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RISABHA DEVA
TEACHER, and began to enjoy the fruits of his previous good karmas, as the first great chakravarti king!
The panchama (fifth) kāla (time, hence the period of time) is the one that is actually current now. It is the period of advanced deterioration, characterized by conditions of existence that would slowly become very painful and distressing. It commenced only 2455 years ago, and has still got 18545 years to run. There will be wars, famines and pestilences during this period, with the result that men will be halfstarved and will grow stunted in size, till at the end of the period they will be no more than one cubit in height, and twenty years in age. All this will take place gradually, almost imperceptibly, and in some places there will even appear periodic signs of growth. The arresting of the downward movement will, however, be a temporary affair. The tendency generally everywhere will be for things to go from bad to worse. In respect of religion, Bharatvarṣa will become irreligious, and the maleksha countries lying round about it will take it up. This part of the prophecy is likely to be soon fulfilled. For Religion can only live in the land of intelligence, but Bharatvarṣa can only boast of about five per cent of literacy today. And out of this small propor
