History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.19

v6.c82.19

The Mahābhārata recurs to the theme of Kāla time and again In the Ādiparva it is said 'Kāla creates beings and Kāla destroys people, Kāla extinguishes Kāla that is engaged in destroying people; Kāla brings about good or evil states (or things); Kāla reduces all people and again sends them forth; Kāla is (the only one) awake when all are asleep (i e dead or liberated). for Kāla is invincible'. The Strīparva has the following ' Kāla cooks all beings and Kāla destroys people; Kāla is invincible'. The Śāntiparva⁶⁶⁰ in chapters 224 and 227 contains a long disquisition on the formidable influence of Kāla on all including gods like Indra In the Śāntiparva it is asserted 'beyond the mind is the Great Intelligence and beyond the latter, is the Great Time; beyond Time is the adorable Viṣṇu to whom belongs the whole world'. In another place the Śāntiparva, after detailing nineteen *guṇas* the last being *dvandva-yoga* (pairs of opposites such as pleasure and pain), remarks that the 20th *guṇa* beyond the nineteenth is Kāla and that one should know these twenty to be the source and end of all beings. The Aśvamedhika-parva describes (chap. 45) the wheel of Time in an elaborate metaphorical way (verses 1-9) and remarks that the man who well knows the action of Kāla and its sublation is never deluded and reaches the highest goal In Vanaparva Kṛṣṇa is identified with Brahmā, Rudra, the Sun, the Moon, Dharma, Yama, Kāla &c. Vide for further references Śāntiparva 25. 5 ff, 224-225.