Decline and renewal in a Digambara account
background
On: the coming Ussappiṇī age
Editorial paraphrase of the source · Aryika Jnanamati, Jaina Bharati, translated by N. L. Jaina (2007), chapter 2; editorial paraphrase
Jnanamati’s Digambara account places the present in a declining half-cycle. It describes twenty-one oppressive Kalkis, with a Kalki every thousand years and an Upakalki every five hundred. The final Kalki demands the first mouthful of an ascetic’s food as a tax. Four remaining religious practitioners undertake a final fast; a deity subsequently kills the ruler. These Kalkis are persecutors, unlike the saving figure named Kalki in Hindu texts.
After the sixth, harshest period, conditions improve through an ascending half-cycle. Successive rains cool and restore the earth; surviving people emerge from caves. Fourteen patriarchs appear near the close of its second period, and twenty-four Tirthankaras in its third. This is a Digambara exposition of recurring ages, supplied here as context for the ascending age named in the Śvetāmbara passage.
Jaina Bharati · Aryika Jnanamati Mataji; English translation N. L. Jaina. Vira Jnanodaya Granthamala 281, first English edition, 18 January 2007, Digambar Jain Institute of Cosmographic Research, Hastinapura. Printed pp.20–22 and chapter 2 future-cycle sections. Imprint checked in the Jainworld PDF; chapter witness hosted by Encyclopedia of Jainism.
Source reuse and transcription
Modern 2007 English translation. Original editorial paraphrase; no verbatim prose reproduced. The inspected imprint identifies the edition and translator but supplies no full-text republication grant.
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Published revision history
2026-09-11T04:54:37+00:00
Jnanamati’s Digambara account places the present in a declining half-cycle. It describes twenty-one oppressive Kalkis, with a Kalki every thousand years and an Upakalki every five hundred. The final Kalki demands the first mouthful of an ascetic’s food as a tax. Four remaining religious practitioners undertake a final fast; a deity subsequently kills the ruler. These Kalkis are persecutors, unlike the saving figure named Kalki in Hindu texts.
After the sixth, harshest period, conditions improve through an ascending half-cycle. Successive rains cool and restore the earth; surviving people emerge from caves. Fourteen patriarchs appear near the close of its second period, and twenty-four Tirthankaras in its third. This is a Digambara exposition of recurring ages, supplied here as context for the ascending age named in the Śvetāmbara passage, not as its identical list of teachers.
2026-10-05T15:53:49+00:00
Jnanamati’s Digambara account places the present in a declining half-cycle. It describes twenty-one oppressive Kalkis, with a Kalki every thousand years and an Upakalki every five hundred. The final Kalki demands the first mouthful of an ascetic’s food as a tax. Four remaining religious practitioners undertake a final fast; a deity subsequently kills the ruler. These Kalkis are persecutors, unlike the saving figure named Kalki in Hindu texts.
After the sixth, harshest period, conditions improve through an ascending half-cycle. Successive rains cool and restore the earth; surviving people emerge from caves. Fourteen patriarchs appear near the close of its second period, and twenty-four Tirthankaras in its third. This is a Digambara exposition of recurring ages, supplied here as context for the ascending age named in the Śvetāmbara passage.