| The puranic division of time | |
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The
three main divisions of time employed in the Hindu Scriptures are Yugas,
Manvantaras,
and Kalpas.
There
are four Yugas, which together extend to 12,000 divine years. Their
respective duration is as follows:-
"One
Year of mortals is equal to one day of the gods." As 360 is taken as
the number of days in the year -
The
Krita Yuga = 4,800 x 360 = 1,728,000 years of mortals
One
Mahayuga, or Great Age, including the four lesser Yugas, therefore, being
12,000 divine years = 4,320,000 years of mortals. "A thousand such
Mahayugas are a day of Brahma," and his nights are of equal duration;
a Kalpa, therefore, or Day of Brahma extends over 4,320,000 ordinary
years. " Within each Kalpa 14 Manus reign; a Manvantara, or period of
a Manu, therefore is consequently one-fourteenth part of a Kalpa, or day
of Brahma.
"In
the present Kalpa, six Manus, of whom Swayambhuva was the first, have
already passed away; the present being Vaivasata. In each Manvantara
(period of a Manu), seven Rishis, certain deities, an Indra and a Manu,
and the kings, his sons, are created and perish. A thousand systems of the
four Yugas occur coincidentally with these fourteen Manvantaras, and
consequently about 71 systems of four Yugas elapse during each Manvantara,
and measure the lives of the Manus and the deities of the period. At the
close of this day of Brahma, a collapse of the universe takes place, which
lasts through a night of Brahma, equal in duration to his day, during
which period the worlds are converted into one great ocean, when the
lotus-born god (Brahma), expanded by his deglutition of the universe, and
contemplated by the Yogis and gods in Janaloka, sleeps on the serpent
Sesha. At the end of that night he awakes and creates anew.
"A
year of Brahma is composed of the proper number of such days and nights,
and a hundred of such years constitute his whole life. The period of his
life is called Para, and the half of it Pararddha, or the half of a Para.
One Parardha, or half of Brahma's existence, has now expired, terminating
with the great Kalpa called the Padma Kalpa. The now existing Kalpa, or
day of Brahma, called Varasha (or that of the boar), is the first of the
second Pararddha of Brahma's existence. The dissolution which occurs at
the end of each Kalpa, or day Brahma, is called nainmittika, incidental,
occasional or contingent."
The
four Yugas mentioned above - viz. the Krita, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali -
have characteristic qualities. The Krita is the golden, and Kali the iron
age. The Mahabharata gives these characteristics very distinctly. Hunuman,
the monkey-god, is the speaker, describing the four ages to Bhimasena, one
of the Pandus.
"The
Krita is that age in which righteousness is eternal. In the time of that
most excellent of Yugas (everything) had been done (Krita), and nothing
(remained) to be done. Duties did not then languish, nor did the people
decline. Afterwards through (the influence of) time, this Yuga fell into a
state of inferiority. In that age there were neither gods, Danavas,
Gandharvas, Yakshasas, Rakshasas, nor Pannagas; no buying and selling went
on, on efforts were made by men; the fruit (of the earth was obtained) by
their mere wish; righteousness and abandonment of the world (prevailed).
No disease or decline of the organs of sense arose through the influence
of age; there was no malice, weeping, pride, or deceit; no contention, no
hatred, cruelty, fear affliction, jealousy, or envy. Hence the Supreme
Brahma was the transcendent resort of these Yogins.
In
the Treta men acted with an object in view, seeking after reward for their
rites and their gifts, and no longer disposed to austerities, and to
liberality from ( a simple feeling of) duty. In this age, however, they
were devoted to their own duties and to religious ceremonies.
"In
the Dvapara age righteousness was diminished by two quarters, Vishnu
became yellow, and the Veda fourfold. Some studied four vedas, some three,
other two, and some none at all. The scriptures being thus divided,
ceremonies were celebrated in a great variety of ways; and the people,
being occupied with austerity and the bestowal of gifts, became full of
passion (rajasi). Owing to ignorance of the one Veda, Vedas were
multiplied. And now from the decline of goodness (Sattva), only few
adhered to truth.
"In
the Kali, righteousness remained to the extent of one-fourth only.
Calamities, diseases, fatigue, faults such as anger, etc., distresses,
anxiety, hunger, fear, prevailed. As the ages revolve, righteousness again
declines; when this takes place, the people also decline. When they decay,
the impulses which actuate them also decay. The practices generated by the
declension of the Yugas frustrate men's aims. Such is the Kali Yuga, which
has existed for a short time. Those who are long-lived act in conformity
with the character of the age." In the "Bhishmaparvan"
there is a paragraph in which it is said that "Four thousand years
are specified as the duration of life in the Krita Yuga, three thousand in
the Treta, and two thousand form the period at present established on
earth in the Dvapara. There is no fixed measure in the Tishya (Kali).
It
should be noticed that the immense duration of the ages as quoted above
from the "Vishnu Purana" is peculiar to the Puranas. In the text
of the Mahabharata "no mention is made of the years comprising the
different Yugas being divine years," though the earlier books
certainly favour far more extravagant notions of chronology than those
which Western nations accept. |