यथा कृतयुगे पूर्वम् एकवर्णमभूत्किल तथा कलियुगस्यान्ते शूद्रीभूताः प्रजास्तथा
Just as in the beginning of the Krita age there was only one class, so at the end of the Kali age, all people became like Shudras.
एवं वर्षशतं पूर्णं दिव्यं तेषां न्यवर्तत षट्त्रिंशच्च सहस्राणि मानुषाणि तु तानि वै
Thus, a full hundred divine years passed for them, and those were thirty-six thousand human years.
अथ दीर्घेण कालेन पक्षिणः पशवस्तथा मत्स्याश्चैव हताः सर्वैः क्षुधाविष्टैश्च सर्वशः
Then, after a long time, birds, animals, and fish were all killed by those who were overcome by hunger.
निःशेषेष्वथ सर्वेषु मत्स्यपक्षिपशुष्वथ संध्यांशे प्रतिपन्ने तु निःशेषास्तु तदा कृताः
When all the fish, birds, and animals were completely gone, and the portion of twilight had arrived, then all were utterly destroyed.
ततः प्रजास्तु सम्भूय कन्दमूलमथो ऽखनन् फलमूलाशनाः सर्वे अनिकेतास्तथैव च
Then the people, gathering together, dug up roots and tubers; all subsisted on fruits and roots, and likewise lived without fixed dwellings.
वल्कलान्यथ वासांसि अधःशय्याश्च सर्वशः परिग्रहो न तेष्वस्ति धनशुद्धिमवाप्नुयुः
Their garments were bark-cloth, and they all slept on the ground; they possessed nothing, and thus attained purity of wealth.
एवं क्षयं गमिष्यन्ति ह्य् अल्पशिष्टाः प्रजास्तदा तासामल्पावशिष्टानाम् आहारादृद्धिरिष्यते
In this way, the people—few remaining—will decline; for those few who are left, abundance will arise from their food.
एवं वर्षशतं दिव्यं संध्यांशस्तस्य वर्तते ततो वर्षशतस्यान्ते अल्पशिष्टाः स्त्रियः सुताः
Thus, for a divine hundred years, the twilight period endures; at the end of that century, only a few women and children remain.
मिथुनानि तु ताः सर्वा ह्य् अन्योन्यं सम्प्रजज्ञिरे ततस्तास्तु म्रियन्ते वै पूर्वोत्पन्नाः प्रजास्तु याः
All those women then unite in pairs and produce offspring with one another; then, those previously born people die.
जातमात्रेष्वपत्येषु ततः कृतमवर्तत यथा स्वर्गे शरीराणि नरके चैव देहिनाम्
As soon as children are born, the conditions of the Krita age arise, just as bodies exist in heaven and in hell for embodied beings.
उपभोगसमर्थानि एवं कृतयुगादिषु एवं कृतस्य संतानः कलेश्चैव क्षयस्तथा
Fit for enjoyment, such are the bodies in the beginning of the Krita and other ages; thus, the continuation of Krita, and likewise the decline in Kali.
विचारणात्तु निर्वेदः साम्यावस्थात्मना तथा ततश्चैवात्मसम्बोधः सम्बोधाद्धर्मशीलता
From reflection comes dispassion, and from the state of equality of mind, then arises self-knowledge; from self-knowledge comes righteousness.
कलिशिष्टेषु तेष्वेवं जायन्ते पूर्ववत्प्रजाः भाविनो ऽर्थस्य च बलात् ततः कृतमवर्तत
Thus, among those who survive Kali, people are born as before; by the force of the coming age, the Krita age then returns.
अतीतानागतानि स्युर् यानि मन्वन्तरेष्विह एते युगस्वभावास्तु मयोक्तास्तु समासतः
Whatever has occurred or will occur in these Manvantaras, these are the essential characteristics of the ages, which I have briefly described.
विस्तरेणानुपूर्व्याच्च नमस्कृत्य स्वयम्भुवे प्रवृत्ते तु ततस्तस्मिन् पुनः कृतयुगे तु वै
In detail and in order, having bowed to the Self-born, when the cycle begins again, then the Krita age indeed returns.
