Kali Yuga

In Hinduism, a similar eschatological situation is based on the mythology of descending cycles and is rooted in the period of Kali Yuga (कलियुग).

For Hinduism, the cyclic pattern is as follows. There is the night of Brahma and the day of Brahma. During Brahma's night period the world does not exist, while during the day period it does. Since Brahma is eternal, his days and nights do not follow one another but coexist, expressing his two aspects - the unrevealed and the manifested - Saguna Brahman, Saguna Brahman (Brahma with qualities) and Nirguna Brahman, Nirguṇa Brahman (Brahma without qualities). Each day of Brahma (mahakalpa) contains 1000 kalpas[49]. Each kalpa has 14 manvantars[50] - 7 manvantars of departure and 7 manvantars of return. In each manvantar there are 4 yugas (satya yuga, treta yuga, dvapara yuga and kali yuga).

Modern mankind lives at the end of kali yuga in the 7th manvantara (after which the cycle of return should begin) of the kalpa of Varaha (white boar).

From the point of view of the Hindu theory of cycles, it is important that within the manvantaras the descending order of the yugas is respected: the yugas correspond to Hesiod's golden, silver, copper and iron ages. The Satya yuga lasts four tenths of a manvantara, the treta yuga three, the dvapara yuga two and the kali yuga one. At the same time, the parameters of human existence get worse and worse, and since Hinduism considers the antithesis order/disorder, sacred/profane, hierarchical/chaotic, etc., the logic of changing yugas implies a transition from order, sacredness and hierarchy to disorder, profanity and chaos. The last yuga, the kali yuga, in turn represents a descent, only this time into the lowest cycle: it is a time of destruction, confusion, chaos, lawlessness, injustice and decadence, above all.

At the end of the kali yuga, the coming of the tenth avatar of the god Vishnu, Kalka (कल्कि), king of the mystical country of Shambhala[51], is expected. At this point the Kali-yuga of the seventh manvantara will end and the new satya-yuga of the next - the eighth - manvantara will begin.
Kalki is he who overcomes darkness and filth:

It is said that at the end of Kali Yuga, the earth will be ruled by the Mlechchi kings. Ungodly and wicked, they will not be crowned properly, but will take power by force and commit various atrocities. They will not hesitate to kill women and children and destroy each other. The rise and fall of such kingdoms will follow one another rapidly. These kings know neither mercy, nor true love, nor true wealth. The common people will follow their example. All current traditions will be lost. The kings will destroy their subjects, they will be characterised by greed and misconduct. In those times women will outnumber men. Education will decline, people's strength will decrease more and more, and life expectancy will shorten. Finally, time will stop the reign of the existing kings and there will be no more kings. Only the coming of Lord Kalka will put an end to all mlechha, heretics and the ungodly. Furthermore, the Vayu Purana (98.391-407) describes the end of the Kali Yuga, a time when only a few will remain alive. They will be helpless beggars, deprived of any property. No one will help them, they will suffer continually from disease and various misfortunes, they will starve in drought. They will kill each other (in anger or hunger). A sense of love will be lost, even among close friends. People will settle along river banks and in the mountains, wandering the land and looking for food. At the end of Kali Yuga humanity will be destroyed [52].

Kali yuga is the age of the demon Kali (कलि). Sometimes this point is overlooked because of the proximity of the name to the black goddess Kali (काली), the Shakti of Shiva. But these are different roots: in the name of the demon Kali (kali) both vowels are short, while in the name of the goddess Kali (kālī) they are long. In some myths, the final battle between the goddess Kali and the demon Kali culminates in the Dark Ages. The demon Kali (कलि) corresponds functionally to the gestalt of the 'Antichrist'.
It should be noted that the phonetic similarity of the names of all the main figures in the eschatological scenario has a symbolic load - the conditions of the end times differ in many religions and traditions precisely because it is easy to confuse high and low, truth and its simulacrum, in this period. The black demon is a simulacrum of the black goddess and an enemy, an adversary of the white avatar, Kalki.

In Buddhism, King Kalki is mentioned as the ruler of Shambhala.
In Buddhism, the future Buddha Maitreya (मैत्रेय) is also present.
The Buddha's antagonist is the demon of illusion and death, Mara (मार). By defeating Mara, the Buddha achieves bliss and awakening.

Ormuzd and Ahriman

A peculiarity of the Zoroastrian religion is that in it the struggle between the god of Light and the god of Darkness lasts throughout the history of the world.

