Kalpa
Created by Jijith Nadumuri at 23 Jul 2011 15:48 and updated at 23 Jul 2011 15:48
VISHNU PURANA NOUN
vp.1.1 | mountains, the earth, the sun, and the planets? what are the families of the gods and others, the Manus, the periods called Manwantaras, those termed Kalpas, and their subdivisions, and the four ages: the events that happen at the close of a Kalpa, and the terminations of the several ages 11: the histories, oh great Muni, of the gods, the sages, and kings; and how the Vedas were divided into branches (or schools), after they had been arranged by Vyasa: the duties of the Brahmans, and the other tribes, as well as of those who pass through the different orders of life? All these things I wish to hear from you, grandson of Vasishtha. Incline thy thoughts benevolently towards me, that I may, through thy favour, be informed of all I desire to know. |
vp.1.2 | Affecting then the quality of activity, Hari, the lord of all, himself becoming Brahma, engaged in the creation of the universe. Vishnu with the quality of goodness, and of immeasurable power, preserves created things through successive ages, until the close of the period termed a Kalpa; when the same mighty deity, Janarddana 32, invested with the quality of darkness, assumes the awful form of Rudra, and swallows up the universe. Having thus devoured all things, and converted the world into one vast ocean, the Supreme reposes upon his mighty serpent couch amidst the deep: he awakes after a season, and again, as Brahma, becomes the author of creation. |
vp.1.3 | Measure of time. Moments or Kashthas, &c.; day and night; fortnight, month, year, divine year: Yugas, or ages: Mahayuga, or great age: day of Brahma: periods of the Manus: a Manwantara: night of Brahma, and destruction of the world: a year of Brahma: his life: a Kalpa: a Pararrdha: the past, or Padma Kalpa: the present, or Varaha. |
vp.1.3 | a Brahma day, that is, a day of Brahma; the term Brahma() being the derivative form. At the end of this day a dissolution of the universe occurs, when all the three worlds, earth, and the regions of space, are consumed with fire. The dwellers of Maharloka (the region inhabited by the saints who survive the world), distressed by the heat, repair then to Janaloka (the region of holy men after their decease). When the three worlds are but one mighty ocean, Brahma, who is one with Narayana, satiate with the demolition of the universe, sleeps upon his serpent bed contemplated, the lotus born, by the ascetic inhabitants of the Janaloka for a night of equal duration with his day; at the close of which he creates anew. Of such days and nights is a year of Brahma composed; and a hundred such years constitute his whole life 7. One Pararddha 8, or half his existence, has expired, terminating with the Maha Kalpa 9 called Padma. The Kalpa (or day of Brahma) termed Varaha is the first of the second period of Brahma s existence. |
vp.1.4 | Narayana s appearance, in the beginning of the Kalpa, as the Varsha or boar: Prithivi Earth() addresses him: he raises the world from beneath the waters: hymned by Sanandana and the Yogis. The earth floats on the ocean: divided into seven zones. The lower spheres of the universe restored. Creation renewed. |
vp.1.4 | Maitreya. Tell me, mighty sage, how, in the commencement of the (present) Kalpa, Narayana, who is named Brahma, created all existent things 1. |
vp.1.4 | At the close of the past (or Padma) Kalpa, the divine Brahma, endowed with the quality of goodness, awoke from his night of sleep, and beheld the universe void. He, the supreme Narayana, the incomprehensible, the sovereign of all creatures, invested with the form of Brahma, the god without beginning, the creator of all things; of whom, with respect to his name Narayana, the god who has the form of Brahma, the imperishable origin of the world, this verse is repeated, "The waters are called Nara, because they were the offspring of Nara (the supreme spirit); and as in them his first Ayana() progress (in the character of Brahma) took place, he is thence named Narayana (he whose place of moving was the waters) 2." He, the lord, concluding that within the waters lay the |
vp.1.5 | Vishnu as Brahma creates the world. General characteristics of creation. Brahma meditates, and gives origin to, immovable things, animals, gods, men. Specific creation of nine kinds; Mahat, Tanmatra, Aindriya, inanimate objects, animals, gods, men, Anugraha, and Kaumara. More particular account of creation. Origin of different orders of beings from Brahma s body under different conditions; and of the Vedas from his mouths. All things created again as they existed in a former Kalpa. |
