As a Yuga Cycle progresses through the four yugas, each yuga's length and humanity's general moral and physical state within each yuga 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 of Kali Yuga, when virtues are at their worst, a cataclysm and a re-establishment of dharma occur to usher in the next cycle's Krita (Satya) Yuga, prophesied to occur by Kalki.[7]
"Age" and "Yuga", sometimes with reverential capitalization, commonly denote a "catur-yuga", a cycle of four world ages, unless expressly limited by the name of one of its minor ages (e.g. Kali Yuga).[8][lower-alpha 2] Its archaic spelling is yug, with other forms of yugam, yugānāṃ, and yuge, derived from yuj (Sanskrit: युज्, lit.'to join or yoke'), believed derived from *yeug- (Proto-Indo-European: lit. 'to join or unite').[11]
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]
A cyclic age of the divine, celestrial, or gods (Devas) encompassing the four yuga ages (a.k.a. "human ages" or "world ages"). The Hindu texts give a length of 12,000 divine years, where a divine year lasts for 360 solar (human) years.[5][6]
It is theorized that the concept of the four yugas originated some time after the compilation of the four Vedas, but prior to the rest of the Hindu texts, based on the concept's absence in the former writings. It is believed that the four yugas—Krita (Satya), Treta, Dvapara, and Kali—are named after throws of an Indian game of long dice, marked with 4-3-2-1 respectively.[5] A dice game is described in the Rigveda, Atharvaveda, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas, while the four yugas are described after the four Vedas with no mention of a correlation to dice.[13][20] A complete description of the four yugas and their characteristics are in the Vishnu Smriti (ch. 20),[21]Mahabharata (e.g. Vanaparva 149, 183), Manusmriti (I.81–86), and Puranas (e.g. Brahma, ch. 122–123; Matsya, ch. 142–143; Naradiya, Purvardha, ch. 41).[22] The four yugas are also described in the Bhagavata Purana (3.11.18–20).
Hindu texts describe four yugas (world ages) in a Yuga Cycle—Krita (Satya) Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga—where, starting in order from the first age, each yuga's length decreases by one-fourth (25%), giving proportions of 4:3:2:1. Each yuga is described as having a main period (a.k.a.yuga proper) preceded by its yuga-sandhyā (dawn) and followed by its yuga-sandhyāṃśa (dusk), where each twilight (dawn/dusk) lasts for one-tenth (10%) of its main period. Lengths are given in divine years (years of the gods), each lasting for 360 solar (human) years.[4][5][6]
Each Yuga Cycle lasts for 4,320,000 years (12,000 divine years) with its four yugas: 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, and Kali Yuga for 432,000 (1,200 divine) years.[4][5][6]
(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...
(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.
(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 71 Yuga Cycles (306,720,000 years) in a manvantara, a period ruled by Manu, who is the progenitor of mankind.[28] There are 1,000 Yuga Cycles (4,320,000,000 years) in a kalpa, a period that is a day (12-hour day proper) of Brahma, who is the creator of the planets and first living entities. There are 14 manvantaras (4,294,080,000 years) in a kalpa with a remainder of 25,920,000 years assigned to 15 manvantara-sandhyas (junctures), each the length of a Satya Yuga (1,728,000 years). A kalpa is followed by a pralaya (night or partial dissolution) of equal length forming a full day (24-hour day). A maha-kalpa (life of Brahma) lasts for 100 360-day years of Brahma, which lasts for 72,000,000 Yuga Cycles (311.04 trillion years) and is followed by a maha-pralaya (full dissolution) of equal length.[6]
Yuga dates are used in an ashloka, which is read out at the beginning of Hindu rites to specify the elapsed time in Brahma's life. For example, an ashloka in 2007CE of the Gregorian calendar might include the lines:[32][lower-alpha 5]
5109 of Kalyugi year of the 28th Chaturyugee of the 7th Manvantara on the first day of the 51st year of the 2nd Brahma [(2nd half of Brahma's life)].
