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16. KALKI
There are no references to Kalki in any of the Vedas. They are found only in the Epics and in a few of the late Puranas such as the Bhagavata, the Visnu Puranas and Agni Purana. Agni Purana is specifically interesting in that it is also the earliest work where Gautama Buddha is declared as an avatar of Vishnu. It is therefore legitimate to assume that the idea of avatar came into prominence around that period, extending its meaning. The earliest mentions of Kalki is in the Vishnu Purana, which is dated generally to be after the Gupta Empire around the 7th Century A.D. Since Vishnu Purana describes the triumph of the Brahmanical religion over Buddhism and Jainism it is usually placed by the scholars during the period between the seventh and the twelveth centuries when these religious traditions were on the decline and Brahminical power were again on the increase. Generally we could surmise that Kalki Avatar concept came in by around the 7th century which historically places it after the coming of Christianity in the first century and also soon after the coming of Islam in the 6th century in India.
The Buddhist Kalachakra Tantra
The seed of Kalki avatar is found also in the Buddhist Kalachakra Tantra tradition. In this 25 rulers of the legendary Shambhala Kingdom have the title of Kalki, Kulika or Kali-king. Though it may have been an old oral tradition, the Kalachakra Tantra text made its first appearance only during the 10th century. So we cannot really place the origin of Kalki from the Buddhist tradition. It may very well be that both Buddist and Hindu tradition borrowed it from the Islamic tradition and mixed it with the Christian tradition.
HISTORY AS DESCRIBED IN THE KALACHAKRA TRADITION
Several of the prophecies in the Kalachakra tradition are already in the past, for example, king Manjushrikirti (living in the second century BCE) predicted the coming of the "barbarian Dharma" after 800 years (about 600 CE). The prophecy further says that during the reign of the 21st. king, Aniruddha (1927-2027), Buddhism and the Kalachakra will have nearly come to an end in Tibet, Mongolia, China and much of Asia. This could certainly be said to be accurate! For example, after the Chinese invasion in Tibet in 1959 and the destruction of nearly all monasteries afterwards, the master Ven. Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche was the only remaining Tibetan master holding a specific lineage of the Vimalaprabha (the 'Stainless Light' commentary); which is one of the only two main Kalachakra texts.
This trend of degeneration is said to continue until the incarnation of Manjushri (and of the Panchen Lama), Raudra Chakrin, comes to the throne in 2327 (or 2424 [5]).
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