Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 18
Yuga-Dharma: The Four Ages, Decline of Dharma, and the Rise of Social Order
ब्रह्मा कृतयुगे देवस्त्रेतायां भगवान् रविः / द्वापरे दैवतं विष्णुः कलौ रुद्रो महेश्वरः
brahmā kṛtayuge devastretāyāṃ bhagavān raviḥ / dvāpare daivataṃ viṣṇuḥ kalau rudro maheśvaraḥ
Dans le Kṛta Yuga, Brahmā est la divinité présidante ; dans le Tretā Yuga, le Soleil béni (Ravi) est le Seigneur. Dans le Dvāpara Yuga, Viṣṇu est la divinité à adorer ; et dans le Kali Yuga, Rudra—Maheśvara—est le Seigneur présidant.
Sūta (narrator) to the sages at Naimiṣāraṇya (contextual narrator voice in Purāṇic transmission)
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: shanta
FAQs
It implies one supreme sacred order manifesting through different presiding forms across the yugas; the focus shifts in worshipful emphasis, while divinity remains the ultimate ground behind these forms.
The verse itself is primarily theological (devatā-krama), but it supports a yuga-appropriate sādhana principle: align devotion, discipline, and worship with the dominant spiritual conditions of the age—an idea later systematized in the Kurma Purana’s Shaiva-leaning yogic and dharmic instructions.
By placing Viṣṇu as central in Dvāpara and Rudra-Maheśvara as central in Kali, it frames devotion as complementary rather than sectarian, consistent with the Kurma Purana’s tendency toward Shaiva-Vaishnava synthesis.