AYuga Cycle (a.k.a.chatur yuga,maha yuga,etc.) is a cyclic age (epoch) inHindu cosmology. Each cycle lasts for 4,320,000 years (12,000 divine years[a]) and repeats fouryugas (world ages):Krita (Satya) Yuga,Treta Yuga,Dvapara Yuga, andKali Yuga.[4]
As aYuga Cycle progresses through the fouryugas, eachyuga's length and humanity's general moral and physical state within eachyuga decrease by one-fourth.Kali Yuga, which lasts for 432,000 years, is believed to have started in 3102 BCE.[5][6] Near the end ofKali Yuga, when virtues are at their worst, a cataclysm and a re-establishment ofdharma occur to usher in the next cycle'sKrita (Satya) Yuga, prophesied to occur byKalki.[7]
There are 71Yuga Cycles in amanvantara (age ofManu) and 1,000Yuga Cycles in akalpa (day ofBrahma).[6]
AYuga Cycle has several names.
Age orYuga (Sanskrit:युग,lit. 'an age of the gods'):[citation needed]
Chatur Yuga (Sanskrit:चतुर्युग,romanized: caturyuga, catur-yuga, chaturyuga, or chatur-yuga,lit. 'catur means four;[citation needed] a set of the four ages'):[12]
Daiva Yuga (Sanskrit:दैवयुग,romanized: daivayuga or daiva-yuga,lit. 'a divine or celestial age; an age of the gods'),[16]
Deva Yuga (Sanskrit:देवयुग,romanized: devayuga or deva-yuga,lit. 'an age of the gods'),[17]
Divya Yuga (Sanskrit:दिव्य युग,romanized: divyayuga or divya-yuga,lit. 'a divine or celestial age'):[citation needed]
Maha Yuga (Sanskrit:महायुग,romanized: mahāyuga or mahā-yuga,lit. 'a great age'):[18]
Yuga Cycle (Sanskrit:युग,lit. 'age') + (English:cycle):
It is theorized that the concept of the fouryugas originated some time after the compilation of the fourVedas, but prior to the rest of theHindu texts, based on the concept's absence in the former writings. It is believed that the fouryugas—Krita (Satya),Treta,Dvapara, andKali—are named after throws of an Indian game oflong dice, marked with 4-3-2-1 respectively.[5] A dice game is described in theRigveda,Atharvaveda,Upanishads,Ramayana,Mahabharata, andPuranas, while the fouryugas are described after the fourVedas with no mention of a correlation to dice.[13][20] A complete description of the fouryugas and their characteristics are in theVishnu Smriti (ch. 20),[21]Mahabharata (e.g. Vanaparva 149, 183),Manusmriti (I.81–86), andPuranas (e.g.Brahma, ch. 122–123;Matsya, ch. 142–143;Naradiya, Purvardha, ch. 41).[22] The fouryugas are also described in theBhagavata Purana (3.11.18–20).
Hindu texts describe fouryugas (world ages) in aYuga Cycle—Krita (Satya) Yuga,Treta Yuga,Dvapara Yuga, andKali Yuga—where, starting in order from the first age, eachyuga's length decreases by one-fourth (25%), giving proportions of 4:3:2:1. Eachyuga is described as having a main period (a.k.a.yuga proper) preceded by itsyuga-sandhyā (dawn) and followed by itsyuga-sandhyāṃśa (dusk), where eachtwilight (dawn/dusk) lasts for one-tenth (10%) of its main period. Lengths are given in divine years (years of the gods), each lasting for 360solar (human) years.[4][5][6]
EachYuga Cycle lasts for 4,320,000 years (12,000 divine years) with its fouryugas:Krita (Satya) Yuga for 1,728,000 (4,800 divine) years,Treta Yuga for 1,296,000 (3,600 divine) years,Dvapara Yuga for 864,000 (2,400 divine) years, andKali Yuga for 432,000 (1,200 divine) years.[4][5][6]
| Yuga | Part | Divine years | Solar years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Krita (Satya) | Krita-yuga-sandhya (dawn) | 400 | 144,000 |
| Krita-yuga (proper) | 4,000 | 1,440,000 | |
| Krita-yuga-sandhyamsa (dusk) | 400 | 144,000 | |
| Treta | Treta-yuga-sandhya (dawn) | 300 | 108,000 |
| Treta-yuga (proper) | 3,000 | 1,080,000 | |
| Treta-yuga-sandhyamsa (dusk) | 300 | 108,000 | |
| Dvapara | Dvapara-yuga-sandhya (dawn) | 200 | 72,000 |
| Dvapara-yuga (proper) | 2,000 | 720,000 | |
| Dvapara-yuga-sandhyamsa (dusk) | 200 | 72,000 | |
| Kali | Kali-yuga-sandhya (dawn) | 100 | 36,000 |
| Kali-yuga (proper) | 1,000 | 360,000 | |
| Kali-yuga-sandhyamsa (dusk) | 100 | 36,000 | |
