Kalki is the tenth avatar of Vishnu in the list of the Dashavatara, and the only one who belongs to the future. The nine before him are said to have come already. Kalki is promised, a figure of hope at the close of a long and difficult age, who ends the age and begins a new one. This page tells what the texts say about him, puts the idea of the Kali Yuga in its place, and covers the festival and the places that honour him. The tone of the texts is the tone of hope, and a calm reader will find no date or sign in them to worry about.
Where the story comes from
The best-known passage is in the twelfth book of the Bhagavata Purana, which says that at the end of the Kali Yuga, when rulers have become little better than robbers, Vishnu will be born in the village of Shambhala as the son of a Brahmin named Vishnuyasha, with the name Kalki. The Vishnu Purana and the Mahabharata also speak of a coming figure, and the Mahabharata has a passage in which he restores peace. A separate minor text, the Kalki Purana, gives a longer story of his youth, his learning from Parashurama, his marriage and his campaigns. Scholars date that text to a much later period than the older Puranas. Tellings vary, and this page follows the common outline.
The Kali Yuga in the tradition
Hindu tradition divides time into four ages, the yugas: Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali. Each is shorter than the one before, and over the cycle, dharma is said to decline from the full strength of the first age to a quarter of it in the fourth. The Kali Yuga, in the traditional reckoning, began with the departure of Krishna, which the old astronomical texts count as the year 3102 BCE, and it lasts for 432,000 years. On that count the age is still in its early part, and hundreds of thousands of years remain. A few modern teachers have proposed shorter cycles, and astronomers and historians do not use the system at all. In the Puranas the Kali Yuga is described as hard, with greed and strife, but also as the age when devotion is easiest, since the Bhagavata says that in this age the name of the Lord is enough. A reader can take the description as a way of speaking about human difficulty and not as a forecast.
The story as the tradition tells it
In the Kalki Purana, Kalki grows up in Shambhala, learns the Vedas and the arts of war from the sage Parashurama, and receives a divine sword and a white horse named Devadatta. He travels to Simhala (Sri Lanka in many readings), where he marries the princess Padma, who is said to be an aspect of Lakshmi. Then he rides out against the forces of adharma, the rule of corrupt kings and the powers of the age, and brings the Kali Yuga to an end. In some tellings, a new Satya Yuga opens at once and the earth is renewed.
In the sculpture of the ten avatars, Kalki is shown as a rider on a white horse with a drawn sword, or as a human figure beside the horse, or sometimes as a horse-headed man.
How the story is read
Devotional readers take Kalki as the promise that the world will not end in darkness: the tenth avatar completes the cycle and starts it afresh. Others read the sword as the cutting of ignorance and the horse as the power of the mind brought under control. The Bhagavad Gita’s teaching in chapter 4, that the Lord comes into the world whenever dharma declines, is often connected with this idea. Some modern readers also see the ten avatars as a single story from creation to renewal. That is a popular interpretation and the texts do not state it. A traditional answer to the question “when” is that it is not for us to know, and that the right response is to practise the good that is within reach now.
The festival: Kalki Jayanti
Kalki Jayanti is kept on the sixth tithi of the bright fortnight of Shravana, Shashthi, in many panchangs. The festival is observed mostly in temples and by Vaishnava families, with worship of Vishnu and, in some places, readings from the Bhagavata Purana or the Kalki Purana. Because Kalki is the avatar of the future, the observance is a prayer of hope and not a birthday in the usual sense. Calendars vary, so follow the one your family uses.
Where Kalki is honoured
- Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh: local tradition identifies the town with the Shambhala of the Bhagavata, and it has a Kalki Vishnu temple. Other places have been named as Shambhala by other traditions, including the Buddhist Kalachakra tradition, which has its own and different Shambhala.
- Kalki Temple, Jaipur, Rajasthan: a temple in the old city, associated by local tradition with Sawai Jai Singh II, with a white horse statue.
- Temple sculpture: Kalki appears in the panels of the ten avatars on many Vishnu temples, in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Odisha among other places.
There are few temples dedicated to Kalki alone, as he has not yet appeared. Check each temple’s own notice before you travel.
Reading and reciting
The Vishnu Sahasranama includes names that refer to the avatars, and the Achyutashtakam is a short hymn that can be recited on Vishnu days. Observances for Vishnu through the year include the fortnightly Ekadashi.
Back to the beginning
The list ends here, and the cycle begins again with Matsya. The Dashavatara overview puts all ten side by side.
Frequently asked questions
↳ Who is Kalki?
Kalki is the tenth and future avatar of Vishnu. The tradition says he will appear at the end of the Kali Yuga on a white horse, with a sword, to restore dharma and begin a new age.
↳ Has Kalki already come?
No. In the tradition, nine of the ten avatars have come and Kalki is the one still to come. Traditional reckoning puts that event at the end of the Kali Yuga, hundreds of thousands of years from now.
↳ Where is Kalki born according to the texts?
The Bhagavata Purana says in a village called Shambhala, to a Brahmin named Vishnuyasha. Local tradition identifies Shambhala with Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh, and other traditions place it elsewhere.
↳ What is the Kalki Purana?
A later minor Purana that tells the life of Kalki at length, including his teaching by Parashurama, his marriage and his campaigns. Scholars place it much later than the older Puranas.
↳ When is Kalki Jayanti?
It is kept on Shashthi of the bright fortnight of Shravana in many panchangs. Follow your family's or temple's calendar for the day.