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these four will keep the (fourfold) order alive. The ruling monarch will be Bimalayâhana and Sumaka will be his monister. The people will have a height of 2 cubits (one yard), and they will have a life-span of 20 years. On the closing day of the fifth fraction of the time-cycle, the virtue of conduct will disintegrate in the morning, the virtue of administration will disintegrate at midday and fire will disintegrate in the afternoon.
"The fifth fraction of the time-cycle called duḥsama will have a duration of 21,000 years and the sixth fraction called duhsama-duhs amã will also have a similar duration. That will see the end of religion, society, and administration. The normal relations between parents and progeny will be gone. At the commencement of the sixth fraction, there will be cyclones and heavy showers causing a complete deluge(5). Very few men and beasts will survive as seedlings (when the cycle looks up). These will somehow keep themselves alive in the cravice and holes on the banks of the Gangā and the Sindhu (which themselves will be no more wide than a chariot's route) (6). They will live on fish and meat.
"When the sixth fraction of the time-cycle will come to an end, the first fraction of the next half which is the up-phase of the time-cycle will commence. This period will bear resemblance with the sixth part of the prior half. The second fraction of the up-phase will resemble the fifth part of the previous down phase, and things beneficial will have their genesis. At the commencement of the second fraction, there will be a shower from a cloud named Puskara-samyartaka which will remove the heat from the earth. Then there will be milk showers which will help corn to sprout, and these will be followed by butter showers which will add alluvium to the earth. Then there will be nectarine showers which will help all types of flora to germinate. And the fifth and the last, there will be moisture-giving showers which will augment the moisture content of the earth. Each one of these showers will last for a whole week and they will be incessant(7).
"The environment will again become more favourable. People will come out from the cravices and holes on the river banks and start living on the flat grounds, Gradu
