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Showing posts from May, 2018

The Crown that Corrupts

We know from the Hindu epics and mythologies that after ruling the kingdom of Hastinapura post Mahabharata war the Pandavas retired to Himalayas. Yudhisthira handed over the throne of Hastinapura to Parikshit, who was son of Abhimanyu and grandson of Arjuna. Parikshit was a pious king. His reign saw the beginning of Kala Yuga or the Dark Age which began soon after Lord Krishna left his mortal body and went to Vaikuntha. In the Puranas the dark age is personified the demon "Kali". He symbolises corruption, evil, suffering and everything bad. When the Kali Yuga began, the demon Kali entered Parikshit's realm. When Parikshit stopped him the demon asked Parikshit to name few places where he can dwell. Parikshit granted him five places to reside amongst which was gold. Kali immediately entered Parikshit's golden crown and began to corrupt his mind. This made him arrogant and made him do wrong things. When he went to a sage who was meditating, he threw a dead snake on th