Part 4 - Last phase of the time-cycle in Bharata

Q. 96. Bhante! In Bhāratavarṣa which is in the Jambudvīpa, what will be the shape of things in the unbracingunbracing (duḥsamā -duḥsamā) phase of the down—turn (avasarpiṇī) of the time-cycle, in its most difficult phase?

A. 96. Gautama! This phase will hear painful groans, yells and chirps. There will blow wind, cyclonic, extremely harsh, polluted with dust, unbearable, disturbing and horrible. With dust, floating and flying, directions will look dark, dirty and gloomy. Because of the hardness of the time, the rains will be too cold and the sun too hot. There will be heavy and short showers from clouds which will pour bad water, uncongenial water, alkaline water, sour water, pungent water, boiling water, electrified water, poisoned water, water containing snow-balls, water smashing rocks, water unfit for drinking, water incapable to quench thirst, water generating diseases, ailments and pain, water shaking the nerves. Such heavy and short showers will be associated with terrific blows of wind, because of which many human beings, living in villages, mines, towns, till hermitages, many quadruped animals and birds, many mobile animals living in villages and forests and many varieties of trees, herbs, creepers plants, grass, hay, canes, paddy, sprouts, fodder etc., and all other types of flora will be destroyed. Leaving aside the Vaitādhya mountain, all other mountains, hillocks, mounds, flat soil, deserts, etc., will be destroyed. Leaving aside the Ganga and the Sindhu, all other rivers, fountains, ditches, tanks, ponds, etc., will be destroyed. All the land areas, accessible and inaccessible, high and low, will become flat.

Q. 97. Bhante! What will be the shape of the land-surface in Bhāratavarṣa?

A. 97. Gautama! The land-surface in Bhāratavarṣa will be ablaze like fire, like burning cow-dung cake, like burning ashes, like a hot cauldron, like a burning flame, full of dust, full of dirt, full of mud, full of moss, extremely slippery. The living beings inhabiting this earth will find it extremely difficult to pace on it.

98. Bhante! In that period, what will be the state of human affairs in Bhāratavarṣa?

A. 98. Gautama!. In that period, human beings in Bhāratavarṣa will have a bad form, bad colour, bad smell, bad taste and bad touch. They will be unpleasant, detestable, unwholesome, with lowly voice, pitious voice, harmful voice, unpleasant voice, till unacceptable voice, unfriendly voice. They will be shameless, deceitful, crafty, quarrelsome, addicted to killing, arresting and fighting, ready to transgress decency, quick in misdeeds, violating the orders of the parents and superiors, lacking humility, lacking good shape, with grown nails, hairs, beard, moustache and pour-hairs, dark in complexion, extremely rude, black, with hairs floating untidily, with brown and white hairs, covered with innumerable sinews, with uncouth shape detestable to the eyes, with contracted, curved and distorted limbs, dotted with many inauspicious marks, with few dilapidated, rotten and broken teeth like those of old folks, with a huge mouth as big as a jar, with terrible eyes, with a curved nose, with, a curved and terrific mouth, with bad itches, with skin rendered uneven by sharp and deep wounds by nails, with ring-worm, leucoderma and severe leprosy, with unsmooth skin, with peculiar limbs, with movement like that of a camel, with a bad shape, with unusual joints, with bones not duly set, with a bad formation, with a bad structure, with unusual formation and with swollen limbs. They will use bad cushions, take filthy food and will suffer from sundry diseases. They will be with irregular movement, lacking in enterprise, lacking in energy, with perverse endeavour, lacking in vigour, looking dirty because of the dust deposited on them by hot, cold, sharp and hard winds, with severe anger, pride, attachment and greed, suffering from unwholesome pain, mostly slipped off from pious thoughts and equanimity. They will be no more than one cubit in length. Their span of life will be around sixteen years, and in no case will it exceed twenty. They will have large family and they will be blind with affection for their family. They will be sheltered in the hollows and crevices on the beaches of the Ganga and the Sindhu and in mountain caves (to serve as seeds for the coming generations of men).

Q. 99. Bhante! What type of food will these human beings take?

A. 99. Gautama! In that period, at that time, the great rivers, the Ganga and the Sindhu, will be no wider than a chariot’s route. In their beds, the flow of water will be no wider than the length of a spoke. That slender flow of water will have many a fish and tortoise. But mind that there will not be much water. Now, these human beings who are sleeping all the time will come out for a muhurta at sunrise, and for a muhurta again at sun-down, and put some fish and tortoise under the sand on the beach to roast there. Fish and tortoise buried in the evening will be taken out and devoured in the morning, and those buried in the morning will be taken out and devoured in the evening. In this manner, they will live on for twenty-one thousand years.

Q. 100. Bhante! These men devoid of conduct, devoid of merit, devoid of status, devoid of renunciation, confession or fast, mostly living on meat, fish, filth, carcass, etc., where will they repair after death, where will they be born again?

A. 100. Gautama! They will go mostly to hell or to the world of subhuman beings. They will be born as infernal beings or as animals.

Q. 101. Bhante! In that period, at that time, where will the wild animals, lions, tigers, leopards, wolves, rhinoes, etc., who are mostly without right conduct, where will they repair after death, where will they be born again?

A. 101. Gautama! They will go mostly to hell or to the world of subhuman beings. They will be born as Infernal beings or as animals.

Q. 102. Bhante! Where will the birds, crows, peacocks, etc., who are without right conduct, where will they repair after death, where will they be born again?

A. 102. Gautama! They will invariably go to hell or to the world of subhuman beings. They will be boro as infernal beings or as animals.

Bhante! Right you are. It is truly so.

Chapter Six ends.

Notes (based on commentary of Abhayadeva Sūri):

(There is no commentary available for this section).