intelligence, and great prowess.  And he will take his birth in a town of the name of Sambhala in an auspicious Brahmana family.  And vehicles and weapons, and warriors and arms, and coats of mail will be at his disposal as soon as he will think of them.  And he will be the king of kings, and ever victorious with the strength of virtue.  And he will restore order and peace in this world crowded with creatures and contradictory in its course.  And that blazing Brahmana of mighty intellect, having appeared, will destroy all things.  And he will be the Destroyer of all, and will inaugurate a new Yuga.  And surrounded by the Brahmanas, that Brahmana will exterminate all the mlecchas wherever those low and despicable persons may take refuge.”

SECTION CLXL

“Markandeya continued, ’Having exterminated the thieves and robbers, Kalki will, at a great Horse-sacrifice, duly give away this earth to the Brahmanas, and having established anew the blessed rectitude ordained by the Self-create, Kalki, of sacred deeds and illustrious reputation, will enter a delightful forest, and the people of this earth will imitate his conduct, and when the Brahmanas will have exterminated the thieves and robbers, there will be prosperity everywhere (on earth).  And as the countries of the earth will one after another be subjugated, that tiger among Brahmanas, Kalki, having placed deer skins and lances and tridents there, will roam over the earth, adored by foremost Brahmanas and showing his regard for them and engaged all the while in slaughtering thieves and robbers.  And he will exterminate the thieves and robbers amid heart-rending cries of ‘Oh, father—­’ ‘Oh, mother!—­’O son!’ and the like, and O Bharata, when sin will thus have been rooted out and virtue will flourish on arrival of the Krita age, men will once more betake themselves to the practice of religious rites.  And in the age that will set in, viz., the Krita, well-planted gardens and sacrificial compounds and large tanks and educational centres for the cultivation of Brahmanic lore and ponds and temples will re-appear everywhere.  And the ceremonies and rites of sacrifices will also begin to be performed.  And the Brahmanas will become good and honest, and the regenerate ones, devoted to ascetic austerities, will become Munis and the asylums of ascetics, which had before been filled with wretches will once more be homes of men devoted to truth, and men in general will begin to honour and practise truth.  And all seeds, sown on earth, will grow, and, O monarch, every kind of crop will grow in every season.  And men will devotedly practise charity and vows and observances, and the Brahmanas devoted to meditation and sacrifices will be of virtuous soul and always cheerful, and the rulers of the earth will govern their kingdoms virtuously, and in the Krita age, the Vaisyas will be devoted to the practices of their order.  And the Brahmanas will be devoted to their six-fold duties (of study, teaching, performance of sacrifices on their own account, officiating at sacrifices performed by others, charity and acceptance of gifts), and the Kshatriyas will be devoted to feats of prowess.  And Sudras will be devoted to service of the three (high) orders,