cycles of creation and destruction forever

 
Gods and heroes : mythology around the world
by Korwin Briggs

2018

p.36
In Hinduism, time is infinite.  It has no beginning or end, just cycles of creation and destruction that repeat forever.  The length of these cycles is based on Brahma's life span, which is a hundred years.  But don't worry ── they are really long years. 

   Here's how it works:
   1 year of Brahma's life is 360 kalpas, or Brahma days
   1 kalpa is 1,000 mahayugas, or great ages
   1 mahayuga is split into 4 yugas (ages), of differing lengths:
      the Satya yuga, a golden age, lasting 1,728,000 human years
      the Treta yuga, a mostly moral age, lasting 1,296,000 human years
      the Dvapara yuga, a half-moral age, lasting 864,000 human years
      the Kali yuga, a mostly awful age, lasting 432,000 human years (this is the one we are in now) 

   After that, the world is destroyed and a new age begins.  
   So how long does the universe last?  Depends on what you mean by the universe.  Our universe lasts as long as Brahma's daily meditation, 4.32 billion human years.  Once it ends, he gets a 4.32 billion human year rest.  Then he starts again, and another universe emerges.  This cycle will go on until Brahma himself dies, after a life span of 155,520 billion human years. 
   But not to worry ── the Hindu universe is infinite.  After another 155,520 billion human years, a new Brahma will be born, and the cycle will start again. 
─
index
entries by tradition
mythologies around the world
  inuit
  northwestern north american
  american great plains
  southwestern north american
  hawaiian
  mesoamerican [central america]
  maori
  incan (western coast of south america)
  norse (iceland, norway, sweden, netherland) 
  celtic 
  greek/roman
  slavic
  west african
  east african
  egyptian
  sumerian / mesopotamian / persian
  indian / hindu
  chinese
  central asian 
  japanese / shinto
  australian

Korwin Briggs is the creator of Veritable Hokum, a webcomic about weird, funny, fascinating stories from history and mythology.  He lives in New York under a pile of sketchbooks. 

·‘’•─“”
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πόλλ' οἶδ' ἀλώπηξ,ἀλλ' ἐχῖνος ἓν μέγα πόλλ' οἶδ' ἀλώπηξ,ἀλλ' ἐχῖνος ἓν μέγα
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