| Total | 12,000 | 4,320,000 | |
The current cycle's fouryugas have the following dates based on Kali Yuga, the fourth and present age, starting in 3102 BCE:[6][13][23]
| Yuga | Start (– End) | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Krita (Satya) | 3,891,102 BCE | 1,728,000 (4,800) |
| Treta | 2,163,102 BCE | 1,296,000 (3,600) |
| Dvapara | 867,102 BCE | 864,000 (2,400) |
| Kali* | 3102 BCE – 428,899 CE | 432,000 (1,200) |
| Years: 4,320,000solar (12,000 divine) | ||
| (*) Current. | [c][23][24] | |
Mahabharata, Book 12 (Shanti Parva), Ch. 231:[25][d]
(17) A year (of men) is equal to a day and night of the gods ... (19) I shall, in their order, tell you the number of years that are for different purposes calculated differently, in the Krita, the Treta, the Dwapara, and the Kali yugas. (20) Four thousand celestial years is the duration of the first or Krita age. The morning of that cycle consists of four hundred years and its evening is of four hundred years. (21) Regarding the other cycles, the duration of each gradually decreases by a quarter in respect of both the principal period with the minor portion and the conjoining portion itself. (29) The learned say that these twelve thousand celestial years form what is called a cycle ...
Manusmriti, Ch. 1:[26]
(67) A year is a day and a night of the gods ... (68) But hear now the brief (description of) the duration of a night and a day of Brahman [(Brahma)] and of the several ages (of the world, yuga) according to their order. (69) They declare that the Krita age (consists of) four thousand years (of the gods); the twilight preceding it consists of as many hundreds, and the twilight following it of the same number. (70) In the other three ages with their twilights preceding and following, the thousands and hundreds are diminished by one (in each). (71) These twelve thousand (years) which thus have been just mentioned as the total of four (human) ages, are called one age of the gods.
Surya Siddhanta, Ch. 1:[27]
(13) ... twelve months make a year. This is called a day of the gods. (14) ... Six times sixty [360] of them are a year of the gods ... (15) Twelve thousand of these divine years are denominated a Quadruple Age (caturyuga); of ten thousand times four hundred and thirty-two [4,320,000] solar years (16) Is composed that Quadruple Age, with its dawn and twilight. The difference of the Golden and the other Ages, as measured by the difference in the number of the feet of Virtue in each, is as follows : (17) The tenth part of an Age, multiplied successively by four, three, two, and one, gives the length of the Golden and the other Ages, in order : the sixth part of each belongs to its dawn and twilight.
There are 71Yuga Cycles (306,720,000 years) in amanvantara, a period ruled byManu, who is the progenitor of mankind.[28] There are 1,000Yuga Cycles (4,320,000,000 years) in akalpa, a period that is a day (12-hour day proper) ofBrahma, who is the creator of the planets and first living entities. There are 14manvantaras (4,294,080,000 years) in akalpa with a remainder of 25,920,000 years assigned to 15manvantara-sandhyas (junctures), each the length of aSatya Yuga (1,728,000 years). Akalpa is followed by apralaya (night or partial dissolution) of equal length forming a full day (24-hour day). Amaha-kalpa (life of Brahma) lasts for 100 360-day years of Brahma, which lasts for 72,000,000Yuga Cycles (311.04 trillion years) and is followed by amaha-pralaya (full dissolution) of equal length.[6]
We are currently halfway throughBrahma's life (maha-kalpa):[6][29][30][31]
Yuga dates are used in anashloka, which is read out at the beginning of Hindu rites to specify the elapsed time in Brahma's life. For example, an ashloka in 2007 CE of theGregorian calendar might include the lines:[32][e]
5109 ofKalyugi year of the 28thChaturyugee of the 7thManvantara on the first day of the 51st year of the 2ndBrahma [(2nd half of Brahma's life)].
