> [[znamenski]]. *Red Shambhala: Magic, prophecy, and Geopolitics in the Heart of Asia*. Quest Books, 2011. [pdf](a/a-znamenski2011.pdf) ## Notes/Extracts ### Eschatological Parallel between Hindu Puranas & Buddhist Myth of Shambala During the Kali Yuga goodness will be preserved in a specific place (the 12 mandalas, the city of Shambala) from which the world will be rebuilt during the following Golden age. > "In Sanskrit texts these alien infidels were called mlecca people. Tibetan sources referred to them as lalo. The invaders, the legend said, would bring misery and chaos, and the whole world would enter Kaliyuga (the Age of Disputes), when the true Buddhist faith would decline. The northern Shambhala kingdom would remain the only stronghold of the true faith and would eventu- ally redeem people from this misery. To deliver Tibetan Buddhist people from the danger, the last Shamb- hala king, Rudra Chakrin (the Wrathful One with the Wheel, Rigden Djapo in Tibetan), would enter a trance so that he could see the coming events. Then he would gather a mighty army and launch a merciless at- tack against the barbarians. In the ensuing horrible, Armageddon-like battle, the infidels would be totally crushed, and the Age of Disputes would be over. After this successful Shambhala war, the true faith (Ti- betan Buddhism) would triumph all over the earth [...] The references to the Age of Disputes and to the king redeemer most likely originated from Hinduism, which had a legend that Vishnu was born in the village of Shambhala. Like Rudra Chakrin, Vishnu was destined to defeat those that stepped on the wrong spiritual path and then to reawaken the minds of hesitant people. Scholars also believe that the apocalyptic notions of the final battle and the whole talk about the forces of good and evil fighting each other might have penetrated Tibetan Buddhism from Manichaeism and especially from Islam. It is well known that in the early Middle Ages, the mlecca people, or peo- ple of Mecca, at first mingled with Buddhist communities in eastern Afghanistan and northern India and then mercilessly drove them out." (a-znamenski2011p3-5)