A yuga cycle ( chatur yuga, maha yuga, etc.) is a cyclic age (epoch) in Hindu cosmology. Each cycle lasts for 4,320,000 years (12,000 divine years) and repeats four yugas (world ages): Krita (Satya) Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga.
As a yuga cycle progresses through the four yugas, each yuga's length and humanity's general moral and physical state within each yuga decrease by one-fourth. Kali Yuga, which lasts for 432,000 years, is believed to have started in 3102 BCE. Near the end of Kali Yuga, when virtues are at their worst, a cataclysm and a reestablishment of dharma occur to usher in the next cycle's Krita (Satya) Yuga, prophesied to occur by Kalki.
There are 71 yuga cycles in a manvantara (age of Manu) and 1,000 yuga cycles in a kalpa (day of Brahma).
Lexicology A yuga cycle has several names.
Age or Yuga (): "Age" and "Yuga", sometimes with reverential capitalization, commonly denote a "", a cycle of four world ages, unless expressly limited by the name of one of its minor ages (e.g. Kali Yuga). Its archaic spelling is yug, with other forms of yugam, , and yuge, derived from yuj (), believed derived from (Proto-Indo-European: 'to join or unite').
Chatur Yuga (): A cyclic age encompassing the four yuga ages as defined in Hindu texts: Surya Siddhanta, Manusmriti, and Bhagavata Purana.
Daiva Yuga (), Deva Yuga (), Divya Yuga (): A cyclic age of the divine, celestrial, or gods (Devas) encompassing the four yuga ages ( "human ages" or "world ages"). The Hindu texts give a length of 12,000 divine years, where a divine year lasts for 360 solar (human) years.
Maha Yuga (): A greater cyclic age encompassing the smaller four yuga ages.
Yuga cycle () + (): A cyclic age encompassing the four yuga ages.
It is theorized that the concept of the four yugas originated some time after the compilation of the four Vedas, but prior to the rest of the Hindu texts, based on the concept's absence in the former writings. It is believed that the four yugas—Krita (Satya), Treta, Dvapara, and Kali—are named after throws of an Indian game of long dice, marked with 4-3-2-1 respectively. A dice game is described in the Rigveda, Atharvaveda, Upanishads, Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Puranas, while the four yugas are described after the four Vedas with no mention of a correlation to dice. A complete description of the four yugas and their characteristics are in the Vishnu Smriti (ch. 20),Vishnu Samhita. Mahabharata (e.g. Vanaparva 149, 183), Manusmriti (I.81–86), and Puranas (e.g. Brahma, ch. 122–123; Matsya, ch. 142–143; Naradiya, Purvardha, ch. 41). The four yugas are also described in the Bhagavata Purana (3.11.18–20).
Duration and structure
Hindu texts describe four yugas (world ages) in a yuga cycle—Krita (Satya) Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga—where, starting in order from the first age, each yuga's length decreases according to a ratio of 4:3:2:1. Each yuga is described as having a main period ( yuga proper) preceded by its (dawn) and followed by its (dusk), where each twilight (dawn/dusk) lasts for one-tenth (10%) of its main period. Lengths are given in divine years (years of the gods), each lasting for 360 solar (human) years.
Each yuga cycle lasts for 4,320,000 years (12,000 divine years) with its four yugas: Krita (Satya) Yuga for 1,728,000 (4,800 divine) years, Treta Yuga for 1,296,000 (3,600 divine) years, Dvapara Yuga for 864,000 (2,400 divine) years, and Kali Yuga for 432,000 (1,200 divine) years.