vp.1.5 | Brahma having created, in the commencement of the Kalpa, various plants, employed them in sacrifices, in the beginning of the Treta age. Animals were distinguished into two classes, domestic (village) and wild (forest): the first class contained the cow, the goat, the hog, the sheep, the horse, the ass, the mule: the latter, all beasts of prey, and many animals with cloven hoofs, the elephant, and the monkey. The fifth order were the birds; the sixth, aquatic animals; and the seventh, reptiles and insects 20. |
vp.1.5 | In this manner all creatures, great or small, proceeded from his limbs. The great progenitor of the world having formed the gods, demons, and Pitris, created, in the commencement of the Kalpa, the Yakshas, Pisachas (goblins), Gandharbas and the troops of Apsarasas the nymphs of heaven, Naras (centaurs, or beings with the limbs of horses and human |
vp.1.5 | And the creator displayed infinite variety in the objects of sense, in the properties of living things, and in the forms of bodies: he determined in the beginning, by the authority of the Vedas, the names and forms and functions of all creatures, and of the gods; and the names and appropriate offices of the Rishis, as they also are read in the Vedas. In like manner as the products of the seasons designate in periodical revolution the return of the same season, so do the same circumstances indicate the recurrence of the same Yuga, or age; and thus, in the beginning of each Kalpa, does Brahma repeatedly create the world, possessing the power that is derived from the will to create, and assisted by the natural and essential faculty of the object to be created. |
vp.1.8 | In the beginning of the Kalpa, as Brahma purposed to create a son, who should be like himself, a youth of a purple complexion 2 appeared, crying with a low cry, and running about 3. Brahma, when he beheld him thus afflicted, said to him, "Why dost thou weep?" "Give me a name," replied the boy. Rudra" be thy name," rejoined the great father of all creatures: "be composed; desist from tears." But, thus addressed, the boy still wept seven times, and Brahma therefore gave to him seven other denominations; and to these eight persons regions and wives and posterity belong. The eight manifestations, then, are named Rudra, Bhava, sarva, Isana, Pasupati, Bhima, Ugra, and Mahadeva, which were given to them by their great progenitor. He also assigned to them their respective stations, the sun, water, earth, air, fire, ether, the ministrant Brahman, and the moon; for these are their several forms 4. The wives |
vp.1.12 | princely birth in the illustrious mansion of Uttanapada. But that which would have been thought a great boon by others, birth in the race of Swayambhuva, you have not so considered, and therefore have propitiated me. The man who worships me obtains speedy liberation from life. What is heaven to one whose mind is fixed on me? A station shall be assigned to thee, Dhruva, above the three worlds 8; one in which thou shalt sustain the stars and the planets; a station above those of the sun, the moon, Mars, the son of Soma Mercury(), Venus, the son of Surya Saturn(), and all the other constellations; above the regions of the seven Rishis, and the divinities who traverse the atmosphere 9. Some celestial beings endure for four ages; some for the reign of a Manu: to thee shall be granted the duration of a Kalpa. Thy mother Suniti, in the orb of a bright star, shall abide near thee for a similar term; and all those who, with minds attentive, shall glorify thee at dawn or at eventide, shall acquire exceeding religious merit. |
vp.1.19 | and piled them over him for many thousand miles: but he, still with mind undisturbed, thus offered daily praise to Vishnu, lying at the bottom of the sea, under the mountain heap. Glory" to thee, god of the lotus eye: glory to thee, most excellent of spiritual things: glory to thee, soul of all worlds: glory to thee, wielder of the sharp discus: glory to the best of Brahmans; to the friend of Brahmans and of kine; to Krishna, the preserver of the world: to Govinda be glory. To him who, as Brahma, creates the universe; who in its existence is its preserver; be praise. To thee, who at the end of the Kalpa takest the form of Rudra; to thee, who art triform; be adoration. Thou, Achyuta, art the gods, Yakshas, demons, saints, serpents, choristers and dancers of heaven, goblins, evil