Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography

In the view of classical Hinduism, this world is ods with durations that dwarf modern estimates
the domain of time, and time is viewed as a cycli- of the age of the universe. In the 18th century,
cal process. Society and the entire created uni- some European intellectuals were so impressed
verse are subject to a recurring sequence of by the antiquity that Hinduism claimed for its
creation and destruction that is endless. The pic- texts and traditions on the basis of such durations
ture painted by the → Purāṇas, Dharmaśāstras that prominent figures such as Voltaire sought
(→ Dharmasūtras and Dharmaśāstras), and astro- proof in these claims that Indian traditions were
nomical treatises known as Siddhāntas (→ astro- older than biblical ones. The enormity of Indian
logy and astronomy) is of an ongoing cyclical time cycles was also alluded to by Carl Sagan (the
process that includes different kinds of cosmic well-known 20th-century astronomer and popu-
cycles. This is not to say that these texts reflect a larizer of modern astronomy and cosmology)
lack of sense of history, as has often been argued. when he was explaining modern scientific views
Nor does it imply that Indian perceptions of his- of the origin of the universe. If cosmic time in
tory are strictly cyclical, as opposed to the presumed traditional Hinduism is cyclical, then space is cir-
linear – more properly, rectilinear – understand- cular, because the world is often arranged in a
ing of history in religious traditions like Judaism, series of concentric circles defining different con-
Christianity, and Islam. In fact, although there is tinents. Alongside this horizontal geographical
a marked difference of emphasis in these tradi- arrangement, there is also a vertical one, inti-
tions vis-à-vis Indian ones, the distinction mately related to levels of existence.
between cyclical and linear time is not absolute.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam follow cyclical
ritual cycles, and Christianity includes the notion Time
of a returning savior. Hindu cosmic cycles are so
vast that, in practice, an event such as the great Antecedents: The Vedic Period
battle described in the → Mahābhārata fulfills a (c. 1200–500 BCE)
similar role to that of a unique event in a tradition
whose history is patterned according to linear Time Cycles
time (González-Reimann, 1988, 19; Thapar, 2007, In the Ṛgveda (c. 1200 BCE; → Vedas), there is no
32–32). The Purāṇas give great importance to developed system of large cycles of time. The
genealogy and the lineages of historical kings, in word yuga, which would later designate specific
what can also be viewed as an expression of linear periods of prosperity and decay for human soci-
time (for detailed discussions see Thapar, 1997; ety, is sometimes employed by the poets to refer
2007; Malinar, 2007a; 2007b). Nevertheless, such to a human generation or to an unspecified time
instances of linear time play themselves out period. We occasionally hear of an earlier yuga
against the backdrop of the large recurring cosmic (ṚV. 10.72.2) or of future yugas, (ṚV. 10.10.10). In
cycles that, in the developed puranic and shastric 1.158.6, the sage (→ ṛsị ) Dīrghatamas is said to
system, provide the ontological and mythic- have grown old or died in his tenth yuga, with a
historical background for traditional Hinduism. yuga probably representing five or ten years. Sub-
There are three main cycles in this complex sequent Vedic literature mentions a five-year
system: the kalpas (also known as days of yuga, a cycle that was not defined astronomically
→ Brahmā), the manvantaras, and the yugas, each until the Jyotirvedāṅga of Lagadha (c. 400 BCE),
with its own defining characteristics, and each where it is used to reconcile solar and lunar cycles
responding to a certain need within the religious, by positing that five years consist of 1830 days as
cultural, and social circumstances of the time well as of 62 synodic months. Although not very
when they first appeared in Sanskrit literature. precise, this equation was used for calendrical
These cosmic cycles involve enormous time peri- purposes (for details see Pingre, 1973, 6–8).

