History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.788

v6.c82.788

The Kūrma I. 46 and Viṣṇu VI 4 12-49 furnish a description of the prākṛtika *pralaya* which takes Sāṅkhya terminology for granted,¹⁰⁹² and is briefly as follows. When all the worlds including all the nether regions are destroyed by absence of rains and all effects from *mahat* onwards are destroyed, waters first absorb the *gandha* (the special quality of the earth) and when *gandha-tanmātra* is destroyed, the earth is reduced to water; the special quality of waters, viz. *rasa-tanmātra* is destroyed and nothing but fire remains and the whole world is filled with flames, then Vāyu absorbs fire and *rūpa-tanmātra* vanishes; Vāyu shakes all the ten quarters; *ākāśa* absorbs the *sparśa-guṇa* of Vāyu and only *ākāśa* remains as a void and *śabda-tanmātra* is gone and in this way the seven *prakṛtis* including *mahat* and *ahaṅkāra* are absorbed in order; even Prakṛti and Puruṣa are dissolved in Paramātman (named Viṣṇu). The day of Viṣṇu is said to be two Parārdhas of human years.