spirits, men, animals, birds, insects, reptiles, plants, and stones, earth, water, fire, sky, wind, sound, touch, taste, colour, flavour, mind, intellect, soul, time, and the qualities of nature: thou art all these, and the chief object of them all. Thou art knowledge and ignorance, truth and falsehood, poison and ambrosia. Thou art the performance and discontinuance of acts 4: thou art the acts which the Vedas enjoin: thou art the enjoyer of the fruit of all acts, and the means by which they are accomplished. Thou, Vishnu, who art the soul of all, art the fruit of all acts of piety. Thy universal diffusion, indicating might and goodness, is in me, in others, in all creatures, in all worlds. Holy |
vp.2.1 | This was the creation of Swayambhuva Manu, by which the earth was peopled, when he presided over the first Manwantara, in the Kalpa of Varaha. |
vp.2.5 | Below the seven Patalas is the form of Vishnu, proceeding from the quality of darkness, which is called sesha 4, the excellencies of which neither Daityas nor Danavas can fully enumerate. This being is called Ananta by the spirits of heaven, and is worshipped by sages and by gods. He has a thousand heads, which are embellished with the pure and visible mystic sign 5: and the thousand jewels in his crests give light to all the regions. For the benefit of the world he: deprives the Asuras of their strength. He rolls his eyes fiercely, as if intoxicated. He wears a single ear ring, a diadem, and wreath upon each brow; and shines like the white mountains topped with flame. He is clothed in purple raiment, and ornamented with a white necklace, and looks like another Kailasa, with the heavenly Ganga flowing down its precipices. In one hand he holds a plough, and in the other a pestle; and he is attended by Varuni (the goddess of wine), who is his own embodied radiance. From his mouths, at the end of the Kalpa, proceeds the venomed fire that, impersonated as Rudra, who is one with Balarama, devours the three worlds. |
vp.2.7 | Above Dhruva, at the distance of ton million leagues, lies the sphere of saints, or Mahar loka, the inhabitants of which dwell in it throughout a Kalpa, or day of Brahma. At twice that distance is situated Janaloka, where Sanandana and other pure minded sons of Brahma, reside. At four times the distance, between the two last, lies the Tapo loka (the sphere of penance), inhabited by the deities called Vaibhrajas, who are unconsumable by fire. At six times the distance (or twelve Crores, a hundred and twenty millions of leagues) is situated Satya loka, the sphere of truth, the inhabitants of which never again know death 3. |
vp.2.7 | Wherever earthy substance exists, which may be traversed by the feet, that constitutes the sphere of the earth, the dimensions of which I have already recounted to you. The region that extends from the earth to the sun, in which the Siddhas and other celestial beings move, is the atmospheric sphere, which also I have described. The interval between the sun and Dhruva, extending fourteen hundred thousand leagues, is called by those who are acquainted with the system of the universe the heavenly sphere. These three spheres are termed transitory: the three highest, Jana, Tapa, and Satya, are styled durable 4: Maharloka, as situated between the two, has also a mixed character; for although it is deserted at the end of the Kalpa, it is not destroyed. These seven spheres, together with the Patalas, forming the extent of the whole world, I have thus, Maitreya, explained to you. |
vp.2.8 | The path of the gods lies to the north of the solar sphere, north of the Nagavithi 23, and south of the seven Rishis. There dwell the Siddhas, of subdued senses, continent and pure, undesirous of progeny, and therefore victorious over death: eighty eight thousand of these chaste beings tenant the regions of the sky, north of the sun, until the destruction of the universe: they enjoy immortality, for that they are holy; exempt from covetousness and concupiscence, love and hatred; taking no part in the procreation of living beings, and detecting the unreality of the properties of elementary matter. By immortality is meant existence to the end of the Kalpa: life as long as the three regions (earth, sky, and heaven) last is called exemption from (reiterated) death 24. The consequences of acts of iniquity or piety, such as Brahmanicide or an Aswamedha, endure for a similar period, or until the end of a Kalpa 25, when all within the interval between Dhruva and the earth is destroyed. |
