Kalpas, Manvantaras, Samvatsaras
What is a Kalpa?
- A Kalpa is 12 hours of Brahma. 2 kalpas make a day and a night of Brahma. He lives for 100 years on this time scale.
How many Mahayugas or Caturyugas are there in a Kalpa?
- There are 1000 or 1008, Mahayugas in a Kalpa Mahayugas in a Kalpa. Taking 1008, gives 84 Caturyugas in an hour of Brahma.
How many Manvantaras are there in a Kalpa?
- There are 14 Manvantaras in a Kalpa. A manu or an Indra lives for 1 manvantara. 1 manvanatara is a 100 years of Indra.
How many Mahayugas are there to a Manvantara?
- There are 72 Caturyugas to a Manvantara
How many solar years are there in a Caturyuga?
- Please read : How many kinds of Yugas are there?
List from the Vayu Purana (Source)
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“(1) Bhava. (2) Bhuva. (3) Tapah. (4) Bhava. (5) Rambha. (6) Ritu. (7) Kratu. (8) Vahni. (9) Havyavahana. (10) Savitra. (11) Bhuvah. (12) Oushika. (13) Kushika. (14) Gandharva. (15) Rishabha. (16) Shadaja. (17) Marjaliya. (18) Madhyama. (19) Vairaja. The great Vairaja Manu was born in this kalpa and his son was the great sage Dadhichi. (20) Nishada. The race of nishadas (hunters) were created during this period. (21) Panchama. (22) Meghavahana. The word megha means cloud and vahana means to bear. In this kalpa, Vishnu adopted the form of a cloud and bore Shiva on his back. It is thus that the kalpa received its name. (23) Chintaka. (24) Akuti. (25) Vijnati. (26) Mana. (27) Bhava. (28) Vrihat. (29) Shvetalohita. (30) Rakta. (31) Pitavasa. (32) Sita. (33) Krishna (34) Vishvarupa.” What about the rest?
Note: There are 864,00 seconds in our day. Thus Kalpa is a simple multiple of this figure.
What are the names of the Manvantaras? (Source)
- Swayambhuva (H.V. 7.8) son of the self born
- Swarochishta (Mark P.67.4) son of the self shining
- Uthama ( Mark.P 73.13) son of the highest
- Taamasa (Mark.P 73.13) son of Darkness
- Raivatha (Mark.P 75,73,74) son of wealth
- Chaikshusa( Mark.P 76.54) son of vision
- VAIVASWATHA( (MARK.P 79.9&10) SON OF BRIGHTNESS
- Arka Savarnika ( Mark.P 80.4) related to Sungod
- Daksha Savarnika ( Mark.P 94.8) son of rituals
- Brahma Savarnika (Mark.P 94.10 to 14 ) son of Brahma
- Dharma Savarnia( Mark.P 94.19 & 20) relative of eternal law
- Rudra Savrnika( Mark.P 94.25 )son of the destroyer
- Deva Savarnika (Mark. P 94.30)son of the shining one and
- Indra Savarnika (Mark.P 100.31) son of the mighty Indra
(The big bang is about 4 kalpas ago). Each Kalpa (4 320 000 000 earth years) has 14 Manvantaras. Ours is the 7th Vaivaswatha Manvanthara. This means about half of our Kalpa (Sveta Varaha Kalpa) is over. Another 2 160 000 000 earth years to the end of this kalpa or to dissolution. This is the Dwitiya Parardha or second half of Brahma’s life, which means 50 x 360 kalpas are over. And we are midway of one of the next kalpas. At pooja time we say Sveta varaha kalpe, dwitiya parardhe, vaivaswatha manvantare, kaliyuge, prathama pade. We never mention the name or number of a Chaturyuga or a Mahayuga.
What are the Names of Years?
| We are in the 21st year – Sarvajit. 5109 Kali Yuga. |
21. Sarvajit (2007-2008 AD/CE)
- 22. Sarvadhārin
- 23. Virodhin
- 24. Vikrita
- 25. Khara
- 26. Nandana
- 27. Vijaya
- 28. Jaya
- 29. Manmatha
- 30. Durmukha
- 31. Hemalambin
- 32. Vilambin
- 33. Vikārin
- 34. Shārvari
- 35. Plava
- 36. Shubhakrit
- 37. Shobhana
- 38. Krodhin
- 39. Vishvāvasu
- 40. Parābhava
- 41. Plavanga
- 42. Kīlaka
- 43. Saumya
- 44. Sādhārana
- 45. Virodhikrit
- 46. Paritāpin
- 47. Pramādin
- 48. Ānanda
- 49. Rākshasa
- 50. Anala
- 51. Pingala
- 52. Kālayukti
- 53. Siddhārthin
- 54. Raudra
- 55. Durmati
- 56. Dundubhi
- 57. Rudhirodgārin
- 58. Raktāksha
- 59. Krodhana
- 60. Akshaya
The earth is about 1 kalpa old. (4.32 billion years old)
Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula
Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula
Satya, I am very happy to find such a great resource for the information which I have been looking for long time. Great work. I respect our tradition and culture and constantly keep on exploring these kind of articles. One quick question, during our pooja when we recite the sankalpam, we say, Kaliyuge, Pradhama padhe. Does this mean that each yuga has more than one padham?
How many years does one padham constitute? And how many padhams equals one yugam?Please reply to this query.
Tapasvi
June 21, 2012 at 4:09 pm
Answer to Tapasvi’s question: Duration of Kaliyuga is 432000 years. Padam means a quarter i.e. one fourth. As of now, 5110 years passed. so we are in the first quarter.
Pidaparty P S Hariprasad
July 16, 2012 at 4:31 am
continueing my study
Anonymous
October 2, 2012 at 8:31 pm