+ Structure of a yuga cycle Yuga Part Divineyears Solaryears Krita(Satya) Krita-yuga-sandhya (dawn) 400 144,000 Krita-yuga (proper) 4,000 1,440,000 Krita-yuga-sandhyamsa (dusk) 400 144,000 Treta Treta-yuga-sandhya (dawn) 300 108,000 Treta-yuga (proper) 3,000 1,080,000 Treta-yuga-sandhyamsa (dusk) 300 108,000 Dvapara Dvapara-yuga-sandhya (dawn) 200 72,000 Dvapara-yuga (proper) 2,000 720,000 Dvapara-yuga-sandhyamsa (dusk) 200 72,000 Kali Kali-yuga-sandhya (dawn) 100 36,000 Kali-yuga (proper) 1,000 360,000 Kali-yuga-sandhyamsa (dusk) 100 36,000 Total 12,000 4,320,000
The current cycle's four yugas have the following dates based on Kali Yuga, the fourth and present age, starting in 3102 BCE:
+ Yuga cycle Yuga Start (– End) Length Krita (Satya) 3,891,102BCE 1,728,000 (4,800) Treta 2,163,102BCE 1,296,000 (3,600) Dvapara 867,102BCE 864,000 (2,400) Kali* 3102BCE428,899CE 432,000 (1,200) Years: 4,320,000 solar (12,000 divine)
Mahabharata, Book 12 (Shanti Parva), Ch. 231:
Manusmriti, Ch. 1:
Surya Siddhanta, Ch. 1:
Greater cycles
There are 71 yuga cycles (306,720,000 years) in a manvantara, a period ruled by Manu, who is the progenitor of mankind. There are 1,000 yuga cycles (4,320,000,000 years) in a kalpa, a period that is a day (12-hour day proper) of Brahma, who is the creator of the planets and first living entities. There are 14 manvantaras (4,294,080,000 years) in a kalpa with a remainder of 25,920,000 years assigned to 15 manvantara-sandhyas (junctures), each the length of a Satya Yuga (1,728,000 years). A kalpa is followed by a pralaya (night or partial dissolution) of equal length forming a full day (24-hour day). A maha-kalpa (life of Brahma) lasts for 100 360-day years of Brahma, which lasts for 72,000,000 yuga cycles (311.04 trillion years) and is followed by a maha-pralaya (full dissolution) of equal length.
We are currently halfway through Brahma's life (maha-kalpa): 51st year of 100 (2nd half or parardha) 1st month of 12 1st kalpa (Shveta-Varaha Kalpa) of 30 7th manvantara (Vaivasvatha Manu) of 14 28th chatur-yuga ( yuga cycle) of 71 4th yuga (Kali Yuga) of 4
Yuga dates are used in an ashloka, which is read out at the beginning of Hindu rites to specify the elapsed time in Brahma's life. For example, an ashloka in 2007CE of the Gregorian calendar might include the lines:
Virtues
According to the Manusmriti, the virtue (dharma) of human beings varies across the four yugas (ages). The text states:
In the Krita Yuga, the virtue is austerity (tapas); in the Treta Yuga, it is knowledge (jnana); in the Dvapara Yuga, it is sacrifice (yajna); and in the Kali Yuga, it is charity (dāna).
Avatars
Ganesha
Ganesha avatars are described as coming during specific yugas.
Vishnu
The Puranas describe Vishnu avatars that come during specific yugas, but may not occur in every yuga cycle.
Vamana appears at the beginning of Treta Yuga. According to Vayu Purana, Vamana's 3rd appearance was in the 7th Treta Yuga.Part 1: 50.41 (city of Bali), 55.3, 55.7. Part 2: 5.133, 35.73, 35.77, 36.74–85, 37.26–32, 38.21–22, 46.29 (Bali as oblation).
Rama appears during the Treta Yuga. According to Vayu Purana and Matsya Purana, Rama appeared in the 24th yuga cycle. According to Padma Purana, Rama also appeared in the 27th yuga cycle of the 6th (previous) manvantara.
Vyasa Vyasa is attributed as the compiler of the four Vedas, Mahabharata, and Puranas. According to the Vishnu Purana, Kurma Purana, and Shiva Purana, a different Vyasa comes at the end of each Dvapara Yuga to write down veda (knowledge) to guide humans in the degraded age of Kali Yuga.
Modern theories Breaking from the long duration of a yuga cycle, new theories have emerged regarding the length, number, and order of the yugas.