vp.2.12 | Parasara. The chariot of the moon has three wheels, and is drawn by ten horses, of the whiteness of the Jasmine, five on the right half (of the yoke), five on the left. It moves along the asterisms, divided into ranges, as before described; and, in like manner as the sun, is upheld by Dhruva; the cords that fasten it being tightened or relaxed in the same way, as it proceeds on its course. The horses of the moon, sprung from the bosom of the waters 1, drag the car for a whole Kalpa, as do the coursers of the sun. The radiant sun supplies the moon, when reduced by the draughts of the gods to a single Kala, with a single ray; and in the same proportion as the ruler of the night was exhausted by the celestials, it is replenished by the sun, the plunderer of the waters: for the gods, Maitreya, drink the nectar and ambrosia accumulated in the moon during half the month, and from this being their food they are immortal. Thirty six thousand three hundred and thirty three divinities drink the lunar ambrosia. When two digits remain, the moon enters the orbit of the sun, and abides in the ray called Ama; whence the period is termed Amavasya. In that orbit the moon is immersed for a day and night in the water; thence it enters the branches and shoots of the trees; and thence goes to the sun. Consequently any one who cuts off a branch, or casts down a leaf, when the moon is in the trees (the day of its rising invisible), is guilty of Brahmanicide. When the remaining portion of the |
vp.3.1 | The period of Swayambhuva Manu, in the beginning of the Kalpa, has already been described by me, together with the gods, Rishis, and other personages, who then flourished 1. I will now, therefore, enumerate |
vp.3.2 | An entire Kalpa, oh Brahman, is said to comprise a thousand ages, or fourteen Manwantaras 13; and it is succeeded by a night of similar duration; during which, he who wears the form of Brahma, Janarddana, the substance of all things, the lord of all, and creator of all, involved in his own illusions, and having swallowed up the three spheres, sleeps upon the serpent sesha, amidst the ocean 14. Being after that awake, he, who is the universal soul, again creates all things as they were before, in combination with the property of foulness (or activity): and in a portion of his essence, associated with the property of goodness, he, as the Manus, the kings, the gods, and their Indras, as well as the seven Rishis, is the preserver of the world. In what manner Vishnu, who is characterised by the attribute of providence during the four ages, effected their preservation, I will next, Maitreya, explain. |
vp.3.6 | [paragraph continues] saulkayani, and Pippalada. Pathya had three pupils, Jajali, Kumudadi, and saunaka; and by all these were separate branches instituted. saunaka having divided his Sanhita into two, gave one to Babhru, and the other to Saindhavayana; and from them sprang two schools, the Saindhavas and Munjakesas 4. The principal subjects of difference in the Sanhitas of the Atharva veda are the five Kalpas or ceremonials: the Nakshatra Kalpa, or rules for worshipping the planets; the Vaitana Kalpa, or rules for oblations, according to the Vedas generally; the Sanhita Kalpa, or rules for sacrifices, according to different schools; the angirasa Kalpa, incantations and prayers for the destruction of foes and the like; and the Santi Kalpa, or prayers for averting evil 5. |
vp.3.6 | The four Vedas, the six Angas (or subsidiary portions of the Vedas, viz. siksha, rules of reciting the prayers, the accents and tones to be observed; Kalpa, ritual; Vyakarana, grammar; Nirukta, glossarial comment; Chhandas, metre; and Jyotish, (astronomy), with Mimansa (theology), Nyaya (logic), Dharma (the institutes of law), and the Puranas, constitute the fourteen principal branches of knowledge: or they are considered as eighteen, with the addition of these four; the ayur veda, medical science (as taught by Dhanwantari); Dhanur veda, the science of archery or arms, taught by Bhrigu; Gandharba veda, or the drama, and the arts of music, dancing, &c., of which the Muni Bharata was the author; and the Artha sastram, or science of government, as laid down first by Vrihaspati. |