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Also available online – www.brill.nl
412 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography
The closest that Vedic literature comes to the setting up of a tent. In another version, creation
conception of long time periods is a passing ref- occurs when a cosmic mother spreads her legs in
erence in the Atharvaveda (8.2.21) to periods of order to give birth to the earth and the directions
100 and 10,000 years, as well as of two, three, or of space (ṚV. 10.72.3–4). In a more abstract sense,
four undefined yugas, and the mention in the being, or what is (sat), emerges from a state of
Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa (13.12.9.5, 16, 19; → Vedas nonbeing (asat; ṚV. 10.72.2–3), although these
and Brāhmaṇas) of two Vedic soma rituals two states are elsewhere said to come later in the
(→ yajña) performed in the distant past by “the process of creation (ṚV. 10.129.1).
creators of everything” (viśvasṛjs). These rituals There is one Ṛgvedic version of creation that is
are said to have lasted 1,000 and 100,000 years, especially relevant here because of its influence
the former being divided into four periods of on later puranic cosmology. It is the origin of the
250 years each. world from a hiraṇyagarbha, a golden germ or
Just as there is no evidence in the Ṛgveda of a embryo (ṚV. 10.121). Equally important is the
well-defined system of large time cycles, creation fact that a frequent feature of Ṛgvedic cosmogon-
is not viewed by the poets as a recurring process. ical descriptions is the presence of water. According
The text presents several versions of creation, but to Ṛgveda 10.129.3, in the beginning everything
Ṛgvedic poets were apparently not concerned was water (salila), while in 10.190 an ocean with
with the possibility that the world might someday waves (samudro arṇavaḥ ) came into existence at
come to an end. There are no predictions or an early stage, and from it emerged the year with
descriptions of catastrophic events that would its days and nights, thus creating measurable
herald the destruction of the world. In fact, earth time. The golden germ/embryo itself was on the
and sky are said to never grow old: they are waters in the beginning (ṚV. 10.121.7), just as
unageing (ajara; ṚV. 3.6.4; 6.70.1; 10.31.7), which the gods were in the waters (salila) when they
implies they do not die. And Uṣas, the goddess of brought the sun (Sūrya) out of the ocean (sam-
dawn, is both unageing and immortal (ajarāmṛtā; udra; ṚV. 10.72.6–7).
ṚV. 1.113.13). The gods in general are considered The connection between water and creation
immortal (ṚV. 4.54.2; 7.17.4; 10.65.15), and this continues in the Brāhmaṇas (c. 9th–6th cents. BCE)
must include sky and earth. Thus, for the Vedic and Āraṇyakas (→ Upaniṣads and Āraṇyakas). The
poets, the world was not in danger of being Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa (2.2.9.3) links the ocean,
destroyed. understood as the place of generation, with the
Creation, however, was an important topic for placental water of animals, and the notion that
many poets, and we encounter varying explana- water was the original state is frequently reaf-
tions of how the world came into being. We find firmed (ŚBr. 11.1.6.1; TaiĀ. 1.23.1).
the description of the god Indra’s heroic slaying of Although Vedic literature shows no awareness
the serpent-demon Vṛtra, who withheld the waters of large recurring time cycles, nor does it seem
that allowed for life to exist (ṚV. 1.32), a feat that interested in the possibility of world destruction,
has been interpreted as an anthropomorphic cre- the three principal astronomical cycles – the day,
ation story. There is the important and very influ- year, and lunar month – are often portrayed as
ential description of creation that appears in the recurring, circular phenomena, and the periodic
Puruṣa Sūkta, the Hymn to the Man (ṚV. 10.90), disappearance and reemergence of the sun and
which portrays the origin of the world as the the moon are frequently depicted as a process of
result of the division or dismemberment of a cos- death and rebirth. The year is a wheel (cakra) that
mic man (→ puruṣa) of enormous proportions. revolves endlessly (ṚV. 1.155.6; 1.164.11, 13), and
Different parts of the physical world, as well as the moon “becomes new again and again as she is
the social structure of four social classes (varṇas; born” (ṚV. 10.85.19).
→ caste) and the all-important Vedic ritual, are These three astronomical cycles share two fun-
said to have originated from sections of his cos- damental characteristics in Vedic tradition that
mic body. Creation is also imagined as the work are of great importance for the Vedic ritual. First,
of a cosmic carpenter (ṚV. 10.81.4), or as the sep- they are divided into two halves, one in which
aration of the earth from the sky by gods like light gradually increases, known as the light half,
Varuṇa (ṚV. 7.86.1), who then keep these two and another in which light decreases, the dark
world halves apart by means of a pole or pillar half. In a broader sense, they are an ascending
(skambha, stambha), an image reminiscent of the and a descending half. Second, the points at
 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography 413
which one half gives way to the other are transi- importance of time as a powerful force is well
tional periods that carry special ritual signifi- illustrated by the presence of two hymns in the
cance. In the case of the year, the ascending half Atharvaveda (19.53–54), which present time as
begins with the shortest day, at the time of the the origin of everything. Time, kāla (a word used
winter solstice, and it ends with the longest day, at only once in the Ṛgveda), created earth, sky,
the summer solstice. This is the uttarāyaṇa or the waters, and the Vedas. Time also created
udagāyana, the “movement towards the north” Prajāpati – who in the Brāhmaṇas became the
(of the sun at sunrise). The descending half is the undisputed creator god – thus making time the
dakṣiṇāyana or “movement towards the south.” creator of the creator. Nothing is higher than
The moon’s ascending half is called śukla, white, time, and everything exists in it (see also → time
and it extends from new moon to full moon, after and destiny).
which the kṛsṇ ạ , or dark half, begins. In the case The Brāhmaṇas addressed the concern voiced
of the day, the division is usually placed at sunrise earlier in the hymns to dawn by emphasizing the
and sunset, although it can also be at midnight need to overcome time ritually. The year was
and noon (ŚBr. 2.1.3.1–3). The moments of transi- the epitome of time, and its basic cycle. The
tion between the two halves of each cycle will Śatapathabrāhmaṇa (10.4.3.1) declares boldly
then be the solstices for the year, the new and full that the year is death (mṛtyu; → death and after-
moon for the month, and the two twilights – or life), destroying the life span of mortals by means
midday and midnight – for the day. These are of its days and nights. Additionally, the year
critical junctures that require the performance of is equivalent to the god Prajāpati, whose ritual
prescribed rituals. brick altar, the agnicayana, is constructed with
The importance of the halves of the year and 10,800 bricks, emulating the 10,800 muhūrtas or
their periods of transition is well illustrated in a “minutes” of the year (ŚBr. 10.4.2.1–20; 10.4.3.20).
ritual described in the Brāhmaṇas, called the The ideal year is made up of 360 days, each
gavām ayana, which lasts for an entire year. containing 30 muhūrtas, and men can reach
Throughout the year the priests emulate the sun’s immortality by building this altar to Prajāpati
movement by performing the sacrifice in the nor- (10.4.3.10–11). Similarly, the Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa
mal order during the ascending half, from winter (3.11.8.1–6) prescribes the building of a fire altar
solstice to summer solstice, and then inverting called nāciketa that allows the sacrificer to escape
the order of the performance for the descending the reach of days and nights.
half. They also pause at the solstices, like the sun The rituals described in the Brāhmaṇas serve
appears to do (KauṣBr. 19.1.28–2.22; 25.1.5–6). to counter the negative impact of time, as the sac-
rificer ritually obtains (āpnoti) the year, which is
to say that he conquers and survives it. But the
Time as Destroyer year, like the succession of days and nights, is a
Even if Vedic poets were not preoccupied with solar cycle, so another way of conquering time is
the possible end of the world, they do display a by going beyond the sun. According to the
concern with the end of life. Vedic hymns are Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa (3.11.4), the sacrificer who
generally inspired and life affirming. However, conquers the imperishable world beyond the sun
they contain the seed of what was to become a escapes the reach of day and night.
dominant concern at the end of the Vedic period, The ideal human life span was 100 years in the
namely, the notion that time is an unstoppable Ṛgveda (1.89.9; 2.33.2), and this continues in the
force that eventually leads to death. We witness Brāhmaṇas. The Śatapathabrāhmaṇa states that
an early manifestation of such worries in the 100 years is a full life span (āyus), and whoever
hymns to Uṣas, dawn (→ Vedic gods). Uṣas is lives that long reaches immortality (amṛta;
praised as the bringer of light and day, the dis- 10.2.6.7–9; 13.2.6.8; 13.4.2.10). Other Brāhmaṇas
peller of night’s darkness, and, as such, her arrival (KauṣBr. 11.7) contain similar statements, while
is eagerly awaited. But she is also the bringer of the Bhāgavatapurāṇa (3.11.12) will still claim that
old age and death, since her daily return makes 100 years is the maximum, or best, length of
us one day older and slowly drives us towards human life.
our end. She causes humans to age (jarayanti; Time’s role as bringer of death and destroyer of