The Zoroastrian text Bundahishn tells us about its structure in this way:
Ormazd has always been the highest in omniscience, virtue and luminosity. The realm of light is the place of Ormazd, which he calls 'infinite light', and omniscience and virtue are permanent (?) properties of Ormazd. As he says in the Avesta, the Avesta is an explanation of both: that which is constant and infinite in time - for Ormazd, the place, faith and time of Ormazd was, is and will always be - and Ahriman, who in darkness, ignorance, the passion of destruction and the abyss was, is, but will not be. The place of destruction and darkness is what is called 'infinite darkness'. In between was the void, (i.e.) what is called 'air', in which the two spiritual (beginnings), the limited and the boundless, the upper, what is called 'infinite light', and the abyss, 'infinite darkness', have now mingled with each other. What is between them is emptiness, and the one is not connected to the other, and <then> both spiritual beginnings are limited in themselves. As for Ormazd's omniscience, he is aware of both types of creations - limited and unlimited - as well as (knowing) the contract of the two spiritual (beginnings). Moreover, the power of Ormazd's creations will be attained in the final incarnation [53] and will become unlimited forever. And Ahriman's creations will perish at the final incarnation, and this too is limitless [54].

It is important to note that Ahura-Mazda and Angro-Manyu fight almost equally for power over the past and the present. Ahura-Mazda 'was and is' (būd ud ast), and Angro-Manyu 'was and is' (būd ud ast). The field of this battle is the 'void' (tuhīg) or 'air' (wāy), where the two abysses of Light and Darkness, limit and limitlessness, meet. But Ormazd's wisdom lies in the fact that he possesses the third dimension of sacred time, the time of war - the future. Ahriman 'was, is, but will not be' (būd ud ast kē nē bawēd). The Spirit of Evil is denied one thing, the future. This very denial predetermines the nature of the future as understood by Zoroastrianism. The future age is an age without Ahriman.
Interestingly, the middle age between creation (Bundahishn) and the age of final separation or judgement (Vizarishn) is the age of confusion. In it, light is mixed with darkness, truth with falsehood, high with low. In a sense, this is the age of apostasy and substitution. It is also a 'time of rivalry'. It is described this way:

"Then, through omniscience, Ormazd knew: 'If I do not create a time of rivalry, he will be able to deceive and subdue my creations, for even now, in the Age of Confusion, there are many people who commit more sins than righteous deeds.' And Ormazd said to the Evil Spirit, 'Agree ('accept') with the times, so that (our) struggle in the Age of Confusion may last nine thousand years.' For he knew that with the acceptance of this (period) of time the Evil Spirit would be exhausted. Then the unobservant and unintelligent Evil Spirit approved of such an agreement, just as two men at war with each other establish a time: "On such and such a day we shall fight.

In Zoroastrianism, the final age, Vizarishn (differentiation), is the final separation of good and evil. During this period, those loyal to Ormuzd fight a final battle against the servants of Ahriman.
At the end of the cycle, the 'last Zarathustra' or 'second Zarathustra' appears, who acts as the restorer of the original good world. This is the climax of the story as a battle:

According to the new revelation received from Zoroaster, humanity has a common purpose with the good deities to gradually defeat evil and restore the world to its original, perfect form. The marvellous moment when this will be realised is called Frashokhereti (in Pahlavi Phrashegird), which probably means 'To perform miracles, to work miracles'. Here the second era will end, while the third, the 'Separation' (in Pahlavi Vizarishn), will begin. Then good will again be separated from evil and, since the latter will be finally destroyed, the 'Separation' will last forever and during all this time Ahura-Mazda, the good deities-Jazata, men and women will live together in complete peace and tranquillity [56].

The analogue of the Christian Antichrist is Ahriman himself, who at the end of history has subjected the material world to his power. At the critical moment of world confrontation, Ahriman reveals his face. The "collective Antichrist" of Zoroastrianism can be seen as a collection of "sons of darkness", Ahriman's army, which reaches the pinnacle of power at a crucial moment in sacred history.

The Pole of Light is embodied in the figure of Saoshyant, the saviour, the universal king who clashes with the armies of darkness in the final battle.

Giants, titans

In the Hellenic tradition - unlike monotheistic religions and Iranian Zoroastrianism - there is no contrasting figure embodying the beginning of pure evil. The very structure of the Greek worldview gravitates towards the Platonic attitude that 'evil is only a diminution of good' and is therefore devoid of hypostatic presence, original presence, essence. Socrates refused to recognise the existence of an idea (paradigm) in dirt; consequently, there could be no idea of evil, much less pure evil, in such a context. Eschatology, too, did not play an important role in Greek culture, as existence revolved in a measured way around the immutable divine eternal axis. Within such a framework there was good and only a relative diminution of it. Time was the moving image of eternity. The world was the image of Olympus. Becoming is the image of being. At the centre of things is the immovable engine, which is the only truly important and meaningful beginning and end - source and destination.

