Kalir, Eleasar Ha-, one of the oldest Jewish poets of Italy, generally regarded as the founder of the syna- gogual poetry of the non-Se]Aardite Jews in Europe, flourished about the beginning of the 8th centurj'. Of his personal history nothing further is known. He wrote some one hundred and fifty different sacred poems, many of which were inserted in the liturgies of the Babylonian, Italian, German, and French Jews. He was a disciple of
Jannai, and was greatly admired by his contemporaries. See Griitz, Gesch. d.Juden, v, 181 sq. ; Sachs, Religiose Poesie d. Juden in Spanien, p. 180 sq. ; Zunz, Synagogale Poesie d. Jifittelalters, p. 128 sq. See also Liturgy, Jew- ish; Machsor; Synagogual Poetry.
Kaliyuga, or the Kali Age, is the fourth or last age of the Malta, or great age [see Yuga], and bears some resemblance to the Iron Age of classical mythol- ogy. The Hindus, recognising, like all religionists of antiquity, that man by sin has fallen from las high es- tate, have divided the world's existence into four pe- riods, which arc marked by successive physical and mor- al decrements of created beings. They hold that the present period is the last one, that it consists of 432,000 solar sidereal years, and tliat the Kali Age began B.C. 3102. "In the Krita (or first) age," Manu says, "the (genius of) Truth and Right (in the form of a bull) stands firm on his four feet, nor docs any a<lvantage ac- crue to men from iniquity. But in the following ages, by reason of unjust gains, he is deprived successive V of one foot; and even just emoluments, through the prevalence of theft, falsehood, and fraud, are gradually diminished by one foot (i. e. by a fourth part)." The estimate in which Kaliyuga, our present age, is held by the modern Hindus may be gathered from one of their most celebrated Puranas, the Padma-Purana. In the last chapter of one of the books (Kriyayogasara) of this Purana, the following account, which we take from Chambers, Cycloptedia (s. v. Kaliyuga), is given of it: " In the Kaliyuga (the genius of) Right will have but one foot ; every one will delight in e\-il. The four castes will be devotea to wickedness, and deprived of the nour- ishment which is fit for them. The Brahmans will neg- lect the Vcdas, hanker after presents, be lustful and cruel. They will despise the Scriptures, gamble, steal, and desire intercourse with widows. . • . For the sake of a livelihood, some Brahmans will become arrant rogues. . . . The Sudras Avill endeavor to lead the life of the Brahmans, and, out of friendship, people will bear false witness . . . they will injure the wives of others, and their speech will be that of falsehood. Greedy of the wealth of others, they will entertain a guest according to the behest of the Scriptures, but af- terwards kill him out of covetousness ; they are indeed worthy of hell. The twice-born (i. e. the first; three castes) will live upon debts, sell the produce of cows, and even their daughters. In this Yuga men will be under the sway of women, and women will be exces- sively fickle. ... In the Kaliyuga the earth will bear but little corn ; the clouds will shed but little rain, and that, too, out of season. The cows will feed on ordure,, and give little milk, and the milk will yield no butter ;. there is no doubt of that. . . . Trees, even, ^vilI wither in twelve j'ears, and the age- of mankind will not exceed sixteen years ; people, moreover, wiU become gray- haired in their youth ; women will bear childrM in their fifth or sixth year, and men will become troubled with a great number of children. In the Kaliyuga the foreigners will become kings, bent upon evil; and those living in foreign countries will be all of one caste, and out of lust take to themselves many wives. In the first twilight of the Kaliyuga people wiU disregard Vishnu, and in the midtUe of it no one will even mention his name." Tliere is a remarkable identity of the Hin- du belief with that of the Hebrew as to redemption from this sinful state by a Messiah. See Hardwick, Christ and other Masters, i, 303 sq., 329 sq. ; Weber,. Indische Sludien, ii, 411 ; Wilson, Asiatic Researches, x, 27 sq. ; Alger, History of the Doctrine of a Future Life^ p. Ill sq.
Kallah. See Talmud.
Kal'lai (Heb. Kallay', i^p, runner; Serft. Ka\- X«i), a chief priest, son of Sallai, contemporary with the high-priest Joiakim (Neh. xii, 20). B.C. post 53G.
Kalmucks (Tatar KhaKmik, i. c. apostates), also- called OlOk or Ekutes, a Jlongolian tribe of nomads,
KALONYMUS
KAMA
a portion of whom live under Chinese rule, while the cjreater number, during the last two centuries, have set- tled in or belong to Russia. They are similar to the Mongols proper, but inferior to them in point of civiliza- tion. They are divided into nobles, people (serfs), and priests ; the last have, in i»articular, a very great in- fluence among the Buddhistic Kalmucks. They are divided into tribes (IHuss), at the head of which are Tchaidas; and the tribes are subdivided into Aimaiis (of from 150 to 300 families each), at the head of which are the Saisans. They call themselves Derhen Eret (Uorbon-Oirat), i. e. the four allies, because, from time immemorial, they have been divided into four chief tribes : 1. The Dsongars, after whom Dsongaria is called, formerly the most powerful of the tribes, but subse- quently subdued by the Chinese, and now extant onlj^ in small number. 2. The Koshotes (i. e. warriors), un- der princes from the family of Jenghis Khan, num- bering from 50,000 to 60,000; they voluntarily placed themselves under the sceptre of Russia, and are loyal subjects; their favorite drink is the kumiss (fermented horse milk). 3. The Derbets, living, in the 16th and 17tli centuries, on the Volga and Ural, now on the Don and the Hi. 4. The Torgots (Ttirga-Uten), or Kalmucks of the Volga, have, for the most part, left Russian terri- tory; only the tribe Zoochor, under the prince Dundu- kor, a grand-uncle of the powerful khan Ayuka, remain- ed. Dimdukor himself was baptized, and, by order of Alexander I, the title passed over to his son-in-law Xor- kasov. Some of the Kalmucks live scattered in the gov- ernment of Simbirsk (15,000 souls, all in connection with the Greek Church), others east of the Ural, on the Jhet River (professing Islamism), and in several commercial towns of Russia, altogether about 1 20,000 souls, of whom 73 per cent, live in the government of Astrachan. The majority of the Kalmucks are still Buddhists. They were all originaUy adherents of that form of Buddhism Imown as Lumaism, which the IMongols in general re- ceived from Thibet. In Dsongaria they have two cel- ebrated temples; the one is situated on the Tekes, the other on the Hi. In the latter resides the Tchamba Lama in the winter, and with him a number of priests, who here teach reading and writing. They are joined by pious pilgrims and numerous Chinese merchants, who set up their shops around the temple. The chiefs of the Chinese Kalmucks used to receive from the man- darin the insignia of their rank, but of late the virtual independence of Dsongaria has severed the former re- lation of the Kalmucks to the Chinese government; and, after the occupation of Kultsha by the Russians in ^lay, 1871, the Chinese Kalmucks generally declared their submission to the Russian government. The lan- guage of the Kalmucks is a branch of the jNIongolian language ; grammars of the language have been pub- lished bj' Bobrovnikov (Kasan, 1849) and Zwieck (Don- aue^iingen, 1857). The literature consists almost ex- clusively of translations of Buddhistic writings from India. A collection of legends (Siddhi-Kiir), with Ger- man translation, was published by Julg (Leipzig, 1866). (A.J.S.)