Sri Yukteswar Giri
Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri (1855–1936) proposed a yuga cycle of 24,000 years in the introduction of his book The Holy Science (1894).
He claimed the understanding that Kali Yuga lasts for 432,000 years was a mistake, which he traced back to Raja Parikshit, just after the descending Dvapara Yuga ended ( 3101BCE) and all the wise men of his court retired to the Himalaya Mountains. With no one left to correctly calculate the ages, Kali Yuga never officially started. After 499CE, in ascending Dvapara Yuga, when the intellect of men began to develop, but not fully, they noticed mistakes and attempted to correct them by converting what they thought to be divine years to human years (1:360 ratio). Yukteswar's yuga lengths for Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali are respectively 4,800, 3,600, 2,400, and 1,200 "human" years (12,000 years total).
He accepted the four yugas and their 4:3:2:1 length and dharma proportions, but his yuga cycle contained eight yugas, the original descending set of the four yugas followed by an ascending (reversed) set, where he called each set a "Daiva Yuga" or "Electric Couple". His yuga cycle lasts for 24,000 years, which he believed equals one precession of the equinoxes (traditionally 25,920 years; 1,920 years difference). He states that the world entered the Pisces-Virgo Age in 499CE ("cycle bottom"), and that the current age of ascending Dvapara Yuga started in 1699CE around the time of scientific discoveries and advancements such as electricity.
He explained that in a 24,000-year yuga cycle, the Sun completes one orbit around some dual star, becoming nearer and farther to a galactic center, which the pair orbit in a longer period. He called this galactic center Vishnunabhi (Vishnu's Navel), where Brahma regulates dharma or, as Yukteswar defined it, mental virtue. Dharma is lowest when farthest from Brahma at the descending-ascending intersection ("cycle-bottom"), where the opposite occurs at the "cycle-top" when nearest. At dharma's lowest (499CE), human intellect cannot comprehend anything beyond the gross material world.
+ Sri Yukteswar's yuga cycle Yuga Start (– End) Length Descending (12,000 years) Krita (Satya) 11,501BCE 4,800 Treta 6701BCE 3,600 Dvapara 3101BCE 2,400 Kali 701BCE 1,200 Ascending (12,000 years) Kali 499CE 1,200 Dvapara* 1699CE 2,400 Treta 4099CE 3,600 Krita (Satya) 7699–12,499CE 4,800 Years: 24,000
Joscelyn Godwin states that Yukteswar believed the traditional chronology of the yugas wrong and rigged for political reasons, but that Yukteswar may have had political reasons of his own, evident in a police report printed in Atlantis and the Cycles of Time, which links Yukteswar to a secret anti-colonial movement called Yugantar, meaning "new age" or "transition of an epoch".
Godwin claims the Jain time cycle and the European myth of progress influenced Yukteswar, whose theory only recently became prominent outside India. Humanity in an upward cycle is contrary to traditional ideas. Godwin points out many philosophies and religions that started during a time when "man could not see beyond the gross material world" (701BCE1699CE). Only materialists and atheists would welcome the post-1700 age as an improvement.
John Major Jenkins, who adjusted ascending Kali Yuga from 499CE to 2012 in his version, criticizes Yukteswar as wanting the "cycle-bottom" to correspond to his education, beliefs, and historical understanding. Technology has thrust us deeper into material dependency and spiritual darkness.
René Guénon
René Guénon (1886–1951) proposed a yuga cycle of 64,800 years in his 1931 French article, which was later translated in the book Traditional Forms & Cosmic Cycles (2001).
Guénon accepted the doctrine of the four yugas, the 4:3:2:1 yuga length proportions, and Kali Yuga as the present age. He couldn't accept the extremely large lengths and felt they were encoded with additional zeros to mislead those who might use it to predict the future. He reduced a yuga cycle from 4,320,000 to 4,320 years (1,728 + 1,296 + 864 + 432), but he felt this was too short for humanity's history.