Time — the yugas, kalpas and cycles
काल
Also written: yuga · kali yuga · satya treta dvapara kali · kalpa · hindu time cycles · manvantara · युग
Time here is not a line but a wheel, and the wheel is very large. The scale is one of the tradition's most distinctive features: no other ancient cosmology works in units of billions of years.
| Yuga | Length | Dharma standing on | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Satya / Kṛta | 1,728,000 years | Four legs | Truth undiminished; no need of law, because none departs from it |
| Tretā | 1,296,000 years | Three legs | A quarter lost; sacrifice becomes the principal means |
| Dvāpara | 864,000 years | Two legs | Half lost; the Veda is divided; disease and discord appear |
| Kali | 432,000 years | One leg | Three-quarters lost; the age we are held to be in |
| Unit | Composition | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Mahāyuga | The four yugas together | 4,320,000 |
| Manvantara | 71 mahāyugas, ruled by one Manu | 306,720,000 |
| Kalpa — a day of Brahmā | 14 manvantaras with junctions | 4,320,000,000 |
| A night of Brahmā | Equal, in dissolution | 4,320,000,000 |
| Brahmā's lifespan | 100 years of such days and nights | 311.04 trillion |
The Kali yuga, honestly
By the traditional reckoning Kali yuga began at Kṛṣṇa's departure, around 3102 BCE, and runs 432,000 years — so roughly five thousand years of it have passed and it has a very long way to go. The Purāṇas describe its character bluntly: wealth becomes the measure of worth, appearance the measure of merit, and law the instrument of the strong. They also state its one compensation, repeatedly and emphatically: what took meditation in Satya and elaborate sacrifice in Tretā is achieved in Kali by the name alone — which is the doctrinal foundation of the whole bhakti movement.
Four dissolutions
| Pralaya | Scope |
|---|---|
| Nitya | Constant — the perishing of individual things moment by moment |
| Naimittika | At the end of a day of Brahmā; the three worlds withdrawn, Brahmā sleeps |
| Prākṛtika | At the end of Brahmā's life; the elements resolve back into prakṛti |
| Ātyantika | Final — the liberation of an individual, which ends the cycle for that being |
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Last revised 2026-08-16. Corrections are welcome — see how this site is written.