Yudhishthira Asks Markandeya About the End of Yugas

Yudhishthira, humbly and with great reverence, asks the ancient sage Markandeya to recount what happens at the end of yugas. He notes that Markandeya alone has witnessed the destruction and recreation of the world countless times, and that neither death nor old age can overcome him. He asks Markandeya to explain the reasons behind everything.

Chapter 483 · ~1 min

Markandeya Describes the Decay of Yugas

Markandeya begins by bowing to the self-creating god, then describes the four yugas — krita, treta, dvapara, and kali — with their precise durations and sandhya periods. He then details the moral and social decay at the end of a yuga: brahmanas performing shudra work, shudras ruling as kings, falsehood everywhere, and dharma itself losing its strength.

Chapter 483 · ~4 min

Markandeya Enters Vishnu's Body and Sees the Universe

After the drought and fire, the world is flooded. Markandeya wanders alone in the vast ocean, exhausted and unable to find rest. He sees a banyan tree with a divine child seated on it; the child invites him to rest inside his body. Markandeya enters the child's mouth and wanders inside for over a hundred years, seeing the entire universe — rivers, mountains, gods, and all beings.

Chapter 483 · ~6 min

Narayana Reveals His Cosmic Nature to Markandeya

Markandeya, pulled from the mouth of the cosmic being, hears Narayana declare his true nature: he is Vishnu, Brahma, Shakra, Yama, Shiva — all gods in one. He is the creator and destroyer, the one who sleeps through the ages and wakes to recreate the universe.

Chapter 484 · ~3 min

Markandeya Identifies Krishna as Narayana

Markandeya tells Yudhishthira that the lotus-eyed god he witnessed in his cosmic vision is none other than Krishna Varshneya — the Pandava's own relative. He urges Yudhishthira to seek refuge with the one who grants protection.

Chapter 484 · ~1 min

Markandeya Describes the Kali Yuga Decay

Yudhishthira, shaken by the vision of cosmic destruction and renewal, asks the sage Markandeya what will become of the world when dharma collapses. Markandeya answers with a prophecy of inversion and decay — where lifespans shrink to sixteen years, children beget children, and the earth is overtaken by mleccha conduct — until a brahmana named Kalki is born in Sambhala to restore the age of truth.

Chapter 485 · ~4 min

Markandeya Recounts Kalki and the Yugas

Markandeya turns from advice to prophecy. He tells Yudhishthira of Kalki, the brahmana who will exterminate the dasyus and rakshasas, hand the earth to the brahmanas, and retire to the forest — ushering in a new krita yuga where dharma flourishes once more.

Chapter 486 · ~1 min

Markandeya Advises Yudhishthira on Dharma

Yudhishthira, burdened by exile and loss, asks the ancient sage Markandeya what dharma he must follow to protect his subjects. Markandeya’s answer is not a ritual prescription but a way of being: compassion without hatred, humility without vanity, and the acceptance that destiny moves even the gods.

Chapter 486 · ~1 min

Pandavas Delighted by Markandeya's Words

Yudhishthira accepts Markandeya’s words and vows to follow them. Vaishampayana reports that all the Pandavas, together with Krishna Vasudeva, heard the sage’s ancient accounts and were struck with great wonder — a moment of shared awe in the midst of exile.

Chapter 486 · ~1 min