Avatars
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He claimed the understanding that Kali Yuga lasts for 432,000 years was a mistake, which he traced back to Raja Parikshit, just after the descending Dvapara Yuga ended (c. 3101BCE) 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 499CE, in ascending Dvapara 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's yuga lengths for Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali are respectively 4,800, 3,600, 2,400, and 1,200 "human" years (12,000 years total).[45][46]
He accepted the four yugas and their 4:3:2:1 length and dharma proportions, but his Yuga Cycle contained eight yugas, the original descending set of the four yugas followed by an ascending (reversed) set, where he called each set a "Daiva Yuga" or "Electric Couple". His Yuga Cycle lasts for 24,000 years, which he believed equals one precession of the equinoxes (traditionally 25,920 years; 1,920 years difference). He states that the world entered the Pisces-Virgo Age in 499CE ("cycle bottom"), and that the current age of ascending Dvapara Yuga started in 1699CE around the time of scientific discoveries and advancements such as electricity.[47][46]
He explained that in a 24,000-year Yuga Cycle, the Sun completes one orbit around some dual star, becoming nearer and farther to a galactic center, which the pair orbit in a longer period. He called this galactic center Vishnunabhi (Vishnu's Navel), where Brahma regulates dharma 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. At dharma's lowest (499CE), human intellect cannot comprehend anything beyond the gross material world.[48][49]
Joscelyn Godwin states that Yukteswar believed the traditional chronology of the yugas wrong and rigged for political reasons, but that Yukteswar may have had political reasons of his own, evident in a police report printed in Atlantis and the Cycles of Time, which links Yukteswar to a secret anti-colonial movement called Yugantar, meaning "new age" or "transition of an epoch".[50]
Godwin claims the Jain time cycle and the European 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" (701BCE–1699CE). Only materialists and atheists would welcome the post-1700 age as an improvement.[51]
John Major Jenkins, who adjusted ascending Kali Yuga from 499CE 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.[52]
René Guénon (1886–1951) proposed a Yuga Cycle of 64,800 years in his 1931 French article, which was later translated in the book Traditional Forms & Cosmic Cycles (2001).[53]
Guénon accepted the doctrine of the four yugas, the 4:3:2:1 yuga length proportions, and Kali 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 a Yuga 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.[54]
In looking for a multiplier, he worked backwards from the precession 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 a manvantara or reign of Vaivasvata Manu, he found the reign of Xisuthros of the Chaldeans 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 64,800 manvantara 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 following yuga lengths:[53][55]
Satya: 25,920 (4 ratio or 2 × "great year"; 15 × 1,728)
Treta: 19,440 (3 ratio or 1.5 × "great year"; 15 × 1,296)
Dvapara: 12,960 (2 ratio or 1 × "great year"; 15 × 864)
Kali: 6,480 (1 ratio or 0.5 × "great year"; 15 × 432)
Guénon did not give a start date for Kali Yuga, but instead left clues in his description of the cataclysmic destruction of the Atlantean civilization. His commentator, Jean Robin, in an early 1980s publication, claimed to have decoded this description and calculated that Kali Yuga lasted from 4481BCE to 1999CE (2000CE excluding year 0).[56] In Les 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 titled Le Cycle Judéo-Chrétien (The Judeo-Christian Cycle), he later argued to shift the cycle forward by 31 years to end in 2030 CE.[57]
Alain Daniélou (1907–1994) proposed a Yuga Cycle of 60,487 years in his book While the Gods Play: Shaiva Oracles and Predictions on the Cycles of History and the Destiny of Mankind (1985).[58]
Daniélou and René Guénon had some correspondence where they both couldn't accept the extremely large lengths found in the Puranas. Daniélou mostly cited Linga Purana and his calculations are based on a 4,320,000-year Yuga Cycle containing (his calculation of 1000 ÷ 14) 71.42 manvantaras, each containing 4 yugas [4:3:2:1 proportions]. He pegged 3102BCE as the start of Kali Yuga and placed it after the dawn (yuga-sandhya). He claimed his dates are accurate to within 50 years, and that the Yuga Cycle started with a great flood and appearance of Cro-Magnon man, and will end with a catastrophe wiping out mankind.[59]
In the early texts of Hindu astronomy such as Surya Siddhanta, the length of a yuga 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 a yuga cycle is specified.
(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 a yuga cycle is known. According to Burgess, the Surya Siddhanta fixes the starting point of Kali 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 1612 J.P., or 3102 B.C.[63]
Based on this starting point, Ebenezer Burgess calculates the following planetary orbital periods:
Comparative table of sidereal revolutions of the planets (geocentric)[64]
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.[65]
In the Works and Days (lines 109–201; c.700BCE), considered the earliest European writing about human ages, the Greek poet Hesiod describes five ages (Golden, Silver, Bronze, Heroic, and Iron Ages), where the Heroic Age was added, according to Godwin, as a compromise with Greek history when the Trojan War and its heroes loomed so large.[66] 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.[67]
In the Statesman (c.399– c.347BCE), the Athenian philosopher Plato 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.[68] In the Cratylus (397e), Plato recounts the golden race of men who came first, who were noble and good daemons (godlike guides) upon the earth.