ṚV. 1.92.10; 1.179.1), and she destroys (praminatī) life continues in the Vedic Upaniṣads, where old
human generations (ṚV. 1.124.2). The increasing age and death are a common concern. In the
414 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography
Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad (3.1.3–5), a priest asks the Bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad (3.2.13). This follows the
wise Yajñavalkya how the sacrificer can free him- equivalences outlined earlier in the Puruṣa Sūkta
self from death, from days and nights, and from of the Ṛgveda (10.90.13).
the two halves of the moon’s cycle. In one of the We can visualize existence in the wheel of time
late Vedic Upaniṣads, the Maitrāyaṇīyopaniṣad as a horizontal, circular movement that takes
(6.15), the eternal brahman is said to have two place “down here” in the world. However, at the
forms, time (kāla) and the timeless (akāla). time of liberation, there is an upward vertical
Its timeless form existed before the sun, prior movement by which the individual breaks free
to the appearance of days and nights, the markers from the horizontal rotation in saṃ sāra. The
of time. opposite of liberation would then be creation,
thus completing a vertical cycle whose first half
comprises coming into worldly existence, while
Death and Rebirth its second half is the escape from it into the eter-
There are three crucial developments in the nal, formless brahman.
Upaniṣads. First, the belief in reincarnation There is a fourth, relevant tenet of upanisadic
emerges, and the interval between birth and thought. Everything in the world is understood
death is now seen as a brief moment in a long as being invisibly linked, and “the world up there”
cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Living beings and “the world down here” are reflections of each
endlessly rotate (anuparivartante; BĀU. 6.2.16; other (KaṭhU. 4.10). This general principle of cor-
āvartante; ChāU. 5.3.2; PrU. 1.9) in the wheel of respondence or correlation was already promi-
existence (→ saṃ sāra), a term that first appears in nent in the Brāhmaṇas, where the term bandhu is
the Kaṭhopaniṣad (3.7). Second, the only way to employed to indicate a connection with or the
avoid the suffering brought about by repeated counterpart of something. It is of great relevance
birth in this world is to break away from the in the Upaṇiṣads, where its ultimate expression
wheel of time – in whose domain we are bound can be seen in the identity of the → ātman (the
(baddha) – and to reach the world of the → brah- self) with the brahman (the immaterial founda-
man, beyond time (ChāU. 8.15.1). The Vedic rit- tion of the world). The Upaniṣads deal with the
ual can no longer accomplish this, only knowledge birth, death, and rebirth of living beings; but on
of the brahman. This is → liberation (mokṣa). In account of this principle of correspondence or
the Upaniṣads, reincarnation entails spending correlation, it seems natural to view the world as
time in the moon before returning to earth, while going through the same process: it is created, it
liberation requires going to the sun and beyond exists for some time, and it is then destroyed.
(BĀU. 6.2.15–16; ChāU. 5.10.1–6). This is remi- At the time of destruction, it returns to its source
niscent of the Vedic idea that the sun moves in brahman. Not surprisingly, some upanishadic
alone, while the moon is born repeatedly (ṚV. descriptions of death can be read as allusions to
10.85.18; VājSa. 23.9–10; ŚBr. 13.2.6.10–11; MBh. the end of the world, as in Muṇḍakopaniṣad 3.2.6,
3.2.97.46–47). Third, the process of liberation is where the term parāntakāle (at the time of the
understood as a return to the source. The final end) almost certainly refers to death, but
Taittirīyopaniṣad (3.1.1) explains that the brah- could be read as “at the end of (cosmic) time.”
man is “that from which these beings are born, Similarly, kṛtsnakṣaya (the destruction of every-
thanks to which, once born, they live, and into thing) in the late Maitrāyaṇīyopaniṣad (4.6; 6.17)
which they go when they die.” This return is con- probably means death, although it can be con-
ceived of as taking place in the reverse order of strued as referring to world destruction, espe-
that in which the creation of the constitutive ele- cially in its second occurrence.
ments of the individual came about. It is, again, The notion that the world undergoes constant
evocative of the gavām ayana, the Vedic ritual creation and destruction, an idea that becomes
that required the sacrifice to be performed in prevalent in our next historical phase, is therefore
reverse order during the second half of the year. a mirror image, a projection, of the human pro-
It also evokes the Ṛgvedic notion (10.16.3) that cess of repeated life and death. Likewise, the
at the time of death the different components of emerging theory that the world is eventually
a person return to the parts of Nature with which reabsorbed into its origin is, essentially, a projec-
they are identified – such as breath going to tion of the mystical or yogic process of gradually
the wind – a process further detailed in the withdrawing from contact with the external world
 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography 415
and experiencing a return to the timeless origin ployed in Sanskrit was probably yuga. In the
(see Biardeau, 1968; 1969). The term pratyāhāra Mahābhārata, the expression “the end of the
(withdrawal), which is the name of a stage in the yuga” (yugānta) is routinely used by the epic
classical eightfold yoga of Patañjali (→ Pātañjala poets to allude to a mythological “end of the
Yoga), is used in the → Mahābhārata (12.209.20; world” characterized by natural disasters. This
12.224.74) with both these meanings: the yogin’s world destruction is usually presided over by the
withdrawal of the senses from objects, and world god → Śiva, and it involves earthquakes, scorching
destruction. Similarly, the compound prabhavāpyaya heat, devastating rains, and strong winds
(coming from and returning into), with which (González-Reimann, 2002, 64–73). We have epi-
the Kaṭhopaniṣad (6.11) defines the yogic process, graphical evidence for this use of the term in the
is employed several times in the epic for the cre- Junagaṛh Rock Inscription of Rudradāman I,
ation and destruction of the world (3.188.4; from 150 CE (Sircar, 1965, 176–177). These natu-
12.47.57; 12.328.14). The parallelism between the ral disasters are integral to the natural environ-
individual process of liberation and that of world ment of South Asia. The intense heat and
destruction is also evident in epic passages such torrential rains are part of the yearly monsoon
as Mahābhārata 12.271. cycle, while earthquakes are also common in the
subcontinent. In Sanskrit, the names kalpa and
Day of Brahmā eventually became definitely asso-
The Formative Period (c. 400 ciated with the cycle of creation and destruction.
BCE–400 CE) The cycle is compared to the rising and setting
of the sun in the Mahābhārata (12.326.71). When
The centuries surrounding the beginning of the the world is created and while it lasts, it is the cos-
Common Era were instrumental in the formation mic day, while the period between its destruction
of many fundamental puranic beliefs. The many and a new creation is the night. During the day,
social, political, economic, and religious changes Brahmā is awake, and during the night, he sleeps
that took place during that long period would (MBh. 6.30.17 [= BhG. 8.17]; 12.224.29–30; see
inform all later Indian traditions in one way or also MaSm. 1.73).
another. The changes involved a complex combi- Vaiṣnạ vism appropriated Brahmā’s role as cre-
nation of internal transformations of the Vedic ator by explaining that the god who wakes up and
tradition, foreign influence, and the reaction to, goes to sleep is Nārāyaṇa-Viṣnu ̣ (MBh. 12.327.89).
and often assimilation of, local non-Vedic elements. However, Brahmā’s participation was still included
in the Vaiṣnạ va narrative, where Brahmā himself
is said to come from → Viṣnu ̣ . Brahmā is born on
World Destruction and Re-creation a lotus that grows out of Viṣnu ̣ ’s navel when
The earliest mentions of cosmic cycles in Sanskrit he wakes up at the end of the cosmic night
literature are found in the Yugapurāṇa section (MBh. 12.335.19–20), which he spends reclining
of the Gārgīyajyotiṣa (c. 1st cent. BCE), the on the serpent Śeṣa (“Remainder”), also called
Mahābhārata (c. 3rd cent. BCE–4th cent. CE), Ananta (“Endless”). In a variant version, Brahmā
and the Manusmṛti (c. 2nd–3rd cents. CE). In the sleeps on the primeval lotus (ādipadma) during
Mahābhārata, the name applied to the cycle of the night (MBh. 3.186.76). It should be pointed
creation and destruction is not consistent, indi- out that the sleep of Viṣnu ̣ during the cosmic
cating that these ideas were still being formulated. night is said to be “yogic sleep” (nidrāyoga;
The cycle is either called a yuga (MBh. 1.1.28; MBh. 12.335.17, 57; or yoganidrā; MBh. 1.19.13;
12.327.89; 13.135.11), a kalpa, meaning a forma- 12.47.39). Viṣnu ̣ ’s slumber and awakening were
tion or a creation (MBh. 6.31.7 [= BhG. 9.7]; also connected to the yearly cycle established by
12.326.70; 12.327.23), or a day of the brahman, or the monsoon rains, as attested by an inscription
of Brahmā, the creator god (MBh. 12.224.28–31). from the year 423/424 CE, which refers to Viṣnu ̣
Sometimes, it is simply referred to as the process waking up at the end of the rainy season (Gangdhar
of creation and destruction (saṃ hāravikṣepa; Stone Inscription of Viśvavarman, lines 20–21;
MBh. 12.271.30, 40, 43, 47–49). The ambiguity of Fleet, 1888, 75, 77).
the designation of the cycle continued in classical The old association of water with creation is
Tamil literature, where the word ūḻi can designate now given new life and is placed within the
either a kalpa or a yuga. The first term em- emerging cyclical cosmogonical worldview. If the
416 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography
world is created repeatedly, and if water is present the mahākalpa correspond to the four phases:
at the beginning, then water must set in after the destruction of the world, duration of destruction,
world’s destruction and remain there until a new re-creation of the world, and duration of the
creation arises. The idea of a devastating flood at world. The “innumerable” kalpas, in turn, consist
the time of world destruction now gains promi- of 20 still smaller, intermediate (antara) kalpas.
nence. The serpent on which Viṣnu ̣ reclines dur- The Mahābhārata uses the term mahākalpa five
ing the cosmic night floats on the cosmic waters times, but it probably has no specific technical
(MBh. 3.194.8–12; 12.328.14–15; 12.335.18–20), meaning (12.323.1; twice in 12.326.104; 13.17.122;
which comprise a dreadful “single ocean” 13.110.71). In the first of these instances, it could
(ekārṇava). As for the presence of a lotus at the be synonymous with the mahāyuga, which we
moment of creation, this is an older motif that will now discuss.
appears in the Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa (1.1.3.5–7), The mahāyuga or caturyuga (fourfold yuga) is a
where Prajāpati, in the form of a boar, sees a lotus cycle characterized by a gradual decay of → dharma,
leaf on the surface of the cosmic ocean and dives a term that, for our purposes, can be understood
to retrieve some earth from the bottom. He then mainly as proper behavior in accordance with
spreads it on the lotus leaf to create earth. This one’s social class (varṇa; → caste). By contrast to
boar, which in the → Rāmāyaṇa (2.102.2–4) is said the largely ontological kalpa or Day of Brahmā,
to be Brahmā, becomes Viṣnu ̣ in the Vaiṣnạ va the mahāyuga is concerned with society and
narrative. Water is also the source of creation in morality. The cycle, often called simply a yuga,
the myth of the churning of the ocean, which includes four successive minor yugas, in the
appears first in the Mahābhārata (1.15–17) and course of which dharma wanes from a perfect
the Rāmāyaṇa (1.44). The gods and the demons state into one of confusion and disarray. It must
(→ asuras), intent on obtaining amṛta, the drink of be understood that in puranic and shastric dis-
immortality, churned the ocean like one would course, it is the Brahmanical dharma that is at
churn milk to obtain butter. In the detailed stake. Historically, the centuries immediately pre-
Mahābhārata version, their churning turned the ceding and following the beginning of the Com-
water into milk and produced, among other things, mon Era presented the Brahmanical tradition
the sun, moon, goddess → Śrī/Lakṣmī, and god with serious challenges. First, there was the rising
Dhanvantari, who held a jar containing the amṛta. influence of local traditions – mainly Buddhism
and Jainism – which denied the validity of the
Vedas and rejected the notion of a creator god
Kalpas and Yugas (see also → historical periods; → Hinduism and
The earliest known datable mention of the kalpa Buddhism; → Hinduism and Jainism). Followers
as a long period appears in the fourth and fifth of these traditions were usually called nāstikas,
stone edicts of King Aśoka’s Prakrit inscriptions nonbelievers. Second, there was a growing pres-
(3rd cent. BCE; → historical periods). They state ence of foreign invaders who sometimes
that his descendants will follow the (Buddhist) embraced Buddhism and did not recognize the
dharma (teaching) throughout the kalpa, but no Vedic system of four social classes. These threats
duration is given for the kalpa. The kalpas are were viewed as the “end of the world” in some
absent from the Upaṇiṣads, with the exception of Brahmanical circles and were considered to be a
an also undefined passing reference in the late yugānta. We saw above how this term was used in
Śvetāśvataropaniṣad (6.22). The puranic kalpa the Mahābhārata for the moment of cosmic
theory will include three phases: creation, dura- destruction, but in these narratives (MBh. 3.186–
tion, and destruction, associated with the gods 189) it carries a different meaning, alluding
Brahmā, Viṣnụ , and Śiva, respectively. Interest- mainly to a social and moral catastrophe, even if
ingly, the Buddhist version of the kalpas – as some form of cosmic crisis is often included. In
expounded in the Abhidharmakośa (3.89–90) of this restricted sense, the yugānta is the culmina-
Vasubandhu (c. 5th cent. CE) – adds the time tion of the gradual decay of dharma through the
during which the world does not exist as a fourth four yugas that make up the mahāyuga.
phase (this would correspond to the night of The four descending ages, the yugas, were not
Brahmā). It describes a mahākalpa (great kalpa) named after metals, as were their Greek counter-
made up of four smaller “innumerable” parts, by which they could have been influenced.
(asaṃ khyeya) kalpas. These four subdivisions of Instead, the names come from throws of dice. It
 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography 417
is a fourfold classification that, conveniently, divine years. One human year was equal to one
included a numerical gradation from best to day of the gods, thus requiring the length of the
worst. The names are kṛta, the best throw, fol- yugas to be multiplied by 360 in order to calculate
lowed in descending order by tretā, dvāpara, and them in human terms. In doing so, the duration
kali, the losing throw. The system of yugas of the yugas was extended to the astronomical
thus appears as a scale that descends from the numbers of the classical system (table 1). The
prosperous kṛtayuga – when dharma is followed equation of a human year with a day of the gods
by everyone – down to the kaliyuga, a time when goes back to the Brāhmaṇas (TaiBr. 3.9.22.1) and
foreign invaders appear, the social order is upset, was taken up in the Mahābhārata (12.224.16) and
nāstikas (nonbelievers) abound, the Vedas are no Manusmṛti (1.67). A likely reason for the applica-
longer followed, and morality is at an all-time tion of this equivalence to the duration of the
low. According to the Yugapurāṇa, people live yugas – besides the common epic and puranic
100,000 years in the kṛtayuga, but their lifespan is tendency to increase numbers – is the possibility
gradually reduced to 10,000 and 1,000 in the sub- that the end of the kaliyuga and the ensuing
sequent tretāyuga and dvāparayuga. Although not return of the kṛtayuga were awaited in some cir-
stated, it would presumably be 100 years in the cles around the beginning of the Common Era.
kaliyuga. This decimal numerical sequence was There is probable evidence for this in the
abandoned, however, and the numbers connected Yugapurāṇa as well as in the Mahābhārata (3.188),
to the dice throws (4–3–2–1) prevailed as the where the notion has been tailored to suit the
numerical values for the yugas. The human epic’s narrative. As there was no indication that
lifespan was then considered to be 400 years in the kaliyuga had ended and the kṛtayuga had
kṛtayuga, 300 in tretāyuga, 200 in dvāparayuga, started, interpreting the duration of the yugas in
and 100 in kaliyuga. Note that in both systems the divine years allowed postponing its expected
duration of life in the kaliyuga coincides with the arrival into the distant future.
ideal lifespan of Vedic literature. As can be seen in table 1, the number 432,000
The 4–3–2–1 sequence determined by the dice is central to the system. It marks the length of the
game was also applied to the yugas in other ways. kaliyuga and – with the addition of zeroes – also
Dharma was metaphorically said to be a cow that that of the mahāyuga and kalpa (which consists of
stands firmly on four legs in kṛtayuga, on three in one thousand mahāyugas). Equally important is
tretāyuga, on two in dvāparayuga, and on only one-fourth of the cycle, 108,000 years, with its
one in the kaliyuga. As the yugas decline, human own addition of zeroes. D. Pingree (1963, 238–
beings’ understanding, strength, and virtue also 240) points to the Babylonian origin of these
decrease proportionately (MBh. 3.188.13). More numbers in the context of large time periods.
importantly, in the Mahābhārata (3.186.17–23; However, they are also Vedic numbers connected
12.224.19–20) and Manusmṛti (1.68–73; → Dharma- to the year and the ritual in the Śatapatha-
sūtras and Dharmaśāstras), the duration of the brāhmaṇa, where, as we have seen, the 10,800 bricks
yugas was deemed to be four thousand, three of the agnicayana altar (→ yajña) represent the
thousand, two thousand, and one thousand years, muhūrtas of the year. In addition, the Śata-
respectively. The Vedic notion of transitional pathabrāhmaṇa computes the number of syllables
periods was also applied, so that each yuga would contained in the Ṛgveda as 432,000, with an equal
be preceded by a dawn and followed by a dusk, number for the Yajurveda and Sāmaveda taken
each lasting one-tenth of the duration of the yuga together (ŚBr. 10.4.2.23–24; for further analysis,
itself. These transitions are called saṃ dhis. The see González-Reimann, 1988, 101–112). The use
total number of years for the mahāyuga was then of such figures for cosmic cycles could well be the
12 thousand, a figure that elicits a correspondence result of an amalgamation of local traditions with
with the 12 months of the solar year. Further- external influences.
more, one thousand of these great yugas are said The destructive aspect of time plays a central
to constitute one kalpa, or Day of Brahmā, while role in the Mahābhārata, where kāla is an
his night has an equal duration. inexorable force that drives everything towards
There is yet another stage in the numerical its conclusion and is virtually synonymous
development of the yuga theory. Although these with destiny (González-Reimann, 2002, 20–32).
early sources do not say so, the duration of the Vyāsa, the purported author of the Mahābhārata,
yugas was soon considered to be reckoned in is said to be a kālavādin, a proponent of the
418 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography

