gandharvas and Yakshas and Snakes and Rakshasas.
And there rise in the sky deep masses of clouds, looking like herds of
elephants and decked with wreaths of lightning that are wonderful to
behold. And some of those clouds are of the hue of the blue lotus; and
some are of the hue of the water-lily; and some resemble in tint the
filaments of the lotus and some are purple and some are yellow as
turmeric and some of the hue of the crows’ egg. And some are bright as
the petals of the lotus and some red as vermillion. And some resemble
palatial cities in shape and some herds of elephants. And some are of the
form of lizards and some of crocodiles and sharks. And, O king, the
clouds that gather in the sky on the occasion are terrible to behold and
wreathed with lightnings, roar frightfully. And those vapoury masses,
charged with rain, soon cover the entire welkin. And, O king, those
masses of vapour then flood with water the whole earth with her mountains
and forests and mines. And, O bull among men, urged by the Supreme Lord
those clouds roaring frightfully, soon flood over the entire surface of
the earth. And pouring in a great quantity of water and filling the whole
earth, they quench that terrible inauspicious fire (of which I have
already spoken to thee). And urged by the illustrious Lord those clouds
filling the earth with their downpour shower incessantly for twelve
years. And then, O Bharata, the Ocean oversteps his continents, the
mountains sunder in fragments, and the Earth sinks under the increasing
flood. And then moved on a sudden by the impetus of the wind, those
clouds wander along the entire expanse of the firmament and disappear
from the view. And then, O ruler of men, the Self-create Lord--the first
Cause of everything--having his abode in the lotus, drinketh those
terrible winds and goeth to sleep, O Bharata!
“And then when the universe become one dead expanse of water, when all
mobile and immobile creatures have been destroyed, when the gods and the
Asuras cease to be, when the Yakshas and the Rakshasas are no more, when
man is not, when trees and beasts of prey have disappeared, when the
firmament itself has ceased to exist, I alone, O lord of the earth,
wander in affliction. And, O best of kings, wandering over that dreadful
expanse of water, my heart becometh afflicted in consequence of my not
beholding any creature! And, O king, wandering without cessation, through
that flood, I become fatigued, but I obtain no resting place! And some
time after I behold in that expanse of accumulated waters a vast and
wide-extending banian tree, O lord of earth! And I then behold, O
Bharata, seated on a conch, O king, overlaid with a celestial bed and
attached to a far-extended bough of that banian, a boy, O great king, of
face fair as the lotus or the moon, and of eyes, O ruler of men, large as
petals of a full blown lotus! And at this sight, O lord of earth, wonder
filled my heart. And I asked myself, ‘How doth this boy alone sit here
when the world itself hath been destroyed?’ And, O king, although I have
full knowledge of the Past, the Present, and the Future, still I failed
to learn anything of this by means of even ascetic meditation. Endued
with the lustre of the Atasi flower, and decked with the mark of
Sreevatsa, he seemed to me to be like the abode of Lakshmi, herself. And
that boy, of eyes like the petals of the lotus, having the mark of
Sreevatsa, and possessed of blazing effulgence, then addressed me in
words highly pleasant to the ear, saying, ‘O sire, I know thee to be
fatigued and desirous of rest. O Markandeya of Bhrigu’s race, rest thou
here as long as thou wishest. O best of Munis, entering within my body,
rest thou there. That hath been the abode assigned to thee by me. I have
been pleased with thee.’ Thus addressed by that boy, a sense of total
disregard possessed me in respect both of my long life and state of
manhood. Then that boy suddenly opened his mouth, and as fate would have
it, I entered his mouth deprived of the power of motion. But O king,
having suddenly entered into the stomach of that boy, I behold there the
whole earth teeming with cities and kingdoms. And, O best of men, while
wandering through the stomach of that illustrious one, I behold the
Ganga, the Satudru, the Sita, the Yamuna, and the Kausiki; the
Charmanwati, the Vetravati; the Chandrabhaga, the Saraswati, the Sindhu,
the Vipasa, and the Godavari; the Vaswokasara, the Nalini and the
Narmada; the Tamra, and the Venna also of delightful current and sacred
waters; the Suvenna, the Krishna-venna, the Irama, and the Mahanadi; the
Vitasti, O great king, and that large river, the Cavery; the one also, O
tiger among men, the Visalya, and the Kimpuna also. I beheld all these
and many other rivers that are on the earth! And, O slayer of foes, I
also beheld there the ocean inhabited by alligators and sharks, that mine
of gems, that excellent abode of waters. And I beheld there the firmament
also, decked with the Sun and the Moon, blazing with effulgence, and