In the Metamorphoses (I, 89–150; c.8BCE), the Roman poet Ovid describes four ages (Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages), excluding Hesiod's Heroic 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 to Hades (Greek god of the underworld), and deaths in the fourth age had an unknown fate.[69]
Joscelyn Godwin posits that it is probably from Hindu tradition that knowledge of the ages reached the Greeks and other Indo-European peoples.[69] 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.[70]
↑ 360 solar years constitute a divine year. This is as per the following belief system: The gods are believed to reside in the north celestial sphere.[1] Due to the axial tilt of the earth, the Sun is overhead the northern hemisphere during the period between the vernal and the autumnal equinox. This period is designated the daytime of the gods. Conversely, the Sun is overhead the southern hemisphere during the period between the autumnal and the vernal equinox. This period is designated the nighttime of the gods. Put together, an entire tropical solar year is designated the day of the gods.[2] 360 such day of the gods make a divine year.[3]
↑ The general word "yuga" is sometimes used instead of the more specific word "catur-yuga". A kalpa is described as lasting 1,000 catur-yuga in Bhagavata Purana 12.4.2 ("catur-yuga")[9] and Bhagavad Gita 8.17 ("yuga").[10]
↑ Each Kali-yuga-sandhi lasts for 36,000 solar (100 divine) years: * Sandhya: 3102BCE–32,899CE * Sandhyamsa: 392,899–428,899CE
↑ Chapter 224 (CCXXIV) in some sources: Mahabharata 12.224.
1 2 3 4 A common error exists in calculating from 1BCE to 1CE as 2 years instead of 1. There is no year zero.
↑ René Guénon's Yuga Cycle table: the calculated dates are based on the 1949 publication by Gaston Georgel, Les Quatre Âges de L’Humanité (The Four Ages of Humanity), and an early 1980s publication by Jean Robin.
Kali Yuga, in Hinduism, is the fourth, shortest, and worst of the four yugas in a Yuga Cycle, preceded by Dvapara Yuga and followed by the next cycle's Krita (Satya) Yuga. It is believed to be the present age, which is full of conflict and sin.
A yuga, in Hinduism, is generally used to indicate an age of time.
The 32nd century BC was a century lasting from the year 3200 BC to 3101 BC.
In Hinduism, Itihasa-Purana, also called the fifth Veda, refers to the traditional accounts of cosmogeny, myths, royal genealogies of the lunar dynasty and solar dynasty, and legendary past events, as narrated in the Itihasa and the Puranas. They are highly influential in Indian culture, and many classical Indian poets derive the plots of their poetry and drama from the Itihasa. The Epic-Puranic chronology derived from the Itihasa-Puranais an influential frame of reference in traditional Indian thought.
The Indian national calendar, called the Shaka calendar or Śaka calendar, is a solar calendar that is used alongside the Gregorian calendar by The Gazette of India, in news broadcasts by All India Radio, and in calendars and official communications issued by the Government of India. Śaka Samvat is generally 78 years behind the Gregorian calendar, except from January–March, when it is behind by 79 years.
Treta Yuga, in Hinduism, is the second and second-best of the four yugas in a Yuga Cycle, preceded by Krita (Satya) Yuga and followed by Dvapara Yuga. Treta Yuga lasts for 1,296,000 years.
Hindu eschatology is linked to the figure of Kalki, or the tenth and last avatar of Vishnu before the age draws to a close, and Harihara simultaneously dissolves and regenerates the universe.
Satya Yuga, in Hinduism, is the first and best of the four yugas in a Yuga Cycle, preceded by Kali Yuga of the previous cycle and followed by Treta Yuga. Satya Yuga lasts for 1,728,000 years.
Dvapara Yuga, in Hinduism, is the third and third-best of the four yugas in a Yuga Cycle, preceded by Treta Yuga and followed by Kali Yuga. Dvapara Yuga lasts for 864,000 years.
Hindu cosmology is the description of the universe and its states of matter, cycles within time, physical structure, and effects on living entities according to Hindu texts. Hindu cosmology is also intertwined with the idea of a creator who allows the world to exist and take shape.
The Saptarshi are the seven seers of ancient India who are extolled in the Vedas, and other Hindu literature such as the Skanda Purana. The Vedic Samhitas never enumerate these rishis by name, although later Vedic texts such as the Brahmanas and Upanisads do so these constellations are easily recognizable.
Pralaya is a concept in Hindu eschatology. Generally referring to four different phenomena, it is most commonly used to indicate the event of the dissolution of the entire universe that follows a kalpa called the Brahmapralaya.