Years of the Gods

yuga duration one saṃ dhis two saṃ dhis total

kṛta 4,000 400 800 4,800

treta 3,000 300 600 3,600
dvāpara 2,000 200 400 2,400
kali 1,000 100 200 1,200
mahāyuga 10,000 2,000 12,000

Human Years
kṛta 1,440,000 144,000 288,000 1,728,000
treta 1,080,000 108,000 216,000 1,296,000
dvāpara 720,000 72,000 144,000 864,000
kali 360,000 36,000 72,000 432,000
mahāyuga 3,600,000 720,000 4,320,000
Table 1: The length of the yugas according to classical Hinduism

doctrine of time (MBh. 6.4.2–3). In the Vedic regarded as the father of mankind and the first
period, knowing time had been the role of Vedic man to have performed the Vedic sacrifice. How-
priests, one of whom was called ṛ tvij (“Knower of ever, as traditions and lineages multiplied, in the
the Seasons”), but around the beginning of the early centuries of the Common Era, the notion
Common Era, the influence of Greco-Babylonian emerged that there had been several Manus
astronomy and horoscopic (→ astrology) injected instead of only one. In this scheme, the Manu of
a new dimension into the computation and inter- the Ṛgveda – known as the son of Vivasvat –
pretation of time. This resulted in the emergence becomes Manuvaivasvata, only one of many
of a new kind of expert on time, the astrologer. In Manus, each of whom presides over a different
Varāhamihira’s Bṛhatsaṃ hitā (6th cent. CE), an manvantara. Additionally, according to the
astrologer is a “knower of the year” (sāṃ vatsara, Purāṇas, in every manvantara there is a new Indra
sāṃ vatsarika, sāṃ vatsarapāṭhin), which is to say (→ Vedic gods) and a distinct group of seven ṛsị s
he is a knower of time. He is also a knower of des- (sages), whose task it is to teach the Vedas.
tiny (daivajña, daivavid, daivacintaka; Shastri, There is an incipient version of the manvan-
1969, 349). Just as astrologers could now unravel taras in late sections of the Mahābhārata, but
the intricacies of time as it acts upon the individ- no well-developed theory (12.321.9; 12.323.51;
ual, astronomers would give historical meaning 12.329.15; 12.337.40–41; 12.337.52; 13.14.22).
to cosmic cycles by calculating them in terms of The manvantaras are first outlined in the
measurable planetary cycles. Manusmṛti (1.61–62), where six Manus are listed
before Manuvaivasvata, the current one. These
are Svāyaṃ bhuva, Svārociṣa, Auttami, Tāmasa,
The Classical Period (after 400 CE) Raivata, and Cākṣuṣa. The Purāṇas would place
seven more Manus in the future, thus bringing
the total number to 14. In order to incorporate
The Manvantaras the manvantaras into the system of yugas and
By the beginning of the 5th century, the kalpas kalpas, these 14 manvantaras were said to make
and yugas were probably firmly in place and up one kalpa. This presented a mathematical
widely accepted, despite some disagreements problem because the number of mahāyugas in a
concerning their exact measurement. There is a kalpa is one thousand, and, consequently, each
third cycle that emerged separately and was even- manvantara must include 71.4286 mahāyugas.
tually combined with them. This is the “period of This prompted puranic authors to say that every
Manu” (Manu-antara). In the Ṛgveda, Manu was manvantara contained 71 mahāyugas plus an
 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography 419
unspecified surplus (see figure 1). The Manusmṛti with a conjunction of all the known planets at
(1.79) simply states that a manvantara includes 71 the beginning of meṣa (Aries), which was the
mahāyugas, with no reference to the surplus. first constellation in the newly acquired division
Puranic commentators calculate the fraction in of the zodiac into 12 solar constellations, the
terms of years, months, and days, but astrono- raśis (as opposed to the 27–28 Vedic lunar con-
mers would propose a more elegant solution. The stellations, the nakṣatras). While Āryabhatạ ’s
Paitāmahasiddhānta (3.4; 5th cent. CE) states that system of equal yugas allowed for major conjunc-
at the end of every manvantara, there is a saṃ dhi tions at the beginning of each yuga within the
of the duration of a kṛtayuga, plus another one at mahāyuga, the dominant puranic system did not,
the beginning of the kalpa. The duration of these prompting astronomers to find a way to place a
15 periods coincides exactly with that of all the conjunction at the beginning of the kaliyuga. The
surpluses in a kalpa, thus providing the system Sūryasiddhānta (1.24; c. 800 CE) solved the prob-
with a more coherent structure. The famous lem by positing a period of creation of 17,064,000
astronomer Āryabhaṭa (5th–6th cents. CE) pos- human years at the beginning of the kalpa. The
ited, in his Āryabhaṭīya (1.5), the existence of link between cosmic cycles and chronology was
72 mahāyugas in every manvantara (instead achieved by calculating the date of the most
of 71), bringing the total number of mahāyugas recent major conjunction. Using the mathemati-
in the kalpa to 1,008. He also divided the cal parameters at their disposal, astronomers
mahāyuga into four unnamed yugas of equal concluded that the last major conjunction – and
duration and named the first half of the mahāyuga the beginning of the present kaliyuga – took place
utsarpiṇī (ascending) and the second half on Feb 18, 3102 BCE. This date provided an
avasarpiṇī (descending; 1.3–4; 3.9), thereby anchor that became very influential. It was linked
revealing an influence from Jain cosmic cycles. to traditional history because the Mahābhārata
Note that this division in halves is consistent with war was, by then, widely regarded as having taken
the Vedic manner of dividing cycles into dark and place around the beginning of the kaliyuga.
light, whereas the 4–3–2–1 system of yugas breaks Although the connection between the start of
with the pattern by jumping from the kaliyuga to the kaliyuga and the events of the Mahābhārata
the kṛtayuga instead of gradually ascending is quite certainly late in the epic itself, it was
through the four yugas in reverse order, as is actu- widely accepted in the Purāṇas. The Viṣnu ̣ purāṇa
ally the case in some Buddhist versions of the (4.24.113), for instance, declares that the kaliyuga
yugas (Hardy, 1853, 7–8). Āryabhatạ ’s theories in began precisely on the day Kṛsṇ ạ passed away. In
this matter were so severely criticized by the terms of traditional genealogy, this means that all
astronomer Brahmagupta (7th cent. CE) for not descendants of Parikṣit, the heir to the throne of
conforming to the doctrines of the Purāṇas and the Pāṇḍavas (the heroes of the Mahābhārata),
Śāstras that they were soon abandoned, even by were rulers of the present kaliyuga. It also means
his own disciples (Pingree, 1981, 590). that the end of the kaliyuga is more than 400,000
years away in the future.
The Purāṇas further refined the placing of
Cosmic Cycles and Traditional History mythical and historical events within cosmic cycles
The involvement of astronomers resulted in the by asserting that Kṛsṇ ạ dvaipāyana-Vyāsa – the
establishment of a correlation between the yugas traditional author of the Mahābhārata and the
and historical dates. They concluded, probably in purported arranger of the Vedas into four collec-
the 5th century, that the kaliyuga had to begin tions – was the 28th Vyāsa (“Arranger”) to appear

1,000 mahāyugas =

1 kalpa or
day of Brahmā

71 mahāyugas = 1 manvantara 14 manvantaras =

(+ surplus)
Fig. 1: The number of mahāyugas in a manvantara and a kalpa (after González-Reimann, 1988).
420 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography
in the current vaivasvatamanvantara. This places the time elapsed since the Big Bang, according
us in the 28th mahāyuga of the manvantara to modern astronomy, would be less than two
(figure 2). The texts also state that a Vyāsa is days and nights of Brahmā. There is a precedent
born in every dvāparayuga (ViP. 3.3.9–10; VāP. for the notion of several births of Brahmā in
1.23.111–214). the Nārāyaṇīya section of the Mahābhārata

current mahāyuga
(the 28th)

27 mahāyugas kr ̣ta-tretā- dvāpara-kali 43 mahāyugas

Start of the our position

End of the
vaivasvatamanvantara vaivasvatamanvantara

Fig: 2: Our position in the Vaivasvatamanvantara (after González-Reimann, 1988).

padmakalpa vārāhakalpa

50 years 50 years

first half second half

life of Brahmā

Fig. 3: Placement of the current kalpa, the vārāhakalpa, in the life of Brahmā (after González-Reimann, 1988).

As for the kalpas, the current one is the kalpa of (12.336.13–45), where he is born seven times, but
the boar (varāha), said to have started when Viṣnụ there is no evidence there of the life of Brahmā as
rescued the earth from the bottom of the ocean. a well-defined cycle. The Purāṇas agree in stating
The previous one was the kalpa of the lotus that one-half of Brahmā’s life has elapsed and that
(padma) when Brahmā emerged from the lotus we are in the first kalpa of the second half (figure 3).
in Viṣnụ ’s navel. There is one further stage of We can now determine our precise position in
development before we reach the complete time. We find ourselves in the vārāhakalpa (the
puranic system of time cycles. If there are days of first kalpa of the second half of the life of Brahmā),
Brahmā, there must also be years of Brahmā; and in the vaivasvatamanvantara (the seventh of the
if Brahmā had a birth, it is logical to assume he current vārāhakalpa), in the kaliyuga of the 28th
will also die. Thus, puranic theory adds the life of mahāyuga of the manvantara. Because a kalpa is a
Brahmā as a larger cycle. In consonance with the day of Brahmā, we can say we are near noon in
well-established human life span of 100 years, the his day (figure 4). In modern terms, the time is
life span of Brahmā is said to be 100 of his years. now precisely 11h 28m 49s of the current day of
This means that he lives for an unwieldy 3.1104 × Brahmā. It is evident that in terms of the life of
1014 human years. To put this in perspective, Brahmā, as well as of his day, we are at the center
 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography 421
Midday of Brahmā

vaivasvatamanvantara 7
8
6 9

5 10

4 11

3 12

vārāhakalpa
2 13

14
1

Fig. 4: Position of the vaivasvatamanvantara in the vārāhakalpa (after González-Reimann, 1988).

