(South and Central Asian mythology)
In Hindu cosmology, an age of the world. The four ages—Krita, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali–are preceded and followed by periods of twilight, whose duration is each one-tenth of a yuga. Krita Yuga, the first age of the world, lasts 4,000 divine years; Treta Yuga, the second age, 3,000; Dwapara Yuga, the third, 2,000 years; and Kali Yuga, the fourth, 1,000 years. The entire cycle of ages and intervals of twilight extends over 12,000 years, which equals, allowing for the fact that a year of the gods is reckoned at 360 years of men, a total of 4,320,000 years. This unit of cosmological time is known as a mahayuga, 2,000 of which constitute a kalpa, a day and night of Brahma, or 8,640,000,000 years. Though Brahma re-creates the universe at the beginning of each kalpa, this process lasts for not more than a para, a century of such days and nights. According to Hindu tradition, the life of Brahma and the universe lasts for a para. Our present kalpa is at the beginning of the second half of the para, making Brahma fifty years old. Only one Hindu school of philosophy has ever denied that the world is finite in time, and shared with Jainism the idea of an eternal, uncreated universe.
During the Krita Yuga righteousness is supreme. People are virtuous and fulfil their duties without malice, sadness, pride, or deceit; there is nothing to disturb the calmness of this age. In the Treta Yuga changes in relationships start to occur. Duties are no longer the spontaneous laws of human behaviour, but have to be learned. Sacrifices are needed; people follow truth and devote themselves to righteousness through ceremonies, which are regarded as a means of obtaining specific objects. Dwapara Yuga witnesses increased imbalance along with a steady decline in righteousness. The Rig Veda appears. Diseases, desires, and disasters harass the people, some of whom seek release in austerities or ritual practices. Finally, Kali Yuga, the dark age of today, is riven with quarrels, dissension, wars, and strife. Love and sex are separated. Few know truth. Possessions, not righteousness, confer rank and the outer trappings are confused with inner religion. Our period, which began in 3102 BC, has another 427 centuries to run.
