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
کِرت یُگ میں برہما حاکم دیوتا ہیں؛ تریتا میں بھگوان روی (سورج) رب ہیں۔ دُوَاپر میں وِشنو عبادت کے دیوتا ہیں؛ اور کلی یُگ میں رُدر—مہیشور—حاکم رب ہیں۔
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.