possessed of lustre of fire of the Sun. And I beheld there, O king, the
earth also, graced with woods and forests. And, O monarch, I beheld there
many Brahmanas also, engaged in various sacrifices; and the Kshatriyas
engaged in doing good to all the orders; and the Vaisyas employed in
pursuits in agriculture; and the Sudras devoted to the service of the
regenerate classes. And, O king, while wandering through the stomach of
that high-souled one, I also beheld the Himavat and the mountains of
Hemakuta. And I also saw Nishada, and the mountains of Sweta abounding in
silver. And, O king, I saw there the mountain Gandhamadana, and, O tiger
among men, also Mandara and the huge mountains of Nila. And, O great
king, I saw there the golden mountains of Meru and also Mahendra and
those excellent mountains called the Vindhyas. And I beheld there the
mountains of Malaya and of Paripatra also. These and many other mountains
that are on earth were all seen by me in his stomach. And all these were
decked with jewels and gems. And, O monarch, while wandering through his
stomach, I also beheld lions and tigers and boars and, indeed, all other
animals that are on earth, O great king! O tiger among men, having
entered his stomach, as I wandered around, I also beheld the whole tribe
of the gods with their chief Sakra, the Sadhyas, the Rudras, the Adityas,
the Guhyakas, the Pitris, the Snakes and the Nagas, the feathery tribes,
the Vasus, the Aswins, the Gandharvas, the Apsaras, the Yakshas, the
Rishis, the hordes of the Daityas and the Danavas, and the Nagas also. O
king, and the sons of Singhika and all the other enemies of the gods;
indeed what else of mobile and immobile creatures may be seen on earth,
were all seen by me, O monarch, within the stomach of that high-souled
one. And, O lord, living upon fruits I dwelt within his body for many
centuries wandering over the entire universe that is there. Never did I
yet, O king, behold the limits of his body. And when, O lord of earth, I
failed to measure the limits of that high-souled one’s body, even though
I wandered within him continuously in great anxiety of mind. I then, in
thought and deed sought the protection of that boon-giving and
pre-eminent Deity, duly acknowledging his superiority. And when I had
done this, O king, I was suddenly projected (from within his body)
through that high-souled one’s open mouth by means, O chief of men, of a
gust of wind. And, O king, I then beheld seated on the branch of that
very banian that same Being of immeasurable energy, in the form of a boy
with the mark of Sreevatsa (on his breast) having, O tiger among men,
swallowed up the whole universe. And that boy of blazing effulgence and
bearing the mark of Sreevatsa and attired in yellow robes, gratified with
me, smilingly addressed me, saying, ‘O Markandeya, O best of Munis,
having dwelt for some time within my body, thou hast been fatigued! I
shall however speak unto thee.’ And as he said this to me, at that very
moment I acquired a new sight, so to speak, in consequence of which I
beheld myself to be possessed of true knowledge and emancipated from the
illusions of the world. And, O child, having witnessed the inexhaustible
power of that Being of immeasurable energy, I then worshipped his revered
and well-shaped feet with soles bright as burnished copper and
well-decked with toes of mild red hue, having placed them carefully on my
head and joining my palms in humility and approaching him with reverence.
I beheld that Divine Being who is the soul of all things and whose eyes
are like the petals of the lotus. And having bowed unto him with joined
hands I addressed him saying, ‘I wish to know thee, O Divine Being, as
also this high and wonderful illusion of thine! O illustrious one, having
entered into thy body through thy mouth, I have beheld the entire
universe in thy stomach! O Divine Being, the gods, the Danavas and the
Rakshasas, the Yakshas, the Gandharvas, and the Nagas, indeed, the whole
universe mobile and immobile, are all within thy body! And though I have
ceaselessly wandered through thy body at a quick pace, through thy grace,
O God, my memory faileth me not. And, O great lord, I have come out of
thy body at thy desire but not of mine! O thou of eyes like lotus leaves,
I desire to know thee who art free from all faults! Why dost thou stay
here in the form of a boy having swallowed up the entire universe? It
behoveth thee to explain all this to me. Why, O sinless one, is the
entire universe within thy body? How long also, O chastiser of foes, wilt
thou stay here? Urged by a curiosity that is not improper for Brahmanas,
I desire, O Lord of all the gods, to hear all this from thee, O thou of
eyes like lotus leaves, with every detail and exactly as it all happens,
for all I have seen, O Lord, is wonderful and inconceivable!’ And thus
addressed by me, that deity of deities, of blazing effulgence and great
beauty, that foremost of all speakers consoling me properly, spoke unto
me these words.”