of time, although this is not the case with respect Brahmā are also related to these elements: earth
to the mahāyugas. corresponds to earthquakes, water to flooding,
Once Brahmā’s life was added to the list of cosmic fire to intense heat from seven suns, and air to
cycles, another adjustment became necessary. The strong winds. The Purāṇas describe another type
destruction of the world (pralaya), which takes of complete destruction, the ātyantikapralaya,
place at the end of his day, cannot be the same as which is nothing more than individual spiritual
the one at the end of his life. The Purāṇas there- liberation (ViP. 1.7.41–45), thus bringing us full
fore distinguish between a minor, “occasional” circle regarding the intimate connection between
(naimittika) destruction at the end of Brahmā’s the yogic experience of return to the source and
day, and a total one, called elemental or primor- world destruction.
dial (prākṛtika, prākṛta), at the end of his life. The In this complex system of cosmic cycles, the
naimittikapralaya is partial, and it mainly involves kalpas and the life of Brahmā pertain mainly to
natural catastrophes. It gives way to the cosmic cosmogony and are closely linked to ontology
night, when the god sleeps. The prākṛtikapralaya and eschatology. The manvantaras, however, are
is total, and all the elements return to their source. especially concerned with genealogy and lineage,
Two kinds of creation are then posited as coun- often providing a linkage to Vedic tradition. But
terparts to these two types of destruction. The it is the yugas that acquire great relevance with
prākṛta creation takes place when Brahmā’s life respect to social circumstances and everyday life.
begins, and the daily (dainandina) creation occurs They provide a mythological and historical
every morning of Brahmā’s day. Puranic accounts framework that places puranic and shastric Hin-
of the prākṛta creation and destruction are heav- duism at a well-defined moment in traditional
ily influenced by the → Sāṃ khya school of philos- time. The kaliyuga becomes the focal point of the
ophy, and they include the natural elements that system, as it represents the present, and its nega-
had already appeared in the Upaniṣads. In this tive characteristics explain the difficult world
rendering, the world evolves out of → prakṛti, pri- we live in. The Mahābhārata (12.224.26–27) had
mordial matter, into mahat, ahaṃ kara, and the put forth the notion of yugadharma by saying
elements. The descending order of creation with that dharma changes according to the yuga. It
respect to the elements is space (ākāśa), air (or stated that the foremost activities for each yuga are
wind), fire (or light), and finally water and earth asceticism (→ tapas) in kṛtayuga, knowledge (jñāna;
(→ mahābhūtas), while destruction occurs in the → wisdom and knowledge) in tretāyuga, ritual
reverse order. The natural calamities associated sacrifice (yajña) in dvāparayuga, and giving (dāna)
with the destruction at the end of the Day of in kaliyuga. This list would be repeated with some
422 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography
variants in later texts, but the placement of sacri- to announce this new satyayuga (González-
fice in the dvāparayuga must be emphasized as it Reimann, 2002, 180–187). In addition, the yuga
situates the Vedic tradition in a bygone era. This theory – as that of the kalpas – has been appropri-
served to explain why the Vedic ritual had lost ated by modern Western esoteric authors and New
importance and was no longer followed by many. Age movements.
The concept of yugadharma also explained Indian cosmic cycles provided puranic authors
changes in social customs, as in the later lists of with a means for solving contradictions by plac-
kalivarjas, the practices that are forbidden in the ing conflicting versions of events in different
kaliyuga. On the religious front, it opened the periods. Early on, the manvantaras allowed
door for advocating different paths as the best for divergent lists of seven ṛsị s to be situated in
suited for the present kaliyuga. Vaiṣnạ va devo- various manvantaras (Mitchiner, 1978), while
tional traditions pointed to → bhakti (devotion), alternate versions of creation were assigned to
especially the recitation of the name of god, as the separate kalpas. This was sometimes achieved by
best path to liberation in the kaliyuga. Śaivism using the term kalpabheda (kalpa difference) in
claimed Śiva to be the supreme god in the kali- the sense of “in a different kalpa.” The Śivapurāṇa
yuga (KūP. 1.28.32), and other traditions did the (2.4.13.5–6), for instance, acknowledges the exis-
same with respect to their own divinities and tence of two distinct versions of the birth of
teachings. the god Gaṇeśa (→ Gaṇapati/Gaṇeśa), and it
The rise of nāstika (nonbeliever) traditions and explains them through kalpabheda: they refer to
the presence of foreign invaders around the different kalpas. Some commentators, both of the
beginning of the Common Era were attributed to Purāṇas and of astronomical texts, use the same
the effects of the kaliyuga. As stated above, at the procedure. Śrīdharasvamin (c. 13th cent.) eluci-
time there were probably expectations that the dates textual problems in the Bhāgavatapurāṇa
kaliyuga would end and a new kṛtayuga would (5.16.28; 12.11.39) by resorting to kalpabheda;
commence, although they never materialized. and the astronomer Jñānarāja (16th cent.)
The central passages of the Mahābhārata that deal explains that discrepancies between the Purāṇas
with the dreadful conditions of the kaliyuga and astronomical Siddhāntas with respect to
(3.186–189) close with the announcement of the planets are due to kalpabheda (Minkowski,
the coming birth of a prominent Brāhmaṇa 2004, 355). More recently, Bhaktivedanta Swami
(Brahman) in a village called Sambhala, who will (20th cent.; → Bhaktivedanta Prabhupad) allocates
take up arms and become king. He will destroy two supposedly separate fish incarnations of
the foreigners and restore the Brahmanical social ̣ to different kalpas when commenting on
Viṣnu
order by celebrating the Vedic horse sacrifice Bhāgavatapurāṇa 8.24.10.
(aśvamedha). His name will be Kalki, and he will
inaugurate a new kṛtayuga. In subsequent centu-
ries – and up to the present – the theory of the Space
yugas and the expectation of Kalki’s arrival often
acquired a more general, moral import. Kalki was
soon appropriated as an → avatāra (descent) of Cosmology and Cosmography
Viṣnụ , and the kṛtayuga became known more
commonly as the satyayuga, the yuga of truth, Vertical Space and the Egg of Brahmā
while its original connection to the game of dice The dominant Ṛgvedic view of the physical world
was largely lost. Expectations of the arrival of is uncomplicated. There exist three realms: earth
Kalki and a new satyayuga are current even in (pṛthivī), sky (dyaus), and the intermediate region
modern times, usually with a universalistic tone between them (antarikṣa). Hymn 1.160.1
no longer restricted to Brahmanical traditions or describes earth and sky as two bowls facing each
to the Indian subcontinent. From → Vivekananda other, with the sun traveling between them.
and → Aurobindo to many popular movements Ṛgveda 10.89.4 visualizes sky and earth as the two
today, a new satyayuga for all of humanity is pro- wheels of Indra’s chariot, held in place by the axle,
claimed as imminent despite the fact that puranic an image similar to that of sky and earth kept in
chronology places such an event in the very dis- place by a pillar after being separated at the time
tant future. The puranic durations of the yugas of creation. There is also mention of a threefold
are reinterpreted, or even dismissed, in order subdivision of the three regions, resulting in a
 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography 423

Sky Sky

intermediate region
(the Sun’s path)

Earth Earth

Fig. 5: The two bowls of Ṛgveda 1.160, and the two halves of the cosmic egg according to Chāndogyopaniṣad
3.19.

