Chapter One
The Degraded Dynasties of Kali-yuga
1-2. Sukadeva Gosvami said: The last king mentioned in our previous enumeration of the future rulers of the Magadha dynasty was Puranjaya, who will take birth as the descendant of Brhadratha. Puranjaya’s minister Sunaka will assassinate the king and install his own son, Pradyota, on the throne. The son of Pradyota will be Palaka, his son will be Visakhayupa, and his son will be Rajaka.
3. The son of Rajaka will be Nandivardhana, and thus in the Pradyotana dynasty there will be five kings, who will enjoy the earth for 138 years.
4. Nandivardhana will have a son named Sisunaga, and his son will be known as Kakavarea. The son of Kakavarea will be Ksemadharma, and the son of Ksemadharma will be Ksetrajna.
5. The son of Ksetrajna will be Vidhisara, and his son will be Ajatasatru. Ajatasatru will have a son named Darbhaka, and his son will be Ajaya.
6-8. Ajaya will father a second Nandivardhana, whose son will be Mahanandi. O best of the Kurus, these ten kings of the Sisunaga dynasty will rule the earth for a total of 360 years during the age of Kali. My dear Pariksit, King Mahanandi will father a very powerful son in the womb of a sudra woman. He will be known as Nanda and will be the master of millions of soldiers and fabulous wealth. He will wreak havoc among the ksatriyas, and from that time onward virtually all kings will be irreligious sudras.
9. That lord of Mahapadma, King Nanda, will rule over the entire earth just like a second Parasurama, and no one will challenge his authority.
10. He will have eight sons, headed by Sumalya, who will control the earth as powerful kings for one hundred years.
11. A certain brahmana [Canakya] will betray the trust of King Nanda and his eight sons and will destroy their dynasty. In their absence the Mauryas will rule the world as the age of Kali continues.
12. This brahmana will enthrone Candragupta, whose son will be named Varisara. The son of Varisara will be Asokavardhana.
13. Asokavardhana will be followed by Suyasa, whose son will be Sangata. His son will be Salisuka, Salisuka ‘s son will be Somasarma, and Somasarma’s son will be Satadhanva. His son will be known as Brhadratha.
14. O best of the Kurus, these ten Maurya kings will rule the earth for 137 years of the Kali-yuga.
15-17. My dear King Pariksit, Agnimitra will follow as king, and then Sujyestha. Sujyestha will be followed by Vasumitra, Bhadraka, and the son of Bhadraka, Pulinda. Then the son of Pulinda, named Ghosa, will rule, followed by Vajramitra, Bhagavata and Devabhuti. In this way, O most eminent of the Kuru heroes, ten Sunga kings will rule over the earth for more than one hundred years. Then the earth will come under the subjugation of the kings of the Kanva dynasty, who will manifest very few good qualities.
18. Vasudeva, an intelligent minister coming from the Kanva family, will kill the last of the Sunga kings, a lusty debauchee named Devabhuti, and assume rulership himself.
19. The son of Vasudeva will be Bhumitra, and his son will be Narayana. These kings of the Kanva dynasty will rule the earth for 345 more years of the Kali-yuga.
20. The last of the Kanvas, Susarma, will be murdered by his own servant, Bali a low-class sudra of the Andhra race. This most degraded Maharaja Bali will have control over the earth for some time.
21-26. The brother of Bali, named Krishna, will become the next ruler of the earth. His son will be Santakarna, and his son will be Paurnamasa. The son of Paurnamasa will be Lambodara, who will father Maharaja Cibilaka. From Cibilaka will come Meghasvati, whose son will be Atamana. The son of Atamana will be Anistakarma. His son will be Haleya, and his son will be Talaka. The son of Talaka will be Purisabhiru, and following him Sunandana will become king. Sunandana will be followed by Cakora and the eight Bahus, among whom Sivasvati will be a great subduer of enemies. The son of Sivasvsati will be Gomati. His son will be Puriman, whose son will be Medasira. His son will be Sivaskanda, and his son will be Yajnasri. The son of Yajnasri will be Vijaya, who will have two sons, Candravijna and Lomadhi. These thirty kings will enjoy sovereignty over the earth for a total of 456 years, O favorite son of the Kurus.
27. Then will follow seven kings of the Abhira race from the city of Avabhrti, and then ten Gardabhis. After them, sixteen kings of the Kankas will rule and will be known for their excessive greed.
28. Eight Yavanas will then take power, followed by fourteen Turuskas, ten Gurundas and eleven kings of the Maula dynasty.
29-31. These Abhiras, Gardabhis and Kankas will enjoy the earth for 1,099 years, and the Maulas will rule for 300 years. When all of them have died off there will appear in the city of Kilakila a dynasty of kings consisting of Bhutananda, Vangiri, Sisunandi, Sisunandi’s brother Yasonandi, and Praviraka. These kings of Kilakila will hold sway for a total of 106 years.
32-33. The Kilakilas will be followed by their thirteen sons, the Bahlikas, and after them King Puspamitra, his son Durmitra, seven Andhras, seven Kausalas and also kings of the Vidura and Nisadha provinces will separately rule in different parts of the world.
34. There will then appear a king of the Magadhas named Visvasphurji, who will be like another Puranjaya. He will turn all the civilized classes into low-class, uncivilized men in the same category as the Pulindas, Yadus and Madrakas.
35. Foolish King Visvasphurji will maintain all the citizens in ungodliness and will use his power to completely disrupt the ksatriya order. From his capital of Padmavati he will rule that part of the earth extending from the source of the Ganga to Prayaga.
36. At that time the brahmanas of such provinces as Saurastra, Avanti, Abhira, Sura, Arbuda and Malava will forget all their regulative principles, and the members of the royal order in these places will become no better than sudras.
37. The land along the Sindhu River, as well as the districts of Candrabhaga, Kaunti and Kasmira, will be ruled by sudras, fallen brahmanas and meat-eaters. Having given up the path of Vedic civilization, they will have lost all spiritual strength.
38. There will be many such uncivilized kings ruling at the same time, O King Pariksit, and they will all be uncharitable, possessed of fierce tempers, and great devotees of irreligion and falsity.
39-40. These barbarians in the guise of kings will devour the citizenry, murdering innocent women, children, cows and brahmanas and coveting the wives and property of other men. They will be erratic in their moods, have little strength of character and be very short-lived. Indeed, not purified by any Vedic rituals and lacking in the practice of regulative principles, they will be completely covered by the modes of passion and ignorance.
41. The citizens governed by these low-class kings will imitate the character, behavior and speech of their rulers. Harassed by their leaders and by each other, they will all suffer ruination.