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According to theManusmriti, the virtue (dharma) of human beings varies across the four yugas (ages). The text states:
तपः परं कृतयुगे त्रेतायां ज्ञानमुच्यते ।
द्वापरे यज्ञमेवाहुर्दानमेकं कलौ युगे ॥
tapaḥ paraṃ kṛtayuge tretāyāṃ jñānamucyate
dvāpare yajñamevāhurdānamekaṃ kalau yuge
In theKrita Yuga, the virtue isausterity (tapas); in theTreta Yuga, it isknowledge (jnana); in theDvapara Yuga, it issacrifice (yajna); and in theKali Yuga, it ischarity (dāna).[33]
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Ganesha avatars are described as coming during specificyugas.[34][35][36]
ThePuranas describeVishnu avatars that come during specificyugas, but may not occur in everyYuga Cycle.
Vamana appears at the beginning ofTreta Yuga. According toVayu Purana, Vamana's 3rd appearance was in the 7thTreta Yuga.[37][38]
Rama appears at the end ofTreta Yuga.[39] According toVayu Purana andMatsya Purana, Rama appeared in the 24thYuga Cycle.[40] According toPadma Purana, Rama also appeared in the 27thYuga Cycle of the 6th (previous)manvantara.[41]
Vyasa is attributed as the compiler of the fourVedas,Mahabharata, andPuranas. According to theVishnu Purana,Kurma Purana, andShiva Purana, a different Vyasa comes at the end of eachDvapara Yuga to write downveda (knowledge) to guide humans in the degraded age ofKali Yuga.[42][43][44]
Breaking from the long duration of aYuga Cycle, new theories have emerged regarding the length, number, and order of theyugas.
Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri (1855–1936) proposed aYuga Cycle of 24,000 years in the introduction of his bookThe Holy Science (1894).[45]
He claimed the understanding thatKali Yuga lasts for 432,000 years was a mistake, which he traced back toRaja Parikshit, just after the descendingDvapara Yuga ended (c. 3101 BCE) and all the wise men of his court retired to the Himalaya Mountains. With no one left to correctly calculate the ages,Kali Yuga never officially started. After 499 CE, in ascendingDvapara Yuga, when the intellect of men began to develop, but not fully, they noticed mistakes and attempted to correct them by converting what they thought to be divine years to human years (1:360 ratio). Yukteswar'syuga lengths forSatya,Treta,Dvapara, andKali are respectively 4,800, 3,600, 2,400, and 1,200 "human" years (12,000 years total).[46][47]
He accepted the fouryugas and their 4:3:2:1 length anddharma proportions, but hisYuga Cycle contained eightyugas, the original descending set of the fouryugas followed by an ascending (reversed) set, where he called each set a "Daiva Yuga" or "Electric Couple". HisYuga Cycle lasts for 24,000 years, which he believed equals oneprecession of the equinoxes (traditionally 25,920 years; 1,920 years difference). He states that the world entered thePisces-Virgo Age in 499 CE ("cycle bottom"), and that the current age of ascendingDvapara Yuga started in 1699 CE around the time of scientific discoveries and advancements such as electricity.[48][47]
He explained that in a 24,000-yearYuga Cycle, the Sun completes one orbit around somedual star, becoming nearer and farther to agalactic center, which the pair orbit in a longer period. He called this galactic centerVishnunabhi (Vishnu's Navel), whereBrahma regulatesdharma or, as Yukteswar defined it, mental virtue.Dharma is lowest when farthest from Brahma at the descending-ascending intersection ("cycle-bottom"), where the opposite occurs at the "cycle-top" when nearest. Atdharma's lowest (499 CE), human intellect cannot comprehend anything beyond thegross material world.[49][50]
| Yuga | Start (– End) | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Descending (12,000 years): | ||
| Krita (Satya) | 11,501 BCE | 4,800 |
| Treta | 6701 BCE | 3,600 |
| Dvapara | 3101 BCE | 2,400 |
| Kali | 701 BCE | 1,200 |
| Ascending (12,000 years): | ||
| Kali | 499 CE | 1,200 |
| Dvapara* | 1699 CE | 2,400 |
| Treta | 4099 CE | 3,600 |
| Krita (Satya) | 7699–12,499 CE | 4,800 |
| Years: 24,000 | ||
| (*) Current. | [e] | |
Joscelyn Godwin states that Yukteswar believed the traditional chronology of theyugas wrong and rigged for political reasons, but that Yukteswar may have had political reasons of his own, evident in a police report printed inAtlantis and the Cycles of Time, which links Yukteswar to a secret anti-colonial movement calledYugantar, meaning "new age" or "transition of an epoch".[51]
