pound the
scriptures, and Brahmanas will wait upon and listen to them, and settle
their course of duty accepting such interpretations as their guides. And
the low will become the high, and the course of things will look
contrary. And renouncing the gods, men will worship bones and other
relics deposited within walls. And, at the end of the _Yuga_, the Sudras
will cease to wait upon and serve the Brahmanas. And in the asylums of
great _Rishis_, and the teaching institutions of Brahmanas, and in
places sacred to the gods and sacrificial compounds, and in sacred
tanks, the earth will be disfigured with tombs and pillars containing
bony relics and not graced with temples dedicated to the gods. All this
will take place at the end of the _Yuga_, and know that these are the
signs of the end of the _Yuga_. And when men become fierce and destitute
of virtue and carnivorous and addicted to intoxicating drinks, then doth
the _Yuga_ come to an end. And, O monarch, when flowers will be begot
within flowers, and fruits within fruits, then will the _Yuga_ come to
an end. And the clouds will pour rain unseasonably when the end of the
_Yuga_ approaches. And, at that time, ceremonial rites of men will not
follow one another in due order, and the Sudras will quarrel with the
Brahmanas. And the earth will soon be full of _mlecchas_, and the
Brahmanas will fly in all directions for fear of the burthen of taxes.
And all distinctions between men will cease as regards conduct and
behaviour, and afflicted with honorary tasks and offices, people will
fly to woody retreats, subsisting on fruits and roots. And the world
will be so afflicted, that rectitude of conduct will cease to be
exhibited anywhere. And disciples will set at naught the instructions of
preceptors, and seek even to injure them. And preceptors impoverished
will be disregarded by men. And friends and relatives and kinsmen will
perform friendly offices for the sake of the wealth only that is
possessed by a person. And when the end of the _Yuga_ comes, everybody
will be in want. And all the points of the horizon will be ablaze, and
the stars and stellar groups will be destitute of brilliancy, and the
planets and planetary conjunctions will be inauspicious. And the course
of the winds will be confused and agitated, and innumerable meteors will
flash through the sky, foreboding evil. And the Sun will appear with six
others of the same kind. And all around there will be din and uproar,