Concept of a yuga cycle

Concept of a yuga cycle

What is the concept of a yuga cycle?

A Yuga cycle is a cycle of time in Hindu Vedic cosmology. I will explain the traditional concept as described in the ancient scriptures, such as the Vishnu Smriti, Manu Smriti, Mahabharata, many of the Puranas, Surya Siddhanta, etc., all of whose descriptions match exactly. But their descriptions, though meticulously detailed, are worded in somewhat arcane language, so rather than quote them I will explain them in my own words here.

The Vedic scriptures describe a worldview in which time moves not linearly, but cyclically (actually, technically in a nested series of concentric spirals, but I’ll keep it simple for now). In our particular part of the universe (but explicitly not in other parts), four great ages of time called Yugas recur again and again, in sequence. They are called Krita Yuga (aka Satya Yuga), Treta Yuga, Dwapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga. The whole cycle of the four Yugas is called a Chatur Yuga (simply meaning “four Yugas”) or a Maha Yuga (“great Yuga”).

The length of a full Chatur Yuga cycle is vast - 4,320,000 years exactly. But it is not divided equally into the four Yugas. Rather, Krita Yuga lasts 1,728,000 years, Treta Yuga lasts 1,296,000 years, Dwapara Yuga lasts 864,000 years, and Kali Yuga lasts 432,000 years. So the ratio of their durations is 4:3:2:1. And indeed their asymmetrical lengths are a blessing, for life is best and happiest in Krita Yuga, and generally worsens in each successive Yuga, until its renewal at the start of the next cycle. Humans overall decline, both morally and physically, in each Yoga, and are at what we today would perceive as a superhuman peak in Krita Yuga. Dharma, or the natural principle of individual, social, and spiritual “right-ness”, is at its full in Krita Yuga, and degrades more and more in each successive Yuga. Also, humans’ abilities to perceive, comprehend, and interface with reality beyond the gross material world reduces with each Yuga, and is at its highest in Krita Yuga.

One Yuga does not change to another instantly upon the expiry of its duration as given above. Rather, the transitions are slow and gradual. These transitory periods are called Yuga Sandhyas or “Twilights”, in which the characteristic qualities of the fading Yuga linger on in the new one, or the qualities of the approaching Yuga begin to arise. Each Yuga starts with a Yuga Sandhya, then the Yuga proper, then the Yuga Sandhyansha, and then the next Yuga begins with its Yuga Sandhya. So the actual lengths are as follows:

• Krita Yuga Sandhya - 144,000 years.
• Krita Yuga proper - 1,440,000 years.
• Krita Yuga Sandhyansha - 144,000 years.
• Treta Yuga Sandhya - 108,000 years.
• Treta Yuga proper - 1,080,000 years.
• Treta Yuga Sandhyansha - 108,000 years.
• Dwapara Yuga Sandhya - 72,000 years.
• Dwapara Yuga proper - 720,000 years.
• Dwapara Yuga Sandhyansha - 72,000 years.
• Kali Yuga Sandhya (We are here) - 36,000 years.
• Kali Yuga proper - 360,000 years.
• Kali Yuga Sandhyansha - 36,000 years.

And then the cycle restarts at the top. Hindu tradition records that our current Kali Yuga began in 3102 B.C.E., so we are now 5,123 years into the Kali Yuga Sandhya. Specifically, it began at midnight on the meridian of Ujjayini, as February 17th became February 18th, 3102 B.C.E. This is how traditional Hindu calendars count the year.

Concept of a yuga cycle

For simplicity’s sake, I have given all numbers in our familiar Earth-years. The Hindu scriptures often use Daiva years or years from the perspective of the Devas rather than our own. One Daiva year = 360 of our years. So if you look at scriptural references, it’s important to check which type of years it is using.

Near the end of Kali Yuga, conditions on our Earth become terrible indeed; our world is reduced to a nightmarish hellscape. To give an example from modern media, the movie Mad Max: Fury Road is in my opinion very close to a portrayal of late Kali Yuga as described in the ancient scriptures. To bring about the new Satya Yuga, Divine intervention is required. Two Divine Avatars are said to appear at this time: Dhumraketu Ganesha and Kalki, who destroy the evil forces that overrun the Earth and restore righteousness and balance. This prophecy of Divine purification of the world is irrelevant to Hindus’ lives today since it will not happen for 426,877 years (indeed the entire concept of a Yuga cycle might well be considered irrelevant to Hindus’ lives today, other than certain ritual technicalities).

The Yuga cycle that I have just described is only one of many time cycles in Hindu cosmology. Just as the cycle of years takes place within the cycle of Yugas, the cycle of Yugas occurs within the greater cycle of Manvantaras, which itself occurs within the greater cycle of Kalpas, which itself occurs within the greater cycle of Maha Kalpas, and so on. But this question only asked about the Yuga cycle, so I will not elaborate here on these greater cycles.