Godwin claims theJain time cycle and theEuropean myth of progress influenced Yukteswar, whose theory only recently became prominent outside India. Humanity in an upward cycle is contrary to traditional ideas. Godwin points out many philosophies and religions that started during a time when "man could not see beyond the gross material world" (701 BCE – 1699 CE). Onlymaterialists andatheists would welcome the post-1700 age as an improvement.[52]
John Major Jenkins, who adjusted ascendingKali Yuga from 499 CE to 2012 in his version, criticizes Yukteswar as wanting the "cycle-bottom" to correspond to his education, beliefs, and historical understanding. Technology has thrust us deeper into material dependency and spiritual darkness.[53]
René Guénon (1886–1951) proposed aYuga Cycle of 64,800 years in his 1931 French article, which was later translated in the bookTraditional Forms & Cosmic Cycles (2001).[54]
Guénon accepted the doctrine of the fouryugas, the 4:3:2:1yuga length proportions, andKali Yuga as the present age. He couldn't accept the extremely large lengths and felt they were encoded with additional zeros to mislead those who might use it to predict the future. He reduced aYuga Cycle from 4,320,000 to 4,320 years (1,728 + 1,296 + 864 + 432), but he felt this was too short for humanity's history.[55]
In looking for a multiplier, he worked backwards from theprecession of the equinoxes (traditionally 25,920 years; 360 72-year degrees). Using 25,920 and 72, he calculated the sub-multiplier to be 4,320 years (72 × 60 = 4,320; 4,320 × 6 = 25,920). In noticing the "great year" of the Persians (~12,000) and Greeks (~13,000) as almost half the precession, he concluded a "great year" must be 12,960 years (4,320 × 3). In trying to find the whole number of "great years" in amanvantara or reign ofVaivasvata Manu, he found the reign ofXisuthros of theChaldeans to be set to 64,800 years (12,960 × 5), someone he thought to be the same Manu. Guénon felt 64,800 years was a more plausible length that may line up with humanity's history. He calculated a 64,800manvantara divided into a 4,320 "encoded"Yuga Cycle gave a multiplier of 15 (5 "great years"). Using 15 as the multiplier, he "decoded" a 5-"great year"Yuga Cycle as having the followingyuga lengths:[54][56]
Guénon did not give a start date forKali Yuga, but instead left clues in his description of the cataclysmic destruction of theAtlantean civilization. His commentator,Jean Robin, in an early 1980s publication, claimed to have decoded this description and calculated thatKali Yuga lasted from 4481 BCE to 1999 CE (2000 CE excluding year 0).[57] InLes Quatre Âges de L’Humanité (The Four Ages of Humanity), a book written in 1949 by Gaston Georgel, this same end date of 1999 CE was calculated; although, in his 1983 book titledLe Cycle Judéo-Chrétien (The Judeo-Christian Cycle), he later argued to shift the cycle forward by 31 years to end in 2030 CE.[58]
| Yuga | Start (– End) | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Krita (Satya) | 62,801 BCE | 25,920 |
| Treta | 36,881 BCE | 19,440 |
| Dvapara | 17,441 BCE | 12,960 |
| Kali | 4481 BCE – 1999 CE | 6,480 |
| Years: 64,800 | ||
| Current:Krita Yuga [1999–27,919 CE], next cycle. | [e][f] | |
Alain Daniélou (1907–1994) proposed aYuga Cycle of 60,487 years in his bookWhile the Gods Play: Shaiva Oracles and Predictions on the Cycles of History and the Destiny of Mankind (1985).[59]
Daniélou andRené Guénon had some correspondence where they both couldn't accept the extremely large lengths found in thePuranas. Daniélou mostly citedLinga Purana and his calculations are based on a 4,320,000-yearYuga Cycle containing (his calculation of 1000 ÷ 14) 71.42manvantaras, each containing 4yugas [4:3:2:1 proportions]. He pegged 3102 BCE as the start ofKali Yuga and placed it after the dawn (yuga-sandhya). He claimed his dates are accurate to within 50 years, and that theYuga Cycle started with agreat flood and appearance ofCro-Magnon man, and will end with a catastrophe wiping out mankind.[60]
| Yuga | Start (– End) | Length |
|---|---|---|
| Krita (Satya) | 58,042 BCE | 24,195 |
| Treta | 33,848 BCE | 18,146 |
| Dvapara | 15,703 BCE | 12,097 |
| Kali* | 3606 BCE – 2442 CE | 6,048.72 |
| Years: 60,487 | ||
| (*) Current. | [e][61] | |
Joscelyn Godwin found that Daniélou's misunderstanding rests solely on a bad translation ofLinga Purana 1.4.7.[62]
In the early texts of Hindu astronomy such asSurya Siddhanta, the length of ayuga cycle is used to specify the orbital period of heavenly bodies. Instead of specifying the period of a single orbit of a heavenly body around the Earth, the number of orbits of a heavenly body in ayuga cycle is specified.
