In Hindu cosmology, the universe is cyclically
created and destroyed.
Its cosmology divides time into four epochs
or Yuga, of which the current period is the
Kali Yuga.
== Description ==
According to Hindu vedic cosmology, there
is no absolute start to time, as it is considered
infinite and cyclic.
Similarly, the space and universe has neither
start nor end, rather it is cyclical.
The current universe is just the start of
a present cycle preceded by an infinite number
of universes and to be followed by another
infinite number of universes.The dominant
theme in Puranic Hindu cosmology, state Chapman
and Driver, is of cycles and repetition.
There are multiple universes, each takes birth
from chaos, grows, decays and dies into chaos,
to be reborn again.
Further, there are different and parallel
realities.
Brahma's one day equals 4.32 billion years
which is a Kalpa.
Each Kalpa is subdivided into four yuga (caturyuga,
also called mahayuga).
These are krita (or satya), treta, dvapara
and kali yugas.
The current time is stated to be one of kali
yuga.
The starting year, length of each, or the
grand total, is not consistent in the Puranas.
According to Ludo Rocher, the total of four
yugas is typically 4,320,000 years, of which
432,000 years is assigned to be the duration
of the kali yuga.A few Hindu texts state that
the world is destroyed at the end of the Kali
Yuga, but most Hindu texts present the alternate
cyclical theory, wherein caturyugas follow
each other without interruption.
The numerous differences in Hindu cosmology
has been used by some scholars to chronologically
date the texts that contain them, based on
the presumption that the simpler models preceded
more elaborate mythologically richer ones.
=== Rigveda: speculation on universe's creation
===
The Rigveda which is variously dated, generally
in the second half of the 2nd-millennium BCE,
presents many theories of cosmology.
For example:
Hiranyagarbha sukta, its hymn 10.121, states
a golden child was born in the universe and
was the lord, established earth and heaven,
then asks but who is the god to whom we shall
offer the sacrificial prayers?
Devi sukta, its hymn 10.125, states a goddess
is all, the creator, the created universe,
the feeder and the lover of the universe;
Nasadiya sukta, its hymn 10.129, asks who
created the universe, does anyone really know,
and whether it can ever be known.According
to Henry White Wallis, the Rigveda and other
Vedic texts are full of alternative cosmological
theories and curiosity questions.
For example, the hymn 1.24 of the Rigveda
asks, "these stars, which are set on high,
and appear at night, whither do they go in
the daytime?" and hymn 10.88 wonders, "how
many fires are there, how many suns, how many
dawns, how many waters?
I am not posing an awkward question for you
fathers; I ask you, poets, only to find out?"
To its numerous open-ended questions, the
Vedic texts present a diversity of thought,
in verses imbued with symbols and allegory,
where in some cases forces and agencies are
clothed with a distinct personality, while
in other cases as nature with or without anthropomorphic
activity such as forms of mythical sacrifices.The
Rigveda contains the Nasadiya sukta hymn which
does not offer a cosmological theory, but
asks cosmological questions about the nature
of universe and how it began:
=== Vedic: 3 lokas ===
Deborah Soifer describes the development of
the concept of lokas as follows:
The concept of a loka or lokas develops in
the Vedic literature.
Influenced by the special connotations that
a word for space might have for a nomadic
people, loka in the Veda did not simply mean
place or world, but had a positive valuation:
it was a place or position of religious or
psychological interest with a special value
of function of its own.
Hence, inherent in the 'loka' concept in the
earliest literature was a double aspect; that
is, coexistent with spatiality was a religious
or soteriological meaning, which could exist
independent of a spatial notion, an 'immaterial'
significance.
The most common cosmological conception of
lokas in the Veda was that of the trailokya
or triple world: three worlds consisting of
earth, atmosphere or sky, and heaven, making
up the universe."
=== Puranas: 14 lokas ===
The later Puranic view asserts that the Universe
is created, destroyed, and re-created in an
eternally repetitive series of cycles.
A day of Brahma, the creator, endures for
about 4,320,000,000 years.In the Brahmanda
Purana, there are fourteen worlds.