उत्पन्नाः कलिशिष्टेषु प्रजाः कार्तयुगास्तथा तिष्ठन्ति चेह ये सिद्धा अदृष्टा विहरन्ति च
Those people born at the end of Kali are also of the Krita age; and those perfected beings who remain here, though unseen, move about.
सह सप्तर्षिभिर्ये तु तत्र ये च व्यवस्थिताः ब्रह्मक्षत्रविशः शूद्रा बीजार्थे य इह स्मृताः कार्तयुगभवैः सार्धं निर्विशेषास्तदाभवन्
Together with the Seven Sages and those established there, the Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras—those remembered here for the sake of seed—became undifferentiated along with the beings of the Krita age.
तेषां सप्तर्षयो धर्मं कथयन्तीह तेषु च
Among them, the Seven Sages here expound righteousness to those people.
वर्णाश्रमाचारयुतं श्रौतस्मार्तविधानतः एवं तेषु क्रियावत्सु प्रवर्तन्तीह वै कृते
Endowed with the practices of the orders and classes, according to Vedic and traditional injunctions, thus, when these rites are performed, the Krita age is established here.
श्रौतस्मार्तस्थितानां तु धर्मे सप्तर्षिदर्शिते ते तु धर्मव्यवस्थार्थं तिष्ठन्तीह कृते युगे
For those who abide in Vedic and traditional righteousness as shown by the Seven Sages, they remain here in the Krita age for the establishment of righteousness.
मन्वन्तराधिकारेषु तिष्ठन्ति ऋषयस्तु ते यथा दावप्रदग्धेषु तृणेष्वेवापरं तृणम्
In the periods presided over by Manus, those sages remain, just as new grass grows after the old has been burned by fire.
वनानां प्रथमं वृष्ट्या तेषां मूलेषु सम्भवः एवं युगाद्युगानां वै संतानस्तु परस्परम्
With the first rain in the forests, new growth arises at their roots; so too is the succession of ages, each following the other.
प्रवर्तते ह्यविच्छेदाद् यावन्मन्वन्तरक्षयः सुखमायुर्बलं रूपं धर्मार्थौ काम एव च
Indeed, uninterruptedly, until the end of a manvantara, happiness, lifespan, strength, beauty, righteousness, wealth, and desire prevail.
युगेष्वेतानि हीयन्ते त्रयः पादाः क्रमेण तु इत्येष प्रतिसंधिर्वः कीर्तितस्तु मया द्विजाः
In each age, these decrease, three quarters at a time, in succession; thus, this cycle has been described to you by me, O twice-born ones.
चतुर्युगाणां सर्वेषाम् एतदेव प्रसाधनम् एषां चतुर्युगाणां तु गणिता ह्येकसप्ततिः
For all the four ages, this is the arrangement; and for these four ages, the reckoning is indeed seventy-one.
क्रमेण परिवृत्तास्ता मनोरन्तरमुच्यते युगाख्यासु तु सर्वासु भवतीह यदा च यत्
As these proceed in order, it is called a manvantara; and in all these periods called yugas, whatever occurs here at any time—
तदेव च तदन्यासु पुनस्तद्वै यथाक्रमम् सर्गे सर्गे यथा भेदा ह्य् उत्पद्यन्ते तथैव च
That very thing, and in other cycles as well, happens again in due order; just as, in each creation, distinctions arise, so it is.
चतुर्दशसु तावन्तो ज्ञेया मन्वन्तरेष्विह आसुरी यातुधानी च पैशाची यक्षराक्षसी
In the fourteen manvantaras here, know that there are asuric, yātudhānic, paiśācī, and yakṣa-rākṣasa beings.
युगे युगे तदा काले प्रजा जायन्ति ताः शृणु यथाकल्पं युगैः सार्धं भवन्ते तुल्यलक्षणाः इत्येतल्लक्षणं प्रोक्तं युगानां वै यथाक्रमम्
In each age, at the proper time, these beings are born; hear how, according to the kalpa, together with the ages, they possess similar characteristics. Thus, the characteristics of the ages have been described in order.
मन्वन्तराणां परिवर्तनानि चिरप्रवृत्तानि युगस्वभावात् क्षणं न संतिष्ठति जीवलोकः क्षयोदयाभ्यां परिवर्तमानः
The changes of the manvantaras are of long duration; because of the nature of the ages, the world of living beings does not remain even for a moment, constantly changing with decline and rise.