page_title: Kali (demon)
section_title: Mahabharata
hierarchical_section_title: Kali (demon) / Mahabharata
caption_attribution_description: English: Damayanthi talking with Royal swan about Nala മലയാളം: ദമയന്തി ഹംസത്തിനോട് നളനുള്ള സന്ദേശം പറയുന്നു සිංහල: නල පිළිබඳ රාජකීය හංසයා සමග කතබහේ යෙදෙන දමයන්ති
context_page_description: According to Hindus, Kali is the reigning lord of the Kali Yuga and nemesis of Kalki, the 10th and final avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu. In the Kalki Purana, he is portrayed as a male mortal demon and he is the source of all evil. In the Satya Yuga, he was a gandharva. In the Mahabharat, he created the war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas in a game of Chausar.
context_section_description: According to the Mahabharata, the gandharva Kali became jealous when he was late to Princess Damayanti's marriage ceremony and discovered she had overlooked the deities Indra, Agni, Varuna, and Yama (and ultimately himself) to choose Nala as her husband. In anger, Kali spoke to his companion Dvapara, the personification of Dvapara Yuga:
  I am ill able, O Dvapara, to suppress my anger. I shall possess Nala, deprive him of his kingdom, and he shall no more sport with Bhima's daughter. Entering the dice, it behoveth thee to help me.
  Kali traveled to Nala's kingdom of Nishadhas and waited twelve long years for the right moment to strike. Because Nala had rendered himself impure by not washing his feet before his prayers, Kali was able to bewitch his soul. Kali then appeared before Pushkara and invited him to play a game of dice with his brother, guaranteeing Nala's downfall. Dwapara took the form of the Vrisha die that would be used in the fixed game. Kali forced Nala to lose and, each time, he would raise the stakes higher despite the protest of his advisors and wife. Finally, Nala lost his kingdom to Pushkara. Both he and Damayanti were exiled to the forest.
  During their exile, Kali drove Nala to abandon Damayanti, who later enacted a curse against everyone that had caused the downfall of her husband. She eventually returned home after a short time as a handmaiden to the Princess of Chedi. Nala, meanwhile, saved the Naga Karkotaka from fire (where he was cursed to suffer by sage Narada). Intending to exorcise the devil within him, the serpent bit Nala, injecting him with deadly poisons that forever tortured Kali. The venom also changed Nala into an ugly dwarf named Bahuka. He later became the charioteer of the Ayodhya King Rituparna, who was a master mathematician and dice player.
  Years later, King Rituparna revealed to Bahuka the supreme skill of controlling the dice in exchange for horsemanship lessons. This skill awakened Nala from Kali's control and allowed him (with the help of Damayanti's curse and Karkotaka's venom) to exorcise the demon; vomiting him in the form of poison from his mouth. Nala forced the Kali's trembling spirit into a Vibhitaka tree. He then counted the fruits of the tree and left in search of his wife and later regained his true form. Kali returned to his abode as well.
  Kali was later incarnated as king Duryodhana, eldest of the one hundred Kaurava brothers. His companion Dvapara became his uncle Shakuni. The day Duryodhana was born, he unleashed a donkey-like scream which the donkeys outside the home replied to. Despite the advice from Vidura to discard the evil baby, Duryodhana's father Dhritarashtra kept the child because of his blind love for his son and overlooked his responsibility as the King.
  At the onset of Kali Yuga, once king Parikshit went hunting in the forest. Just then in the middle of the way, Kali, appeared before him and asked permission to enter his kingdom, which the king denied. Upon insisting, Parikshit allowed him five places to reside: where there is gambling, alcohol consumption, prostitution, animal slaughter and gold. Kali smartly entered into Parikshit's golden crown and spoiled his thoughts. Parikshit entered the hut of a sage named Shamika as he was thirsty. He found the sage in deep meditation. He bowed to him several times but there was no response. In anger, he took a dead snake and threw it around the sage's neck. Later when the sage's son, Shringin, heard of this incident he cursed the king to die of snake bite on the seventh day. On hearing this, the king forswore the throne for his son Janamejaya and spent his last seven days listening to the discourses of sage Shuka, compiled as the Bhagavata Purana under the banyan tree of Shukratal. As prophesied, the snake king Takshaka bit Parikshita, who left his mortal remains behind and attained Moksha.
caption: Damayanti speaking with a celestial swan.
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