However, other Puranas give different version
of this cosmology and associated myths.
In the Brahmanda version, the loka consist
of seven higher ones (Vyahrtis) and seven
lower ones (Pātālas), as follows:
Bhuloka, Bhuvar Loka, svarga, Mahar Loka,
Jana Loka, Tapa Loka, and Satyaloka above,
and
Atala, Vitala, Sutala, Rasaataala, Talatala,
Mahaatala, Patala and naraka below.The same
14 lokas (worlds) are described in chapter
2.5 of the Bhagavata Purana.The Puranas genre
of Indian literature, found in Hinduism and
Jainism, contain a section on cosmology and
cosmogony as a requirement.
There are dozens of different Mahapuranas
and Upapuranas, each with its own theory integrated
into a proposed human history consisting of
solar and lunar dynasties.
Some are similar to Indo-European creation
myths, while others are novel.
One cosmology, shared by Hindu, Buddhist and
Jain texts involves Mount Meru, with stars
and sun moving around it using Dhruva (North
Star) as the focal reference.
According to Annette Wilke and Oliver Moebus,
the diversity of cosmology theories in Hinduism
may reflect its tendency to not reject new
ideas and empirical observations as they became
available, but to adapt and integrate them
creatively.
== Multiverse in Hinduism ==
The concept of multiverses is mentioned many
times in Hindu Puranic literature, such as
in the Bhagavata Purana:
Every universe is covered by seven layers
— earth, water, fire, air, sky, the total
energy and false ego — each ten times greater
than the previous one.
There are innumerable universes besides this
one, and although they are unlimitedly large,
they move about like atoms in You.
Therefore You are called unlimited (Bhagavata
Purana 6.16.37)
Analogies to describe multiple universes also
exist in the Puranic literature:
Because You are unlimited, neither the lords
of heaven nor even You Yourself can ever reach
the end of Your glories.
The countless universes, each enveloped in
its shell, are compelled by the wheel of time
to wander within You, like particles of dust
blowing about in the sky.
The śrutis, following their method of eliminating
everything separate from the Supreme, become
successful by revealing You as their final
conclusion (Bhagavata Purana 10.87.41)
The layers or elements covering the universes
are each ten times thicker than the one before,
and all the universes clustered together appear
like atoms in a huge combination (Bhagavata
Purana 3.11.41)
And who will search through the wide infinities
of space to count the universes side by side,
each containing its Brahma, its Vishnu, its
Shiva?
Who can count the Indras in them all--those
Indras side by side, who reign at once in
all the innumerable worlds; those others who
passed away before them; or even the Indras
who succeed each other in any given line,
ascending to godly kingship, one by one, and,
one by one, passing away (Brahma Vaivarta
Purana)
== Reception ==
According to Carl Sagan:
== See also ==
== Notes ==
== References ==
=== Bibliography ===
Flood, Gavin D. (1996), An Introduction to
Hinduism, Cambridge University Press
Haug, Martin (1863).
The Aitareya Brahmanam of the Rigveda, Containing
the Earliest Speculations of the Brahmans
on the Meaning of the Sacrificial Prayers.
ISBN 0-404-57848-9.
Joseph, George G. (2000).
The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots
of Mathematics, 2nd edition.
Penguin Books, London.
ISBN 0-691-00659-8.
Kak, Subhash C. (2000).
'Birth and Early Development of Indian Astronomy'.
In Selin, Helaine (2000).
Astronomy Across Cultures: The History of
Non-Western Astronomy (303-340).
Boston: Kluwer.
ISBN 0-7923-6363-9.
Teresi, Dick (2002).
Lost Discoveries: The Ancient Roots of Modern
Science - from the Babylonians to the Maya.
Simon & Schuster, New York.
ISBN 0-684-83718-8
== Further reading ==
Date Panchang — an Indian calendar published
from Solapur city in Marathi language.[1]
== 
External links ==
Ancient Hindu Astronomy
The Àryabhatiya of Àryabhata: The oldest
exact astronomical constant?
Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 8 verse 17
