Story of Kaliyug 

Story of King Parikshit and Kaliyuga !

According to Hindu scriptures, the great war of Kurukshetra, Mahabharat, marked the end of Dwapar Yuga. But did you know that Kali Yuga had already begun during the war?

There are several tales of Ancient Scriptures, which are yet to be explored; one of them is the story of King Parikshit and Kaliyuga.

Until the ninth day of Mahabharata, there hadn’t been a single killing of the innocent in the war and that was the day when Dwapara Yuga ended and Kali Yuga began. And, as the latter is expected to bring destruction everywhere, so did the war of Kurukshetra.

Beginning of Kaliyuga

Because of the presence of Lord Krishna, Kali Yuga couldn’t spread across the world & be restricted only to the war ground. And, the destruction of Kuru clan and the killing of Parikshit, the son of Abhimanyu & grandson of Arjuna marked the beginning of it.

King Parikshit was killed in the womb of his mother Uttara, after Ashwathama aimed Brahmastra at him, to destroy the descendants of Pandavas. But, Lord Krishna entered the womb and saved the fetus from the heat of the weapon and so, Parikshit was brought back to life.

Some time after the war, when Pandavas heard of Lord Krishna’s death, they along with Draupadi, gave up royalty and made their only surviving grandson Parikshit, in charge of the Kingdom and its inhabitants.

Kali Yuga arrives

King Parikshit was informed of demon Kali Yuga’s arrival by his grandfathers, so he prepared the Kingdom to face it. When Kali Yuga reached the boundaries of Kingdom along with his weapons of treachery, lust, greed and evil, Parikshit decided to stop him.

The King hunted the demon, until the latter surrendered and explained him the rules of Brahma.He said, “O king! Brahma created 4 eras that are Satya, Treta, Dwapar and Kali Yuga. Satya Yuga reigned for 17,28,000 years, Treta Yuga enjoyed his reign for 12,96,000 years and Dwapar Yuga for 8,64,000 years. Now that I have come to reign (4,32,000 years) and you tell me to get out from your empire?”

5 Places where Kali Yuga resides

Releasing that eventually he had to respect Brahma’s plan for the mankind, Parikshit released Kali Yuga warning him to not destroy the mankind before its time to end.

He said, “You shall only live in these 5 places and never cross your boundary. People who willingly come to these places would become the victims of the demon Kali Yuga.”

1. Places where liquor is served- Weapon of poison

You must only stay here and welcome those, who come willingly and should never, force people to surrender to you.

2. Brothels- Weapon of Lust

Anyone who enters the premises would have to shed off their dignity, sanity, and humanity and only then you may devour them.

3. Slaughter house- Weapon of Evil

You must reside in this place, where humans leave behind their humanity and reveal the evil inside them and butcher innocent animals and humans.

4. Gambling areas- Weapon of treachery

Those who come here are prepared to gamble their lives away; therefore you have the authority to destroy their life.

5. Gold- Weapon of Greed

Hearing this, Kali Yuga said “O king, all those who come to these 5 places are bad men already, but how shall I demolish the good ones, as my weapon of Greed would remain unused.

King Parikshit then allowed him one place where he can use the weapon of Greed and that was Gold.

Kali Yuga knew that he had acquired the entire world but Parikshit’s Kingdom and until he was alive, this wouldn’t be possible. Therefore, in order to do so, he must enter his crown that was made of Gold.

Once inside the crown, Kali Yuga manipulated Parikshit’s sanity enough to insult a sage, which became the reason of his death.

Hare Krishna 

How Kaliyuga Started? Story of King Parikshit and Kaliyuga

 In the current era, we have seen many such incidents in which many riots, terrorism, corruption and many other problems have been seen in this world. This is happening because we living in the most cursed era of Kaliyuga,the era of decline of truth and righteousness.There are still four 4,26,550 years left for the end of Kaliyuga. By the way, you know that in the epic of Mahabharata, after the destruction of Kauravas in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, due to the curse of Queen Gandhari, many years later, the Yadava dynasty of Lord Shri Krishna was destroyed on earth and Lord Krishna finished his leela and went to Baikunth and after many years, the Pandavas handed over the kingdom to their grandson Parikshit and went to heaven. But do you know how Kaliyuga started after Parikshit became the king, how did he come to the earth, we will tell you about this.