Surya Siddhanta, Ch. 1:[63]
(29) In an Age (yuga), the revolutions of the sun, Mercury, and Venus, and of the conjunctions (shighra) of Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter, moving eastward, are four million, three hundred and twenty thousand; (30) Of the moon, fifty-seven million, seven hundred and fifty-three thousand, three hundred and thirty-six; of Mars, two million, two hundred and ninety-six thousand, eight hundred and thirty-two; (31) Of Mercury's conjunction (shighra), seventeen million, nine hundred and thirty-seven thousand, and sixty; of Jupiter, three hundred and sixty-four thousand, two hundred and twenty; (32) Of Venus's conjunction (shigra), seven million, twenty-two thousand, three hundred and seventy-six; of Saturn, one hundred and forty-six thousand, five hundred and sixty-eight; (33) Of the moon's apsis (ucca), in an Age, four hundred and eighty-eight thousand, two hundred and three; of its node (pata), in the contrary direction, two hundred and thirty-two thousand, two hundred and thirty-eight; (34) Of the asterisms, one billion, five hundred and eighty-two million, two hundred and thirty-seven thousand, eight hundred and twenty-eight....
The orbital period of heavenly bodies can be derived from the above numbers provided the starting point of ayuga cycle is known. According to Burgess, theSurya Siddhanta fixes the starting point ofKali Yuga as:
The instant at which the Age is made to commence is midnight on the meridian of Ujjayini, at the end of the 588,465th and beginning of the 588,466th day (civil reckoning) of the Julian Period, or between the 17th and 18th of February 1612J.P., or 3102 B.C.[64]
Based on this starting point, Ebenezer Burgess calculates the following planetary orbital periods:
| Planet | Surya Siddhanta | Modern | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revolutions in ayuga cycle | Revolution length[g] (day hr min sec) | Orbital period (day hr min sec) | |
| Sun | 4,320,000 | 365 6 12 36.6 | 365 6 9 10.8 |
| Mercury | 17,937,060 | 87 23 16 22.3 | 87 23 15 43.9 |
| Venus | 7,022,376 | 224 16 45 56.2 | 224 16 49 8.0 |
| Mars | 2,296,832 | 686 23 56 23.5 | 686 23 30 41.4 |
| Jupiter | 364,220 | 4,332 7 41 44.4 | 4,332 14 2 8.6 |
| Saturn | 146,568 | 10,765 18 33 13.6 | 10,759 5 16 32.2 |
| Moon (sidereal) | 57,753,336 | 27 7 43 12.6 | 27 7 43 11.4 |
| Moon (synodic) | 53,433,336 | 29 12 44 2.8 | 29 12 44 2.9 |
According to Robert Bolton, there is a universal belief in many traditions that the world started in a perfect state, when nature and the supernatural were still in harmony with all things in their fullest degree of perfection possible, which was followed by an unpreventable constant deterioration of the world through the ages.[66]
In theWorks and Days (lines 109–201;c. 700 BCE), considered the earliest European writing about human ages, the Greek poetHesiod describesfive ages (Golden,Silver, Bronze,Heroic, and Iron Ages), where the Heroic Age was added, according to Godwin, as a compromise withGreek history when theTrojan War and its heroes loomed so large.[67] Bolton explains that the men of the Golden Age lived like gods without sorrow, toil, grief, and old age, while the men of the Iron Age ("the race of iron") never rest from labor and sorrow, are degenerated without shame, morality, and righteous indignation, and have short lives with frequent deaths at night, where even a new-born baby shows signs of old age, only to end when Zeus destroys it all.[68]
In theStatesman (c. 399 – c. 347 BCE), the Athenian philosopherPlato describes time as an indefinite cycle of two 36,000-year halves: (1) the world's unmaking descent into chaos and destruction; (2) the world's remaking by its creator into a renewed state.[69] In theCratylus (397e), Plato recounts the golden race of men who came first, who were noble and gooddaemons (godlike guides) upon the earth.
