How will we know the end of first part of the Kali yuga?

Question

As we know, There are four yugas (Satya, Treta, Dwapara, Kali). Every yuga consists of four parts (known as pādā in sanskrit). Many are aware that in the daily rituals we perform, we say Kali yuge prathama pāde as a part of Sankalpa of that pooja. It is quite common in almost every pooja.

My questions:

• If this sankalpa continues for generation after generation, how will it change even if we enter the second pāda of kali yuga?

• How will we know that the first part of the yuga is completed? Will there be any indication?

• Is time period of kaliyuga equally divided among four parts?

• Does the adharma get more prevalent in the next parts of this yuga?

^{The above question is not a duplicate of this question.}

Answer 1

Nothing very definitive but some indications are given in the Bhavisya Purana:

Then Bali and Kalki Devi approached Narayana in the form of Vamana who in turn enabled a Brahmana called Kama Sharma and his wife Devahuti on the banks of Yamuna River; he blessed that this couple would give birth to Bhoga Simha and Keli Simha. These two sons would stay in a Kreedavati Nagar and would carry out the wishes of Kali Yuga Devi, especially in the task of wide-spread Varna-sankara or destroying the Rules of Varnashrama.

Over two thousand years, the established Regulations made by Lord Brahma and the successive Manus would get thinner and thinner and by the Second Paada of Kali Yuga, Kali Devata would be happy to witness that the old Vedic values would be obliterated, that the Daityamaya human beings (fully soaked in Daitya activities) would be of two-and-half feet height, that their life span would be forty years maximum (as against hundred years now) and that they would be free like birds without any Karmic regulations!

What happens even after that ? i.e in the last remaining quarters of Kali Yuga are also given in the same chapter:

At the end of the Kali's second half there would neither by the institutions of marriages, nor Kingships, nor any social reformer and not even a Karma Karta! The World would be full of the progeny of Bhogi Simha and Keli Simha and this kind of a situation devoid of customs and social norms woud prevail for one and quarter lakh years!! In the Third Quarter of Kali Yuga, the average age of human beings would be twenty six years maximum;They would be too lustful and produce too many children and resort to affairs with co-males and animals!....... In the fourth phase of Kali Yuga the maximum age of humans would not exceed tewnty years and live like water-beasts and animals; hells like Tamistra and worse kinds of frightening Places of Retribution would be over-populated

So.basically, when we find human beings are having heights of around two and a half feet and when their life span on average is not more than 40 years we can assume that the first pada of Kali is over.

Answer 2

My understanding of pādā is different. As per Surya Siddhanta (chapter 1, Verse 15 - 19), a pādā ("dharmapādā" to be precise) is a fixed time period corresponding to 1200 divine years (year of the devas). Kali Yuga has a single pādā; Dwapara yuga has two pādā; Treta yuga has three pādā and Krtha yuga as four pādā. Hence saying "kali yuge prathama padhe" is correct but the pādā reference is redundant.

Answer 3

Only when a dharmic king is ruling the earth not when any Kalki arrives.

Following is the text from Bori CE Mahabharat's Udyoga Parva:

If a lord imposes chastisement on the four varnas in accordance with the dharma that they should follow, that ensures that they do not transgress dharma. If a king follows chastisement properly and completely, this signifies the commencement of the best era, known as krita yuga. You should have no doubts about whether the era creates the king, or the king creates the era. It is the king who creates the era. The king is the creator of krita yuga, treta and dvapara. The king is also the cause of the fourth yuga. If a king is the cause of krita, he enjoys heaven for eternity. If a king is the cause of treta, he enjoys heaven, but not for eternity. By leading to the commencement of the dvapara, a king obtains an appropriate share of those fruits. An evil-acting one dwells in hell for an eternity. The earth is touched by a king's taints and also he is touched by the earth.

Author of the above text: Bibek Debroy who translated sanskrit text to English.