(Surya Siddhanta) Vedic concept of time - 3

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SrI:

Jai Sriman nArAyaNA!

 

A solar year consists of 12 solar months. One solar year is said to be equal

to one day of the Devatas or one Divine day. Thus 360 solar years are equal to

one Divine year. 12,000 Divine years form one Maha Yuga. Thus one Maha Yuga

contains 4,320,000 solar years. A Maha Yuga contains 4 yugas, namely Krita Yuga

(1,728,000 solar years), Treta Yuga (1,296,000 solar years), Dwapara Yuga

(864,000 solar years) and Kali Yuga (432,000 solar years) in that order. Each

yuga is again divided into 4 equal Padas (Quadrants).

 

71 Maha Yugas are collectively termed as a Manvantra, which thereby consists

of 306,720,000 solar years. After each Manvantra, it is said that there is a

Sandhi Kala of the duration of one Krita Yuga (1,728,000 solar years). It is

also stated that the entire earth is submerged under water during such a Sandhi

Kala.

 

A Manvantra, along with its Sandhi Kala, is jointly considered as a unit

(308,448,000 solar years). 14 such units combine to form a Kalpa (4,318,272,000

solar years). At the beginning of each Kalpa is included an Adi Sandhi period,

again of the duration of one Krita Yuga (1,728,000 solar years). Thus one Kalpa

is equal to 4,320,000,000 (432 crores or 4.32 Billion) solar years, that is 1000

Maha Yugas.

 

.... To be continued.

nArAyaNA!

 

( Article from the souvenir "Vigraha Pratishthapana and Kumbhabhishekam

Celebrations" Sri Venkateswara temple, Bridgewater, NJ, June 1998.

Author:K.V.Mallikharjuna Rao B.E,B.Ed, M.A.)