In theMetamorphoses (I, 89–150;c. 8 BCE), the Roman poetOvid describesfour ages (Golden,Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages), excluding Hesiod'sHeroic Age, as a downward curve with the present time as the nadir of misery and immorality, according to Godwin, affecting both human life and the after-death state, where deaths in the first two ages became immortal, watchful spirits that benefited the human race, deaths in the third age went toHades (Greek god of the underworld), and deaths in the fourth age had an unknown fate.[70]
Joscelyn Godwin posits that it is probably from Hindu tradition that knowledge of the ages reached the Greeks and other Indo-European peoples.[70] Godwin adds that the number 432,000 (Kali Yuga's duration) occurring in four widely separated cultures (Hindu, Chaldean, Chinese, and Icelandic) has long been noticed.[71]
* HINDUISM: Myths of time and eternity: ... Each yuga is preceded by an intermediate "dawn" and "dusk". The Krita yuga lasts 4,000 god-years, with a dawn and dusk of 400 god-years each, or a total of 4,800 god-years; Treta a total of 3,600 god-years; Dvapara 2,400 god-years; and Kali (the current yuga) 1,200 god-years. A mahayuga thus lasts 12,000 god-years ... Since each god-year lasts 360 human years, a mahayuga is 4,320,000 years long in human time. Two thousand mahayugas form one kalpa (eon) [and pralaya], which is itself but one day in the life of Brahma, whose full life lasts 100 years; the present is the midpoint of his life. Each kalpa is followed by an equally long period of abeyance (pralaya), in which the universe is asleep. Seemingly the universe will come to an end at the end of Brahma's life, but Brahmas too are innumerable, and a new universe is reborn with each new Brahma.
* YUGA: each yuga is progressively shorter than the preceding one, corresponding to a decline in the moral and physical state of humanity. Four such yugas (called ... after throws of an Indian game of dice) make up a mahayuga ("great yuga") ... The first yuga (Krita) was an age of perfection, lasting 1,728,000 years. The fourth and most degenerate yuga (Kali) began in 3102 BCE and will last 432,000 years. At the close of the Kali yuga, the world will be destroyed by fire and flood, to be re-created as the cycle resumes. In a partially competing vision of time, Vishnu's 10th and final AVATAR, KALKI, is described as bringing the present cosmic cycle to a close by destroying the evil forces that rule the Kali yuga and ushering in an immediate return to the idyllic Krita yuga.
Paraphrased: Deva day equals solar year. Deva lifespan (36,000 solar years) equals 100 360-day years, each 12 months. Mahayuga equals 12,000 Deva (divine) years (4,320,000 solar years), and is divided into 10 charnas consisting of four Yugas: Satya Yuga (4 charnas of 1,728,000 solar years), Treta Yuga (3 charnas of 1,296,000 solar years), Dvapara Yuga (2 charnas of 864,000 solar years), and Kali Yuga (1 charna of 432,000 solar years). Manvantara equals 71 Mahayugas (306,720,000 solar years). Kalpa (day of Brahma) equals an Adi Sandhya, 14 Manvantaras, and 14 Sandhya Kalas, where 1st Manvantara preceded by Adi Sandhya and each Manvantara followed by Sandhya Kala, each Sandhya lasting same duration as Satya yuga (1,728,000 solar years), during which the entire earth is submerged in water. Day of Brahma equals 1,000 Mahayugas, the same length for a night of Brahma (Bhagavad-gita 8.17). Brahma lifespan (311.04 trillion solar years) equals 100 360-day years, each 12 months. Parardha is 50 Brahma years and we are in the 2nd half of his life. After 100 years of Brahma, the universe starts with a new Brahma. We are currently in the 28th Kali yuga of the first day of the 51st year of the second Parardha in the reign of the 7th (Vaivasvata) Manu. This is the 51st year of the present Brahma and so about 155 trillion years have elapsed. The current Kali Yuga (Iron Age) began at midnight on 17/18 February 3102 BC in the proleptic Julian calendar.
