Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 20
Yuga-Dharma: The Four Ages, Decline of Dharma, and the Rise of Social Order
आद्ये कृतयुगे धर्मश्चतुष्पादः सनातनः / त्रेतायुगे त्रिपादः स्याद् द्विपादो द्वापरे स्थितः / त्रिपादहीनस्तिष्ये तु सत्तामात्रेण तिष्ठति
ādye kṛtayuge dharmaścatuṣpādaḥ sanātanaḥ / tretāyuge tripādaḥ syād dvipādo dvāpare sthitaḥ / tripādahīnastiṣye tu sattāmātreṇa tiṣṭhati
Dans le premier âge, le Kṛta Yuga, le Dharma éternel se tient sur ses quatre pieds. Dans le Tretā Yuga, il n’en a plus que trois ; dans le Dvāpara, il demeure sur deux. Mais dans l’âge Tiṣya (Kali), privé de trois pieds, il ne subsiste que par le simple fait d’exister.
Lord Kūrma (Vishnu) instructing the sages (framed within the Purāṇic dialogue tradition)
Primary Rasa: karuna
Secondary Rasa: shanta
FAQs
Indirectly: it distinguishes the changing condition of worldly Dharma across yugas from what is sanātana (eternal). The implication is that the highest truth and the Self are not diminished by time, even when social-religious order declines.
This verse itself is doctrinal rather than procedural: it sets the Kali-yuga context where external supports of Dharma are weakened. In the Kurma Purana’s broader Shaiva–Vaishnava synthesis, this context typically intensifies the need for inner discipline—japa, dhyāna, and devotion—aligned with Pāśupata-style restraint and purity when public righteousness is fragile.
Not explicitly. Yet its teaching fits the Kurma Purana’s non-sectarian frame: Dharma declines in time, so refuge is sought in the one supreme reality praised through both Shaiva and Vaishnava idioms—Shiva as Pashupati and Vishnu as Kūrma/Nārāyaṇa—without contradiction.