The Hindu Concept of Time

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The Hindu Concept of Time

 

The measurement of time in the West is restricted to a second at the

lowest level and a century at the highest level.However, ancient

Vedic scholars had defined time from a very minute part of a second

to a large multiple of century.

 

" Surya Siddhanta " (499 CE) is an ancient Vedic text dealing with the

astronomical configurations of the zodiac. Time in West is measured

in the order of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, fortnights

(biweekly), months, years, decades and centuries. Though scientists

divide seconds into milli, micro or nano seconds, the nomenclature

still assumes a second as the basic unit.

 

As per the Surya Siddhanta, the smallest measurement of time is

Truti, which is equivalent to one 3,240,000th part of a second. The

time taken to pin a padma patra (lotus leaf) with a needle is called

Truti. 60 such Trutis are equal to one Renuvu, which make it one

54,000th part of a second. 60 Renuvus comprise one Lavamu, thereby,

one Lavamu is a 900th part of a second. 60 Lavamus make one

Leekshakamu. Hence one Leekshakamu is one 15th of a second. 60

Leekshakamus equal to one Pranamu, accordingly one Pranamu is 4

seconds long. It is also stated that one Pranamu is the time taken

to enunciate ten long syllables.

 

As per Surya siddhanta (from 10th verse), 6 Pranamus are equal to one

Vighadiya. One Vighadiya is 24 seconds long. 60 Vighadiyas make

Ghadiya, which therefore is equal to 24 minutes. In other words, one

minute consists of 2.5 Vighadiyas whereas one hour has 2.5 Ghadiyas.

60 Ghadiyas are said to equal one Stellar day, technically called one

Nakshatra Ahoratram. 60 Ghadiyas of the Hindu systema re equal to 24

hours of the Western system. 30 stellar days make one Nkshatra Masam

(month).

 

A day is counted by Hindus from one sunrise to the next, while

Westerners treat the time between two consecutive midnights as one

day. A month is defined by Hindus in four different ways. One is

stellar month, as described in the first paragraph. Second kind is

called Saavana month;The time between two consecutive sunrises is

considered as one Saavana day and 30 such days constitute Saavana

month. The third type of the month is Lunar month.The time

between two consecutive new moon days is called lunar month, and it

consists of 30 lunar tithis. The fourth type of month is a solar

month. The zodiac is treated as a circle having 360 degrees. The

time taken by the sun to travel 1 degree of this circular zodiac is

called one solar day. 30 such solar days combine to make one solar

month. The zodiac is divided into 12 (Rasi) signs, namely Mesha,

Vrishaba... and so on. Each sign occupies 30 degrees. The sun's

movement thru' one Rasi (sign)is completed on one solar month which

is also referred to as one Sankramana. Thus Sun's passage thru'

Mesha is called Mesha Sankramana.

 

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.

 

One Kalpa is said to be half a day for Lord Brahma. Hence one day of

Lord Brahma is equal to 864 crore ( 8.64 Billion) solar years. The

name of the present Kalpa is Sweta Varaha. In the present Kalpa, six

Manvantaras plus Sandhis have been completed and the seventh

Manvantara by name Vyvaswata Manvantara is running. In this

Manvantara, 27 Maha Yugas are over and we are in the twentieth (28).

In this 28th Maha Yuga, three Yugas are past and the fourth,

that is Kali Yuga's first quadrant started about 5005 years ago.

This is the reason why before commencing any puja, ritual or vrata

(worship), we start invoking the Gods, reminding ourselves of the

time elapsed to date, by chanting the Sankalpa thus.

 

SANKALPAM

Adya Brahmanah, Dwiteeya Parardhe, Sri Sweta Varaha Kalpe, Vyvaswata

Manvantare, Kali Yuge, Prathama Pade, Jambu Dweepe, Bharata varshe,..

and so on.

 

The author (Sri Rao) concludes:

I wish to impress upon the readers that in the Vedic system, the

measurement of time ranges from the smallest Truit (3,240,000th part

of a second) to a Day of Lord Brahma (8.64 Billion solar years).

This detailed visualization of time is unique to the Hindu system,

unequalled by any other system in the world. I salute to the

intelligence of the ancient scholars of our country.

rajen babu <rajen_b