So that covers the math of the cycle and a general overview. As for some of the more specific natures and contents of the Yugas, I will quote a long passage on the subject from the Kurma Mahapurana:

“Sanatana Dharma is four-footed in the Krita Yuga, three-footed in the Treta Yuga, and stands two-footed in the Dwapara. In Tishya (another name for Kali Yuga), missing three feet, it barely survives. In Krita, birth occurs through sexual intercourse. All creatures are continually content, with their livelihood spontaneously arising out of their pleasure in doing it. In this Krita Yuga there is no distinction between the best and the worst of them, O city-conqueror; their life, happiness, and beauty are equal. They are free from sorrow, full of goodness, much given to solitude; devoted to meditation, and intent upon tapas, their final end is Mahadeva. They act without self-interest; their minds are always joyful; they have no permanent home; they live in the mountains or by the oceans.

“In the course of time the spontaneous arising of pleasure came to an end in the Treta. When the natural propensity for pleasure was lost, another perfection came into being. When the subtleness of waters [their spontaneous welling forth] had ceased, then rain in the shape of clouds poured forth from thunderheads. As soon as earth’s surface was covered by the fallen rain there appeared trees called homes. All food came from these trees; indeed, at the beginning of the Treta Yuga all creatures subsisted entirely on them. Then, after a long period of degeneration, their disposition became unexpectedly passionate and greedy. Because of their decadence, in the course of time all these trees known as homes disappeared. After they had vanished, those who were born from intercourse became confused. They set their hearts on success, but yet paid attention to truthfulness. The trees they called homes then reappeared and brought forth clothing, fruit, and ornaments. In their holes was potent honey not collected by bees, with sweet smell, color, and taste. In fact, at the start of the Treta Yuga all beings lived on this honey and were happy, well-fed, and free from trouble. Then, after a time, they once again turned to greed, forcibly seizing these trees whose honey was not gathered by bees. And once more, because of their misdeeds, through their fault, the wishing-trees abounding in honey everywhere disappeared. Suffering acutely through intense rain and oppressed by the opposites of cold and heat, they made shelters. After the wishing-trees with their copious honey were lost, those who were hiding from the opposing element pondered how to make a living. So success came again to them in the Treta Yuga: another type of rain, conducive to their livelihood, fell in accordance with their desire. Then a continual succession of supernal rains flowed down the valleys, bore the waters downward, and thus became rivers. The drops of water which once again covered the earth’s surface then became herbs through the commingling of earth and water. Fourteen kinds of trees – both flowering and fruit-bearing – took root, some appropriate to barren soil, some to untilled land, some to unsowed soil, and some to village and forest. Then greed and passion arose again everywhere, inevitably, due to the predestined purpose of the Treta Yuga. And people seized the rivers, fields, mountains, clumps of trees and herbs, overcoming them by their strength. Because of their perversity, the herbs reentered earth. Prithu milked the earth by command of the Pitris. Then all the people, insensate with anger, due to the influence of the times, captured each other’s land, wives, and wealth by their own power. Knowing this, the unborn lord Brahma emitted the kshatriyas for the purpose of setting limits and for the benefit of the Brahmanas. In the Treta the lord instituted the rules of class and stage in life and also the performance of Yagnya without injury to cattle.

“In the Dwapara, however, differences of opinion continually reoccurred among men, as did passion, greed and war, and a lack of firm resolve regarding truth. In the Treta the four-footed Veda was laid down as a unit whereas in the Dwapara and the others it was divided into four parts by Vyasa. They were re-divided by the sons of the Rishi who committed errors in judgment by way of distinctive divisions of mantra and brahmana; the errors were due to changes in accents and phonemes. Because of certain differences of opinion here and there, the collections of Rig, Yajus, and Sama Vedas were compiled by the seers of Shruti according to their various characteristics; also the Brahmana, the Kalpasutras, the recitations and mantras; Itihasa and Purana, and the Dharmashastras, O one of strong vow. Disgust with existence arose among mankind along with death, calamity, and disease through suffering born in speech, mind, and body. From disgust there arose among human beings reflections on liberation from suffering, and from such reflection arose indifference to worldly desires, and from indifference the perception of fault. In the Dwapara, then, wisdom arose from the observation of error. This behavior, along with rajas and tamas, is remembered of the Dwapara. In the first Yuga, the Krita, there was virtue; it continued throughout the Treta, became confused in the Dwapara, and is lost altogether in the Kali.

“In Tishya, men confounded by tamas continually perpetrate trickery, envy, and the murder of ascetics. In the Kali there is fatal disease, continuous hunger and fear, awful dread of drought and revolution in the lands. Evil creatures born in the Tishya – wicked, unprincipled, weak in wit and strong in anger – speak lies. Fear arises among people because of Brahmana errors in behavior: crimes, lack of knowledge, evil conduct and ill-gotten gains. In the Kali the Dwijas are ignorant of the Vedas. Nor do they perform Yagnya; others of inferior intellect do the Yagnya, and they recite the Vedas incorrectly.”

by Devala Rees