Kalki 2898 AD stars Prabhas, Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, and Deepika Padukone
Nag Ashwin’s much-anticipated dystopian film Kalki 2898 AD was released worldwide on Thursday. The pan-India film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Prabhas, and Deepika Padukone in the lead roles. The film is influenced by Hindu mythology and features characters from the epic Mahabharata. For a while, the film was known by its working title Project K until its title was revealed last year. Since then the date in the title has intrigued many. We take a look at the significance of the year in which Kalki 2898 AD is set.
What is 2898 AD in Kalki?
Kalki is set in the 29th century, specifically in the year 2898 AD. The film even specifies in the beginning that it is set ‘6000 years after the Kurukshetra War’ from the Mahabharata. But how did the makers arrive at the date?
It is written in the Mahabharata that Kalki – the tenth avatar of Lord Vishnu – will be born at the end of the Kali Yuga. But the duration of the Kali Yuga is a subject of debate itself. The puranas say that the Chatur Yuga (the combined duration of the Sat Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapar Yuga and the Kali Yuga) is 43,20,000 years with each yuga of a set but different duration. However, the Mahabharat puts the Chatur Yuga;s duration at 24,000 years with each of the four ages 6,000 years long.
In his book Surya Siddhanth, mathematician Aryabhatta studied the position of the celestial bodies mentioned in Mahabharata and deduced that the Kurukshetra War took place in 3128 BC. Based on that, he theorised that the Dwapar Yuga ended on February 18, 3102 BC, the day Lord Krishna left Earth. That was the day Kali Yuga began too. By this logic, Kali Yuga should end 6000 years after this, which comes out to the all-too-familiar date of 2898 AD.
All about Kalki 2898 AD
Kalki 2898 AD is set in Kashi of the 29th century. The film calls it the last city on Earth where the Ganga river has also dried up. Prabhas plays a bounty hunter named Bhairava who is out to catch Sum-80 (Deepika), a pregnant woman believed to be carrying the prophesised Kalki avatar of Lord Vishnu. Protecting her is Ashwatthama (Amitabh Bachchan) while the forces of the evil tyrant Yaskin (Kamal Haasan) are also on their toes.
The scriptures mention the Kalki incarnation as the person who would bring about the end of the Kali Yuga, the current age of Hindu mythology. The messiah-like figure is said to arrive on a white horse with a flaming sword and put an end to all evil in the world, ending the Kali Yuga and bringing about the pralay (a cleansing of the cosmos).
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 "Kalki 2898 AD poster")
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