The balanced attitude of Greek religion towards the gods of Hades, the realm of the dead, is indicative. Hades and Persephone, who ruled there, had their own cults and temples, rites and myths. Hades was also visited by the Olympian gods Zeus himself, Apollo, Dionysus and Hermes. The god-fairy Hephaestus was associated with the subterranean regions. Hades was also considered an ordered place, with its divine structures as part of the harmony of the world.

But the Greeks also knew of titanomachy and gigantomachy: a rebellion of titans and giants against the power of the eternal gods, an attempt to become against the immutable and eternal order of Olympus.

Thus, analogues of the figure of the 'Antichrist' in Greek tradition are to be found among the titans and giants, as well as among the heroic figures close to them.

Thus, particularly sinister features are present in Greek mythology: the titan Prometheus, the chthonic snake-like monsters Python and Typhon, the king of the giants Eurimedon and their leader in the rebellion against the gods in the Phlegraean fields Alkionaeus, etc. The myths claimed that there were 12 supreme titans and main giants according to the number of the gods on Mount Olympus. Each of the chthonic monsters - giants - sought to overthrow the god opposing them: Alcyoneus to Hades, Polybot to Poseidon, Mimantes to Hephaestus, Enkelad to Athena and Porphyry to Zeus himself.

Here we see the same symmetry that characterises the gestalt of the 'Antichrist', who imitates God, who tries to pass himself off as him, substituting a copy of reality. Titans and giants are not only opponents of the gods, but also their simulacra, trying to pass themselves off as them.

Other polytheistic traditions know the same kind of beings with inverse symmetry, analogous to the gods and titans (giants) of the Greeks. In Hinduism, they correspond to deva and asura, in Mazdeism to the inverse proportion of ahura and deva. In Germanic myths, the celestial axes are opposed to the chthonic ineist giants Jotun.

Other mythologies similarly describe battles and clashes between old and new gods. In the Western Semitic tradition of Canaan a similar figure of a fighting god was Ba'al, a younger deity deprived of his inheritance, who decided to take it away by force by crushing his father, the old god Ilu [57].

We see a truly stark antagonism between the gods and their chthonic adversaries only in the Iranian tradition, traceable to the metaphysical dualism of Ormuzd and Ahriman. In other mythologies and religious systems - primarily in Hellenism - it does not play a major religious role. Consequently, the eschatological dimension in these traditions is outlined rather vaguely.

Nevertheless, even these mythological gestalts can, with certain reservations, be attributed to the 'Antichrist' archetype that interests us.

[49] The term "kalpa" means both a long period of time and something ordered, shaped, defined, limited.

[50] The term manvantara literally means the age of man, Manu, or humanity.

[51] Dugin A. G. Noomakhia. Horizons and Civilizations of Eurasia. Indo-European heritage and traces of the Great Mother. Op. cit.

[52] Lavalois K. The Tenth Avatar// /Milyy Angel" #3, M., 2000.

[53] The expression tan <ī> pasēn means "the coming body" or "the body of the age to come". This concept as "body of glory" is examined in detail by Henri Corbin. Corbin A. The Light of Glory and the Holy Grail. Moscow: Magic Mountain, 2006.

[54] Zoroastrian texts. Judgments of the Spirit of Mind (Dadestan-i menogh-i khrad). The Creation of the Basis (Bundahishn) and other texts. Moscow: Eastern Literature Publishing Company of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1997. С. 265-266.

[55] Zoroastrian texts. Judgments of the Spirit of Mind (Dadestan-i menogh-i khrad). The Creation of the Basis (Bundahishn) and other texts. op. cit. p. 267.

[56] Boyce M. Zoroastrians. Beliefs and customs. Moscow: Nauka Publisher, 1987. С. 36.

[57] Dugin A. G. Noomakhia. Semites. Monotheism of the Moon and the Gestalt of Va'ala. Moscow: Academic Project, 2017.

[58] Dugin A. G. D Signs of the Great North. Moscow: Veche, 2008.

[59] Ibn Khaldūn The Muqaddimah; An Introduction to History. 3 volumes. New York; London: Princeton University Press, 1958.