total of nine realms (ṚV. 4.53.5). In the Brāhmaṇas, Sectarian elaborations often place an additional
earth, sky, and the intermediate region are often world above all others, such as the Goloka (world
invoked with the ritual formula “bhūr (earth) of cows) for followers of → Kṛsṇ ạ (HV. 62.18), the
bhuvaḥ (intermediate region) svar (sky).” The Rudraloka for Śaivas (KūP. 1.35.8), or the
Atharvaveda (12.3.20) uses the term loka, world, Vaikuṇtḥ a for Vaiṣnạ vas (BhāgP. 8.5.5); but these
to designate these three main regions, and it are usually not part of the general cosmological
also alludes to other lokas, without specifying plan of the Purāṇas.
their number (10.7.7; 19.54.5). The text includes As a counterpart to the seven lokas, there are
what is probably the earliest mention of the seven netherworlds called pātālas. They are
Brahmaloka, the world of the brahman (19.71.1), inhabited by various kinds of demons (dānavas,
which, according to the Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa daityas; → asuras and daityas), supernatural beings
(3.12.9.8), can be reached by means of a soma (→ yakṣas), and snakes, who live luxuriously in
sacrificial ritual. The Brāhmaṇas list several lokas, grand palaces. According to the Harivaṃ śa
usually seven. The Jaiminīyabrāhmaṇa (1.334) (62.24), snakes or elephants support the earth
has the worlds of Agni, Vāyu, Āditya, Varuṇa, from below, an idea that found expression in
mṛtyu (death), aśayā (hunger), and brahman. The the puranic notion that the serpent Śeṣa lies
Kauṣītakibrāhmaṇa (20.1.5–13) names those of below the pātālas upholding them and the earth
Agni, Vāyu, Indra, Varuṇa, mṛtyu, brahman, and (ViP. 2.5.1–27). There are also many hells, called
nāka (vault of the sky), while the Muṇḍakopaniṣad narakas, which are apparently to be located above
(1.2.3, 2.1.8) simply alludes to seven lokas, without the pātālas, although this is not always clear. The
providing any details. Although some texts give variant word nāraka appears already in the Athar-
other numbers, such as the 33 of Mahābhārata vaveda (12.4.36) as the designation of an undesir-
3.247.25, the standard number of lokas in the able loka.
Purāṇas is seven. They include the three Vedic The conception that will bring all cosmological
levels, now often called the trailokya (triple world), ideas together in the Purāṇas is a reworked
plus a further four above them. The puranic list is version of the Ṛgvedic hiraṇyagarbha, the golden
as follows, in ascending order: Bhūrloka, Bhuvar- embryo. In the Brāhmaṇas, Prajāpati was some-
loka, Svarloka, Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka, times said to have been born from a golden
and Satyaloka, with the Satyaloka generally iden- egg (aṇḍa) that floated on the cosmic waters
tified with the Brahmaloka (VāP. 2.39.27, 39). (ŚBr. 11.1.6.1–2), and Brahmā is explicitly identi-
424 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography

Pole Star

The Big Dipper

Saturn
Jupiter
Svarloka Mars
Venus
Mercury

stars

Moon

Sun

Bhuvarloka Mount
Meru

Bhūrloka Earth’s surface

Fig. 6: The triple world, trailokya, according to the Purāṇas (not to scale).

fied with hiraṇyagarbha in the Mahābhārata the Svarloka includes, in ascending order, the
(12.335.18–20). One of the Upaniṣads, the moon, stars or constellations (nakṣatras), five
Chāndogyopaniṣad (3.19), uses the egg metaphor planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn;
for a cosmological depiction. It describes how the → navagrahas), constellation of the Big Dipper
egg split in two when it hatched, with the upper (known as the “Seven Sages,” saptaṛsị ), and Pole
half representing the sky and the lower half the Star (figure 6). As for their dimensions, the Bhu-
earth, an image similar to the two bowls of varloka is 100 thousand yojanas high, while the
the Ṛgveda (figure 5). The egg’s membrane is the Svarloka is 14 times higher than that. The length
mountains, the veins the rivers, and the fluid of a yojana is not certain, but D. Pingree (2001)
the ocean, while the hatchling is the sun, equated suggests approximately 11 km.
with the brahman by the text. In the Purāṇas, this Above the triple world lie the remaining four
egg – by then known as the egg of Brahmā lokas, with ever-increasing sizes. Maharloka mea-
(brahmāṇḍa) – is the gigantic receptacle that con- sures 10 million yojanas, Janaloka 20 million,
tains all the worlds of puranic cosmology. Tapoloka 40 million, and Satyaloka 60 million
In the puranic system, the physical world is (figure 7). The Vāyupurāṇa (2.39.142) includes an
located in the three lower lokas, the Vedic realms. additional distance of 15 million yojanas from the
It extends from the surface of the earth to the Pole Svarloka to the shell of the cosmic egg.
Star (dhruva). The first world, Bhūrloka, is the The cosmic egg itself is then enveloped by the
surface of the earth itself. The second world, Bhu- elements. The egg takes the place of the element
varloka, reaches from the earth’s surface to the earth, and it is surrounded by layers of water, fire,
sun, the lowest of the celestial bodies. Above it, wind, space, and the Sāṃ khya principles of mahat,
 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography 425
Shell of Brahmā’s egg

Satyaloka
Tapoloka
Janaloka
lokas
Maharloka
Svarloka
Vedic world Bhuvarloka
Bhurloka the middle of vertical space
Pātāla
Satala
Mahākhya
pātālas
Gabhastimān
Nitala
Vitala
Atala

Shell of Brahmā’s egg

Fig. 7: The seven lokas and the seven pātālas of the Purāṇas.