catur-yuga-sahasraṁ tu brahmaṇo dinam ucyate ।
sa kalpo yatra manavaś caturdaśa viśām-pate ॥ 2 ॥
(2) One thousand cycles of four ages [catur-yuga] constitute a single day of Brahmā, known as a kalpa. In that period, O King, fourteen Manus come and go.
sahasra-yuga-paryantam ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ ।
rātriṁ yuga-sahasrāntāṁ te 'ho-rātra-vido janāḥ ॥ 17 ॥
(17) By human calculation, a thousand ages [yuga] taken together form the duration of Brahmā's one day. And such also is the duration of his night.
kṛtaṁ tretā dvāparaṁ ca kaliś ceti catur-yugam ।
anena krama-yogena bhuvi prāṇiṣu vartate ॥ 39 ॥
(39) The cycle of four ages [catur-yugam] — Satya, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali — continues perpetually among living beings on this earth, repeating the same general sequence of events.
The Rig-Veda, which we may reasonably consider to have been in its present form before 1000 B.C., has references to the use of dice, and one of its hymns (Book 10, 34) is a charm to cure an inveterate and unsuccessful gambler of the compulsion to gamble that has ruined him. In the Atharva Veda, also, gambling with dice is mentioned (2.3; 4.38; 6.118; 7.52; 7.109). The Aryans of Rig-Vedic times made their dice of the vibhidaka-tree nuts, and we do not know how they used them. Evidently dicing was considered a fitting vice of kings, and in the ritualistic literature of the centuries following the Rig-Veda, say at around 800 B.C., the consecration ceremonies for a king included a game of dice–which the new king must always win–and there was a special officer to take charge of the dice. In the great epic known as the Mahabharata there are two famous instances of kings ruined by gambling.
According to the traditional time-keeping ... Thus in Brahma's calendar the present time may be coded as his 51st year - first month - first day - 7th manvantara - 28th maha-yuga - 4th yuga or kaliyuga.
In theGaṇeśa Purāṇa, Gaṇapati is described as taking a different incarnation (avatāra) in each of the four cosmic ages (yugas). In thekṛta yuga, Gaṇeśa incarnates as Vināyaka (or Mahotkaṭa), the son of Kāśyapa and Aditi. ... During thetreta yuga, Gaṇapati incarnates as Mayūreśvara, the son of Lord Śiva. ... During thedvapara yuga, Gaṇeśa incarnates as Gajānāna, the son of Lord Śiva. ... During thekali yuga, Gaṇapati incarnates as Dhūmraketu (or Śūrpakarṇa).
Lord Rāmacandra became King during Tretā-yuga, but because of His good government, the age was like Satya-yuga. Everyone was religious and completely happy.
In the Vayu Purana (70.47–48) [published by Motilal Banarsidass] there is a description of the length of Ravana's life. It explains that when Ravana's merit of penance began to decline, he met Lord Rama, the son of Dasarath, in a battle wherein Ravana and his followers were killed in the 24th Treta-yuga. ... The Matsya Purana (47/240,243–246) is another source that also gives more detail of various avataras and says Bhagawan Rama appeared at the end of the 24th Treta-yuga.
The following story is told in the Padma Purana (Chapter 14) ... Devendra raised a legal objection to the above injunction of Vishnu as follows: "You, who incarnated yourself as Rama in the twentyseventh yuga of the last Manvantara for the purpose of killing Ravana, killed my son Bali. Therefore I do not wish to procreate Nara as my son." To this objection of Indra, Vishnu assured him that as a penalty for the mistake of killing Bali, he would be a companion of Nara (Arjuna) who would be born as Indra's son.
The Doubt of Vyāsa: According to the Indian tradition, the sage Vyāsa was the compiler of all the Vedas, and the composer of theMahābhārata and many other works. The [Bhāgavata Purāṇa] repeats this tradition ...
Twenty-eight times have the Vedas been arranged by the great Rishis in the Vaivaswata Manwantara in the Dwápara age, and consequently eight and twenty Vyásas have passed away; by whom, in their respective periods, the Veda has been divided into four.
