Kāla as Fate Deity in the Mokṣadharma-parvan
Ivan Andrijanić
This presentation will try to explore the doctrine of kāla (time) in the epic context and to investigate the claim that kāla is a fate deity. Focus will be on the Mokṣadharma-parvan of the Mahābhārata where we can find passages where the kāla doctrine is discussed. These passages will be compared to the passages which claim that fate is not influenced by human actions. Few important passages of the Mokṣadharma-parvan where the doctrine of kāla is expounded (two conversations of Bali and Vāsava [Indra] in MBh [CE] 12.217–220 where we find what is possibly one story in two versions) will also be considered in the presentation.
The first thing one can notice is that usual words for fate (daiva, vidhi, niyati …) in the Mokṣadharmaparvan do not appear in the context of kāla discussions. On the other side, in the passages where fate is discussed, the word kāla or the doctrine of Time does not appear. Although there is no chapter in the Mokṣadharma-parvan where kāla appears together with some word for fate, there are texts dealing with kāla where the word bhavitavya appears together with some concepts usually connected with the problem of fate and free will. One of such concepts for instance is the stringent character of Time upon which human effort can not influence. On the other side we have the doctrine of karman according to which human actions determine their destiny. Outside the Mokṣadharma-parvan the word kāla sometimes appears together with words that denote destiny such as MBh (CE) 1.1, 3.257, 12.28 etc. At the end I shall discuss the idea that the concept of fate which possibly belongs to an old warrior worldview is in a way blurred in the Mokṣadharmaparvan which is a comparatively late brahmanic didactic addition to MBh.