pradhāna Horizontal Space

mahat As in the case of cosmogony, water plays an
ahamkāra important role in the cosmology of the
space Brāhmaṇas, according to which the waters are
wind the foundation or resting place (pratiṣtḥ ā) of the
fire earth and, indeed, of everything (ŚBr. 6.7.1.17;
water 12.5.2.14). The earth is also surrounded by
the ocean (samudra; AitBr. 8.15). The prominent
role of water continues in the Purāṇas, but
lokas this time the earth is not simply surrounded
by one ocean. On the horizontal plane – the
dvīpas earth’s surface – there are seven concentric circu-
lar continents called dvīpas, with oceans separat-
pātālas ing them (see figure 8). The central continent in
this vast cosmic circle is the Jambudvīpa, followed
by the Plakṣadvīpa, Śālmalidvīpa, Kuśadvīpa,
Fig. 8: The layers enveloping the puranic egg of Brahmā. Krauñcadvīpa, Śākadvīpa, and Puṣkaradvīpa,
although the order of the five central ones varies
depending on the text. The oceans that separate
them, also arranged concentrically, are the oceans
of salt, sugarcane juice, liquor, clarified butter,
ahaṃ kāra, and pradhāna or prakṛti (ViP. curd, milk, and (in the outermost ring) the ocean
2.7.21–25; figure 8). Our egg is not the only one, of water. Beyond it lies a mountain range called
however. There are said to be millions of them lokāloka (world-nonworld) situated in a golden
produced out of prakṛti (ViP. 2.7.27), resulting in realm, followed by a region of darkness (tamas).
the existence of myriad world systems. Finally, after the dark region stands the shell of
426 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography
Uttarakuru east to west, three of them located to the north
mountain range
of Meru (Ramyakavarṣa, Hiraṇmayavarṣa,
Hiran ̣maya
mountain range Uttarakuruvarṣa) and three to its south (Harivarṣa,
Ramyaka Kimpuruṣavarṣa, Bhāratavarṣa). These six territo-
mountain range
ries are separated by six mountain ranges, just
Supārśva
range as the dvīpas are separated by oceans. Within the
Ilāvrta
˚ territory of Ilāvṛta – and surrounding Mount
Vipula
range
Mount Mandana
range
Meru – there are four mountain ranges: Mandara
Meru
to the east, Gandhamādana to the south, Vipula
Ilāvrta
˚
Gandhamādana to the west, and Supārśva to the north. The south-
range
ernmost country is Bhāratavarṣa, the Indian sub-
mountain range
Hari continent, measuring nine thousand yojanas
mountain range from the Himavat (Himalayas) mountain range
Kimpurus ̣a
Himavān mountains
to the north, down to the Sea of Salt to the south
Bhārata (figure 9).
Sea of Salt
Bhāratavarṣa is, in turn, subdivided into nine
regions, also called dvīpas, of one thousand
Fig. 9: The central continent of Jambudvīpa. yojanas each. It is at the center of Bhāratavarṣa
that the four social classes live, and they are
flanked by the Kirātas to the east and Yāvanas to
the cosmic egg. The width of each continent is the west. Other versions add the Andhras to the
twice that of the previous one, and the ocean sur- south and Turuṣkas (Turks) to the north. It is
rounding each continent has the same width as noteworthy that Bhārata is where the 14 Manus
the continent it encircles. The central Jambudvīpa are born. It is known as Karmabhūmi (land of
measures 100 thousand yojanas, while the width → karman [action]) and is considered the only
of the seventh, the Puṣkaradvīpa, is 6,400,000 place where actions can lead to either further
yojanas. The total distance from the center of the rotation in saṃ sāra or liberation from transmi-
disk to the shell of Brahmā’s egg is 500 million gration, making it a most desirable place to be
yojanas. This includes the golden realm and the born in (VāP. 1.45.69, 77; ViP. 2.3.23–24). This
region of darkness. Continents two through six finds a parallel in the notion that the four yugas
are said to each contain seven mountains and apply only to Bhārata (MBh. 6.11.3; VāP. 1.57.22;
seven rivers, and their inhabitants live for five ViP. 2.3.19). Similarly, the lower loka (earth) is the
thousand years. There are no rivers in the seventh region where rituals are performed, while their
and outermost continent, Puṣkaradvīpa, and in it results can appear in any of the three lower worlds
is found a lofty mountain named Mānasottara. (ViP. 2.7.11).
The life span of its inhabitants is ten thousand Some Purāṇas describe a simpler – and proba-
years. Some similarities with elements of the the- bly earlier – version of the continents. In this
ory of cosmic cycles are evident, such as the pres- case there are only four regions around Mount
ence of transitional regions (the oceans), which Meru. To the east lies Bhadrāśva, to the south
are the equivalent of the saṃ dhis of time cycles, Jambu – here assimilated to Bhārata – and to the
and the varying length of human life. In addition, west and north are Ketumāla and Uttara (or
this scheme of concentric continents situates Uttarakuru), respectively. This arrangement coin-
South Asia at the center of horizontal space, while cides with Buddhist cosmological notions (Sircar,
the arrangement of lokas and pātālas puts the 1967, 38–47). The Vāyupurāṇa (1.34.42–46,
earth in the middle of vertical space, just like the 56–57) views these continents as the four petals
theory of kalpas and manvantaras places the of the lotus that grew from Viṣnu ̣ ’s navel, and on
puranic authors at the center of time. which the creator god Brahmā was born.
The central continent, Jambudvīpa, is subdi- Mount Meru plays a fundamental role in
vided into seven territories or areas called varṣas. puranic cosmology, as it stands at the center of
In the middle of Jambudvīpa is the region of the entire system, a feature that allowed astrono-
Ilāvṛta. At its center rises Mount Meru (figure 6), mers to identify it with the axis of the earth. It is
and atop Meru lies the city of Brahmā. The shaped like an upside-down truncated cone, with
remaining six varṣas run longitudinally from a diameter of 32 thousand yojanas at the top
 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography 427
and 16 thousand at the base. Its total height is Jambudvīpa in the northern hemisphere (Pin-
100 thousand yojanas, 84 thousand of which gree, 1990, 279). He also reinterpreted the lokas
rise above the earth’s surface, while 16 thousand to bring them in line with astronomical concepts.
lie below it (figure 6). It is described as the At the same time, however, he refuted many
calyx or pericarp (karṇika) of the cosmic lotus tenets of puranic astronomy, and his refutations
(VāP. 1.34.46; ViP. 2.2.10). were repeated by other astronomers in subse-
There are some differences and contradictions quent centuries (Pingree, 1990, 297). The astron-
in the different Purāṇas regarding aspects of omer Jñānaraja (16th cent. CE), and others
the general cosmological scheme outlined above, influenced by him, showed a predilection for
but most of the accounts seem to derive from puranic assertions and reinterpreted them in
two main versions that existed between the 2nd order to render them valid (Minkowski, 2004).
century BCE and the 5th century CE. These two However, the first independent work by a
versions were reconstructed by R. Kirfel (1954). non-astronomer and defender of the Purāṇas
that addressed the contradictions of puranic
cosmology and cosmography was authored by
Space and Time Interlocked Nīlakaṇtḥ a, the famed 17th-century commenta-
tor of the Mahābhārata. He rejected the spherical
Puranic cosmogony and cosmology are synchro- earth and tried to defend variant measurements
nized on a grand scale by tying the two main given for it in the epic and Purāṇas. He explained
types of world destruction to the distribution conflicting accounts of the size of men by saying
of the lokas. The partial destruction that takes that the yojana had divergent values in different
place at the end of a kalpa affects only the triple yugas (Minkowski, 2000, 30, 36–37). In the 18th
world – the three lower lokas – where physical century, Kevalarāma, Jayasiṃ ha’s court astrono-
reality resides. Catastrophic winds and fires rage, mer, attempted to reconcile the flat earth of
and then it rains until everything is flooded. The puranic tradition with the round earth of astron-
triple world is now covered by the water upon omy by positing the existence of two earths: a large,
which Brahmā – or Viṣnu ̣ – will sleep during his flat one below, and a smaller, round one above, in
night. The tremendous heat of the fires sends the which we live (Pingree, 2001, 721). In modern
inhabitants of Maharloka, the fourth world, into times, variant forms of the quest for reconcilia-
the higher Janaloka, from where they can be born tion continue. They now mainly consist of
again in the following kalpa. By contrast, the attempts to find obscure and fanciful allusions to
complete dissolution in prakṛti (prākṛta), destruc- modern cosmological concepts in puranic and,
tion that takes place at the end of the life of especially, Vedic texts.
Brahmā reaches all the lokas and causes the ele-
ments to be sequentially reabsorbed into their
source in prakṛti (primordial matter). We must Concluding Remarks
point out that just as the return of the created
world into prakṛti is a reflection of the process of The puranic Hindu conception of the cosmos – in
yogic liberation, the four upper lokas (as well as both space and time – is the result of a long pro-
the hells, narakas) have more to do with inner cess of growth characterized by transformation,
experiential states than with physical space, appropriation, reinterpretation, and adaptation.
although they are included in the cosmological Throughout the centuries, Hinduism grew by
map. They pertain to realms where mortals reside inclusion. It absorbed both foreign and local ele-
after physical death. ments by arranging them according to diverse
The fantastic aspects of puranic cosmology systems of classification, often using symmetry as
were a concern for many astronomers. The first an organizing principle. In narratives of cosmog-
comprehensive study of this cosmology by an ony and cosmology, this entailed creating expand-
astronomer was carried out by Lalla (8th cent. ing frameworks that would allow for every new
CE), who dealt with some incongruous aspects of element to be incorporated. In the case of theo-
puranic cosmology by reinterpreting them. He ries of time, the kalpas served to bring together
placed the pātālas inside the earth, the dvīpas and conflicting systems of cosmic cycles, while the
oceans located beyond Jambudvīpa in the south- egg of Brahmā served to encompass ideas about
ern hemisphere, and the different features of space. There is a tendency, evident already in
428 Cosmic Cycles, Cosmology, and Cosmography
late Vedic texts (the Upaniṣads) but manifested at the 218th meeting of the American Oriental Society,
strongly in post-Vedic literature, to engulf and Chicago, 2008.
absorb Vedic notions. The three realms of Vedic Hardy, R.S., A Manual of Buddhism in Its Modern Devel-
opment, CSS 56, Varanasi, 1853, repr. 1967.
cosmology became merely the three lower worlds Kirfel, W., Das Purāṇa vom Weltgebäude (Bhuvanavinyāsa).
of the seven worlds of puranic cosmology, and Die kosmographischen Traktate der Purāṇa’s, BOS.NS 1,
the Vedic tradition of man’s descent from Manu Bonn, 1954.
was reduced to only one of many genealogical Malinar, A., “Interconnecting Parallel Times: Notions of
lines derived from different Manus in different Time in the Caitanya Tradition,” in: A. Malinar, ed.,
manvantaras. Thanks to the theory of the yugas, Time in India: Concepts and Practices, New Delhi,
Vedic traditions were placed in a former era, thus 2007a, 55–80.
Malinar, A., “Introduction,” in: A. Malinar, ed., Time in
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while simultaneously considering them unsuit- Minkowski, C., “Competing Cosmologies in Early
able for present times. The emergence of the the- Modern Indian Astronomy,” in: C. Burnett, J.P. Hogendijk,
ory of transmigration in the Upaniṣads resulted K. Plofker & M. Yano, eds., Studies in the History of the
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