Om! Gam! Ganapathaye! Namaha!Om! Sri Raghavendraya Namaha!Om! Namo! Bhagavathe! Vasudevaya!Om! Ham! Hanumathe! Sri Rama Doothaya Namaha!

KALPA –THE HINDU TIME ELEMENT

Having understood the concept of Ugadi (Yuga + Aadi) as a time element let us now tryto understand the arithmetic of Hindu time element and certain related terminologiesthat will help us in understanding the time element called Kalpa Para that refers to thelife span of the Universe and Lord Brahma. Reference to Hindu time element is said tohave been scripted in many Vishnu related puranas like Maha Bhagavatha, MatsyaPurana, Brahmanda Purana, Mahabharatha and Bhagavath Geetha.Hindu sages describe time as cyclic and an endless process of creation, preservation anddissolution. The Universe is cyclically created and destroyed. Hindu religion andphilosophy which strongly believes in Vedas has clearly spelled out the time element ofthe universe at different levels. Understanding of time element in Hinduism is as old asthe Hinduism itself. Several pouranic texts have mentioned about the time element inHinduism.It is said that before commencement of Creation (Srushti) there was only water everywhere and Lord SriManNarayana the primordial person (Aadi Purusha) only waspresent in deep meditation. Desired (Sankalpa) to start the creation, He first created theUniverseand Omkara from where the Vedas got originated. It is also said that Vedasare (swayambhu) Lord SriManNarayana himself. He then created Lord Brahma fromhis navel to take further the process of Creation.A Kalpa is a Sanskrit word meaning an aeon (immeasurably long period of time)inHindu cosmology. In Hindu philosophy a Kalpa is equal to 432 crores of years. It is aday in the life of Lord Brahma. It is equal to 1000 Mahayugas measuring the durationof the world. Each Kalpa is divided into 14 Manvantharas each one lasting 306,720,000years. Two kalpas constitute a day and night of Lord Brahma.A Kalpa is also called as Vedanga, the hand of VedaPurusha. Kalpa is also referred toas the Sasthra that involves one to carry out the injunctions of Kalpa. Various kinds of

spiritual rituals to be performed come under the province of Kalpa. Kalpa is one of thesix disciplines of Vedanga.

YUGA

Yuga is a period or an Era in which we live. As per Kalpa Pramana there are fourYugas viz. Krita Yuga known as Sathya Yuga which is also called as the Golden age anera of total virtue, Thretha Yuga called as the Silver age an era of 3/4

virtue, DwaparaYuga called as bronze age with half virtue and half sin in its era, and Kali Yuga called asiron age (Black age) with 1/4

virtue and 3/4

sin in its era.Life span of these Yugas will not be equal. The Yugas get progressively worse frommorality point of view as one proceeds from one Yuga to another. As a result each Yugais of shorter duration than its previous one. It is as follows,Krita Yuga (Sathya Yuga) 1728000 yearsThretha Yuga1296000 yearsDwapara Yuga 864000 yearsKali Yuga 432000 years

Total 43, 20,000 years

MAHA YUGA

One cycle of four Yugas (Krita, Thretha, Dwapara and Kali) is called as Maha Yuga(Chatur Yuga);its life span will be 43, 20,000 years. It is also called as a Divine Yuga.

MANVANTHARA

During every Kalpa Lord Brahma creates 14 Manus one after the other, who in turnmanifest and regulate the world. Manvantharais Manu’s cycle the one who gives birthand govern the human race. Manvanthara is reckoned with the age or period ofManu.The period of each Manvanthara consists of 71 Mahayugas (Chaturyugas) that is 71 x4320000 = 306.720 million human years.After each Manvanthara there follows a SandhiKala of the duration of Krita Yuga years. (1728000). It is said that at the end of eachManvanthara it is followed by a Pralaya during the Sandhikala.There are 14 generations of Manus they are, Swayambhuva, Swarochisha, Outtama,Tamasa, Raivatha, Chakshuva, Vaivaswatha, Savarni, Daksha Savarni, Brahma Savarni,Dharma Savarni, Rudra Savarni, Deva Savarni, and Indra Savarni. At end of the 14

Manu, the cycle repeats again and Brahma creates fourteen additional Manus. EachManvanthara will have a set of seven sages calledSaptha Rishiswho will live throughout the Manvanthara period.

KALPA

A Kalpa is a day (12 hours) in the life of Lord Brahma. Each Kalpa is ruled by asuccession of 14 Manus and the period of reign is called Manvanthara. A Kalpa (day

period of Brahma) consists of a period of 17,28,000 years called Aadi Sandhi followedby 14 Manvantharas and Sandhi kalas that will be equal to 1000 Maha Yugas.One day (Kalpa) of Brahma is also divided into 10000 parts called charanas equivalentto 1000 Maha Yugas of 10 charanas each. Each Maha Yuga consists of 10 charanas (KritaYuga 4, Thretha Yuga 3, Dwapara Yuga 2 and Kali Yuga 1 charana).A day of Brahma (Kalpa) is equal to 14 (Manvantharas) x 71(Maha Yugas) = 994 MahaYugas + Sandhi kalas (equal to 6 Maha Yugas) = 1000 Maha Yugas. Sandhi kalaisarrived at as follows; For 14 Manvanthara 14 sandhikala periods equal to the age of 14Krita Yugas = 1728000 x 14 = 24192000 + 1728000 (Aadi Sandhi period) = 2,59,20,000/43,20,000 years = 6 Maha Yugas.In terms of number of years, a Kalpa will be of 1000Maha Yugas x 4320000 = 432 crores of years.A night of Brahma is of equal duration ofanother 1000 Maha Yugas = 432 croresyears.Thus a full day (day + night) of Brahma isthe period of Two Kalpas equal to 2000 Maha Yugas (864 crores years)At the end of Brahma’s day time there will be a deluge (Pralaya) when the Universe willtemporarily get dissolved by way of a Naimittika Pralaya. Then that will be the nighttime of Lord Brahma which will be equal to another Kalpa. During this time LordMaha Vishnu reclines into meditative pose (Yoganidra) before Brahma starts recreationin the new Kalpa that will be the beginning of a new day for Lord Brahma. Thus in afull day’s cycle of Lord Brahma there will be creation during day time and destructionduring night time.There are 30 Kalpas as per Matsya Purana which gets repeated cyclically. They areSwetha, Neelalohita, Vamadeva, Rathanthara, Rourava, Deva, Bruhath, Kandarpa,Sadhya, Eesana, Tamah, Saraswatha, Udaana, Garuda, Kaurma, Narasimha, Samana,Agneya, Soma, Maanava, Tathpuman, Vaikunta, Lakshmi, Savithri, Aghora, Vaaraah,Vairaja, Gouri, Maheswara, and Pithru Kalpa. It is said that Vayu Purana gives adifferent list of Kalpas which are 28 in number.

Reckoning of time for Lord Brahma:

In Bhagavath Geetha a day of Lord Brahma has been defined as 1000 Maha Yugas(Sahasra Yuga paryantham ahar-yad brahmano vidhuhmeaning a day of Brahma is of1000 Mahayugas). According to Mahabharatha 12 months of Brahma is equal to 360days that constitute his year and 100 such years is his life time and that is the life cycleof the Universe.Fifty years of Brahma are supposed to have been elapsed and we are now in the 51

year of Lord Brahma in Swetha Varaha Kalpa. At the end of the Kalpa, Brahma rests forone night that is equal to the day during which time the world is annihilated(destroyed) that is called as Pralaya.