1.King Parikshit’s encounter with Kaliyuga

 

One day a cow and a bull,where the bull represents righteousness(Dharma),who was standing on one feet,which means there is only one fourth of righteousness present on the earth. And the cow represents the Earth which is in trouble. So in the forest, a person who looked like a very dangerous demon was beating the cow and the bull with great force. At that time, the king Parikshit, who was the strong follower of righteousness and justice, was roaming in the forest. So when he saw that man, then he got down to punish him and asked him who is he. The person said that he is Kali Yuga and he has arrived to take control of the Earth as per the rule of Yugas cycle. King Parikshit said that Kaliyuga cannot succeed in taking control of the earth and spread the unrighteousness when he is present in this Earth. He decided to give a kill the Kaliyuga. Kaliyuga saw that King Parikshit is very powerful, and as long as he is there he cannot enter and take control of the Earth. So he begged for mercy from the King and said that this is the destiny’s decree and Yugas cycle is the rule of god,so he(the king) should provide him some places where he could live so that there is no hindrance in the work of the Creator.King Parikshit told him that he should stay in a place where there is gambling, prostitution, violence and gold are sold. But he was unaware that his crown was also made of gold and Kaliyug sat in his crown and took control of king’s mind. So,as long as King Parikshit had the crown on his head Kaliyuga could manipulate and control his mind.

2.The incident with Sage Shamika and the curse of Shringi

One day King Parikshit went to the forest for hunting and reached the hermitage of Sage Shamika sage Shamika. The sage was in deep meditation. Even when the king asked for water, he didn’t opened his eyes despite King Parikshit’s constant request.King got angry and found a dead snake lying nearby and put it around the sage’s neck and went away.Some children were watching that.They immediately went informed the thing to Sage Shamika’s son Shringi.Shringi got angry and cursed him that the king who did this he would be killed by the serpent king Takshak after 7 days.

3.King Parikshit’s realisation and suggestion of Sage Narada.

 

When Sage Shamika opened his eyes he realised what happened and scolded his son that he cursed the king blindly without knowing the full story and without consulting from him.He paved the way for the Kaliyuga.When King Parikshit removed his crown he realised his mistake and felt guilty.He accepted the curse.Sage Narada appeared before him and suggested him to spend his remaining days listening to Bhagavad Gita from Sage Shuka,Sage Veda Vyasa’s son and King Parikshit agreed to do that.

4.Preparation of protection and the reason of Takshak’s grudge towards the Pandavas clan.

 

So,a very tall tower was constructed,which was tall enough to keep someone safe from snakes and king Parikshit would love on the top of it for the rest of the day. So Serpent King Takshak,who wanted to  take revenge from Pandavas because the day when Pandavas migrated to Khandava forest with the citizens to build a new kingdom.The forest was infested by large number of venomous snakes and the king was Takshak. So,the snakes didn’t liked Pandavas entering into their territory and trying build the empire. So,they attacked. In order to defend the civilians and prevent the further attacks from snakes.Third Pandava Prince Arjuna killed all the snakes and burnt down the forest.From that day Takshak vowed for revenge from Pandavas and this was his right time as King Parikshit was the grandson of Pandavas.But Takshak saw that the tower was very tall and it was well guarded by powerful soldiers and King Parikshit was very powerful,so trying to kill him directly would be impossible.That King Parikshit invited Sage Kashyap who is expert in preventing and curing the snake bite and the power to avert the effect of the curse.

5.Death of King Parikshit 

So Takshak went to Sage Kashyap and requested him not to help King Parikshit and let the curse of Shringi succeed.Sage said that he would get golds and rewards.Takshak offered extra gold reward to the sage that King offered and the sage returned. Now Takshak asked one of his serpent to go to King Parikshit disguised as Sage Kashyap with some apples and Takshak took the form of insect and entered the fruit. So,When he offered the fruit to the king,he took a bite and then Takshak emerged in his original form and bit him and King Parikshit died instantly.And after that Kaliyuga was able to take control of the Earth.

Some other versions of the Mahabharata says that When King Parikshit was meditating on the 7th day.Takshak just came and bit him.