Mahabharata - Story of Pralaya

Story of Pralaya - the great destruction and dissolution

Markendeya was a sage who had the rare fortune of being immortal. He could see the different ages and their dissolution and upon questioned by Yudhisthira on the same, he narrated his experience. Krita or Satya Yuga, the first after creation, is of four thousand and eight hundred years in duration. The Treta is three thousand six hundred, Dwapara is two thousand four hundred and Kali is one thousand and two hundred years long. After Kali ends, Krita comes again. A cycle of Yugas is twelve thousand years in duration. a thousand such Yugas comprise of a day of Brahma. When the dissolution of the last yuga comes very near, people become addicted to falsehood and people generally do not follow the norms and dictum stipulated by the Vedas. There is unrighteousness everywhere and the Mlecchas rule the earth. There is a general decay of religion and piousness and unholiness and improper conduct prevails. Men become sinful and take recourse vices in trades and professions. People who are virtuous live in misery while those who are sinful live happily. Under such a circumstance men becomes short lived and evil reigns. This is the time when universal dissolution comes forth.

At first there is a drought that extends for many years. Then men and creatures perish by thousands on the wayside, and famines dwindle the population. Then seven blazing suns appear on the horizon, sucking up all the water from the rivers and seas. Every thing is reduced to ashes by the heat. All the greenery dries up. Then the fire called Samvartaka, propelled by the winds, appear and consumes everything, even the nether regions. Then there arise in the sky large masses of clouds, monstrous in appearance, with terrible lightnings.  They then pour rain over the earth. The rain soon floods the entire surface of the earth. When the entire world is thus flooded, no movable or immovable creatures or beings can remain alive, even gods, yakshas, rakshashas, asuras, nagas, all are destroyed. The trees, plants, mountains all disappear and the first cause of everything, the creator Lord Brahma, goes to sleep.