vp.3.17 | t, sprung from the quality of darkness, fierce, fraudulent, and cruel. Glory to thee, Janarddana, who art that piety which is the instrument of recompensing the virtues of those who abide in heaven. Glory to thee, who art one with the saints, whose perfect nature is ever blessed, and traverses unobstructed all permeable elements. Glory to thee, who art one with the serpent race, double tongued, impetuous, cruel, insatiate of enjoyment, and abounding with wealth. Glory to thee, who art one with the Rishis, whose nature is free from sin or defect, and is identified with wisdom and tranquillity. Glory to thee, oh lotus eyed, who art one with time, the form that devours, without remorse, all created things at the termination of the Kalpa. Glory to thee, who art Rudra, the being that |
vp.5.9 | earth sustains living and inanimate things? and that, in the character of uncreated time, with its divisions of ages, developed from an instant, thou devourest the world? As the waters of the sea, when swallowed up by submarine flame, are recovered by the winds, and thrown, in the form of snow, upon the Himachala, where coming into contact with the rays of the sun, they reassume their watery nature 2; so the world, being devoured by thee at the period of dissolution, becomes of necessity, at the end of every Kalpa, the world again, through thy creative efforts. Thou and I, soul of the universe, are but one and the same cause of the creation of the earth, although, for its protection, we exist in distinct individuals. Calling to memory who thou art, O being of illimitable might, destroy of thyself the demon. Suspending a while your mortal character, do what is right." |
vp.6.1 | Maitreya. You have narrated to me, illustrious sage, the creation of the world, the genealogies of the patriarchs, the duration of the Manwantaras, and the dynasties of princes, in detail. I am now desirous to hear from you an account of the dissolution of the world, the season of total destruction, and that which occurs at the expiration of a Kalpa 1. |
vp.6.1 | Parasara. Hear from me, Maitreya, exactly the circumstances of the end of all things, and the dissolution that occurs either at the expiration of a Kalpa, or that which takes place at the close of the life of Brahma. A month of mortals is a day and night of the progenitors: a year of mortals is a day and night of the gods. Twice a thousand aggregates of the four ages is a day and night of Brahma 2. The four ages are the Krita, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali; comprehending together twelve thousand years of the gods. There are infinite successions of these four ages, of a similar description, the first of which is always called the Krita, and the last the Kali. In the first, the Krita, is that age which is created by Brahma; in the last, which is the Kali age, a dissolution of the world occurs. |
vp.6.3 | THE dissolution of existing beings is of three kinds, incidental, elemental, and absolute 1. The incidental is that which relates to Brahma, and occurs at the end of a Kalpa: the elemental is that which takes place after two Pararddhas: the absolute is final liberation from existence. |
vp.6.3 | occurs, when all the discrete products of nature are withdrawn into their indiscrete source. The shortest period of time is a Matra, which is equal to the twinkling of the human eye. Fifteen Matras make a Kashtha; thirty Kashthas, one Kala; fifteen Kalas, one Nadika. A Nadika is ascertained by a measure of water, with a vessel made of twelve Palas and a half of copper, in the bottom of which there is to be a hole made with a tube of gold, of the weight of four Mashas, and four inches long 4. According to the Magadha measure, the vessel should hold a Prastha (or sixteen Palas) of water. Two of these Nadis make one Muhurtta; thirty of which are one day and night. Thirty such periods form a month; twelve months make a year, or a day and night of the gods; and three hundred and sixty such days constitute a year of the celestials. An aggregate of four ages contains twelve thousand divine years; and a thousand periods of four ages complete a day of Brahma. That period is also termed a Kalpa, during which fourteen Manus preside; and at the end of it occurs the incidental or Brahma dissolution. The nature of this dissolution is very fearful: hear me describe it, as well as that which takes place at the elemental dissolution, which I will also relate to you. |
vp.6.4 | I have thus described to you the intermediate dissolution of the world, occurring at the end of every Kalpa. I will now, Maitreya, describe to you elemental dissolution. When by dearth and fire all the worlds and Patalas are withered up, and the modifications of Mahat and other products of nature are by the will of Krishna destroyed, the progress of |
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