VP 04.24 - Kali Age and the Kalki Prophecy

Vishnu Purana, Book IV, Chapter XXIV Translated by H.H. Wilson (1840, public domain)

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[H.H. Wilson translation, 1840, public domain. Fetched from Project Gutenberg / archive.org.]

The Vishnu Purana’s twenty-fourth chapter of the fourth book presents the most systematic early account of Kalki, the tenth and final avatar of Vishnu.

Kali Age Description

When the close of the Kali age shall be nigh, a portion of that divine being who exists of his own spiritual nature in the character of Brahma, and who is the beginning and the end, and who comprehends all things, shall descend upon earth: he will be born in the family of Vishnuyasha, an eminent Brahmin of Sambhala village, as Kalki, endowed with the eight superhuman faculties.

Kalki’s Advent and Mission

By his irresistible might he will destroy all the robbers and barbarians who have appeared in the forms of kings. Riding a fleet horse, he will go about destroying with his blazing sword the sinners who plunder property. He will be the king of kings; he will be irresistible in the performance of his duties; and will restore to the world its pristine character when the Satya Yuga was its era.

Restoration of the Golden Age

When the sun and moon, and the lunar asterism Tishya, and the planet Jupiter, are in one mansion, the Krita age shall return; the glory of the Satya Yuga shall be made manifest again. The wheel of time revolves; what has been will come again.

Yuga Cycle Summary

The sages compute the duration of the Kali Yuga as twelve hundred divine years. At its close, when evil has reached its fullest extent, Kalki Vishnu descends to terminate the age. The destruction of the robbers and the re-establishment of righteousness mark the transition from Kali to Krita (Satya) Yuga, beginning the cycle anew.