In Hinduism, Jaya and Vijaya are the two dvarapalakas (gatekeepers) of Vaikuntha, the abode of the god Vishnu. Due to a curse by the four Kumaras, they were forced to undergo multiple births as mortals who would be subsequently killed by various avatars of Vishnu. They were incarnated as Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha in the Satya Yuga, Ravana and Kumbhakarna in the Treta Yuga, and finally Shishupala and Dantavakra in the Dvapara Yuga.
A kalpa is a long period of time (aeon) in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology, generally between the creation and recreation of a world or universe.
A manvantara, in Hindu cosmology, is a cyclic period of time identifying the duration, reign, or age of a Manu, the progenitor of mankind. In each manvantara, seven Rishis, certain deities, an Indra, a Manu, and kings are created and perish. Each manvantara is distinguished by the Manu who rules/reigns over it, of which we are currently in the seventh manvantara of fourteen, which is ruled by Vaivasvata Manu.
Hindu units of time are described in Hindu texts ranging from microseconds to trillions of years, including cycles of cosmic time that repeat general events in Hindu cosmology. Time is described as eternal. Various fragments of time are described in the Vedas, Manusmriti, Bhagavata Purana, Vishnu Purana, Mahabharata, Surya Siddhanta etc.
Brahma is a Hindu god, referred to as "the Creator" within the Trimurti, the trinity of supreme divinity that includes Vishnu and Shiva. He is associated with creation, knowledge, and the Vedas. Brahma is prominently mentioned in creation legends. In some Puranas, he created himself in a golden embryo known as the Hiranyagarbha.
The Epic-Puranic chronology is a timeline of Hindu mythology based on the Itihasa and the Puranas. These texts have an authoritaive status in Indian tradition, and narrate cosmogeny, royal chronologies, myths and legendary events. The central dates here are the Kurukshetra War and the start of the Kali Yuga. The Epic-Puranic chronology is referred to by proponents of Indigenous Aryans to propose an earlier dating of the Vedic period, and the spread of Indo-European languages out of India, arguing that "the Indian civilization must be viewed as an unbroken tradition that goes back to the earliest period of the Sindhu-Sarasvati Valley traditions ."
The Itihasa-Purana, the Epic-Puranic narratives of the Sanskrit Epics and the Puranas, contain royal genealogies of the lunar dynasty and solar dynasty which are regarded by Indian traditions as historic events, and used in the Epic-Puranic chronology to establish a traditional timeline of Indian history.
1 2 3 4 5 Merriam-Webster (1999). "Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions". In Doniger, Wendy; Hawley, John Stratton (eds.). Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. pp.445 (Hinduism), 1159 (Yuga). ISBN0877790442. * 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.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Gupta, S. V. (2010). "Ch. 1.2.4 Time Measurements". In Hull, Robert; Osgood, Richard M. Jr.; Parisi, Jurgen; Warlimont, Hans (eds.). Units of Measurement: Past, Present and Future. International System of Units. Springer Series in Materials Science: 122. Springer. pp.6–8. ISBN9783642007378. 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.
↑ Merriam-Webster 1999, p.629 (Kalki): At the end of the present Kali age, when virtue and religion have disappeared into CHAOS and the world is ruled by unjust men, Kalki will appear to destroy the wicked and usher in a new age.... According to some myths, Kalki's horse will stamp the earth with its right foot, causing the tortoise that supports the world to drop into the deep. Then Kalki will restore the earth to its initial purity.
1 2 Burgess 1935, p.9: The period of 4,320,000 years is ordinarily styled Great Age (mahayuga), or, as above in two instances [1.15–16], Quadruple Age (caturyuga). In the Surya-Siddhanta, however, the former term is not once found, and the latter occurs only in these verses; elsewhere, Age (yuga) alone is employed to denote it, and always denotes it, unless expressly limited by the name of the Golden (krta) Age.
↑ "Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) 12.4.2". Bhaktivedanta Vedabase. Retrieved 2020-05-10. 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.
↑ Bühler 1886, p.20: yadetat parisaṅkhyātamādāveva caturyugam । etad dvādaśasāhasraṃ devānāṃ yugamucyate ॥ 71 ॥ (71) These twelve thousand (years) which thus have been just mentioned as the total of four (human) ages [caturyugam], are called one age of the gods.
↑ "Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) 12.2.39". Bhaktivedanta Vedabase. Retrieved 2020-05-10. 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.
↑ "daivayuga". Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
↑ "devayuga". Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
↑ "mahAyuga". Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit. Retrieved 2021-02-27.
↑ Brown, W. Norman (1964). "The Indian Games of Pachisi, Chaupar, and Chausar". Expedition magazine. Vol.6, no.2. Penn Museum. p.34. ISSN0014-4738. 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.
1 2 Godwin 2011, p.301: The Hindu astronomers agree that the [Dvapara Yuga ended and] Kali Yuga began at midnight between February 17 and 18, 3102 BCE. Consequently [Kali Yuga] is due to end about 427,000 CE, whereupon a new Golden Age will dawn.
↑ Burgess 1935, p.ix (Introduction): Calculated date of 2163102 B.C. for "the end of the Golden Age (Krta yuga)", the start of Treta yuga, mentioned in Surya Siddhanta 1.57.
↑ Dutt, Manmatha Nath (1903). "Ch. 231 (CCXXXI)". A Prose English Translation of The Mahabharata (Translated Literally from the Original Sanskrit text). Vol.Book 12 (Shanti Parva). Calcutta: Elysium Press. p.351 (12.231.17, 19–21, 29).
↑ Merriam-Webster 1999, p.691 (Manu): a day in the life of Brahma is divided into 14 periods called manvantaras ("Manu intervals"), each of which lasts for 306,720,000 years. In every second cycle [(new kalpa after pralaya)] the world is recreated, and a new Manu appears to become the father of the next human race. The present age is considered to be the seventh Manu cycle.
↑ Krishnamurthy, Prof. V. (2019). "Ch. 20: The Cosmic Flow of Time as per Scriptures". Meet the Ancient Scriptures of Hinduism. Notion Press. ISBN9781684669387. 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.
↑ Godwin 2011, p.301(b): Vishnu Purana, translated by the great Sanskritist Horace Hayman Wilson: One Pararddha, or half [Brahma's] existence, has expired, terminating with the Maha Kalpa called Padma. The Kalpa (or day of Brahma) termed Varaha is the first of the second period of Brahma's existence.... The Hindu astronomers agree that the Kali Yuga began at midnight between February 17 and 18, 3102 BCE. Consequently it is due to end about 427,000 CE, whereupon a new Golden Age will dawn.
↑ Gupta 2010, p.9: At the beginning of any Hindu rite, an ashloka in Sanskrit is read out, which means that this ritual is being performed for a certain purpose (name of the purpose) by this particular person (name of the person including father's and family names) at this place (full address with country name) at this time of day (Ghadi and Pala or in hours and minutes) in 5109 of Kalyugi year (for AD 2007, or Hindu calendar year 2064 Sambat) of the 28th Chaturyugee of the 7th Manvantara on the first day of the 51st year of the 2nd Brahma [(2nd half of Brahma's life)]. This is a wonderful example of counting time from the start of the universe to the present time.
↑ Grimes, John A. (1995). Ganapati: Song of the Self. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. pp.101–104. ISBN0-7914-2439-1. In the Gaṇeśa Purāṇa, Gaṇapati is described as taking a different incarnation (avatāra) in each of the four cosmic ages (yugas). In the kṛta yuga, Gaṇeśa incarnates as Vināyaka (or Mahotkaṭa), the son of Kāśyapa and Aditi.... During the treta yuga, Gaṇapati incarnates as Mayūreśvara, the son of Lord Śiva.... During the dvapara yuga, Gaṇeśa incarnates as Gajānāna, the son of Lord Śiva.... During the kali yuga, Gaṇapati incarnates as Dhūmraketu (or Śūrpakarṇa).
↑ "Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) 9.10.51". Bhaktivedanta Vedabase. Retrieved 2020-05-18. 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.
↑ Knapp, Stephen. "Lord Rama: Fact or Fiction". Stephen Knapp and His Books on Vedic Culture, Eastern Philosophy and Spirituality. Retrieved 2020-05-17. 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.
↑ Mani, Vettam (1975). "RAKTAJA". A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature. Puranic Encyclopedia. Motilal Banarsidass. p.630. ISBN0842608222. 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.
↑ Parmeshwaranand, Swami (2001). Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Purāṇas. Vol.1 (A–C). New Delhi: Sarup & Sons. p.169. ISBN81-7625-226-3. The Doubt of Vyāsa: According to the Indian tradition, the sage Vyāsa was the compiler of all the Vedas, and the composer of the Mahābhārata and many other works. The [Bhāgavata Purāṇa] repeats this tradition...
↑ Wilson, H. H. (1940). "The Vishnu Purana: A System of Hindu Mythology and Tradition". London: John Murray. p.272. 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.
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