Shloka 25
कृतयुगवर्णनम् तथा राजधर्मोपदेशः
Kṛtayuga Description and Instruction on Royal Dharma
सहस्रमेकं वर्षाणां तत: कलियुगं स्मृतम्,तदनन्तर एक हजार दिव्य वर्ष कलियुगका मान कहा गया है, सौ वर्ष उसकी संध्याके और सौ वर्ष संध्यांशके बताये गये हैं (इस प्रकार कलियुग बारह सौ दिव्य वर्षोंका होता है)। संध्या और संध्यांशका मान बराबर-बराबर ही समझो
sahasram ekaṁ varṣāṇāṁ tataḥ kaliyugaṁ smṛtam | tad-anu sandhyā-śataṁ proktaṁ sandhyāṁśa-śatam eva ca | evaṁ kaliyugaṁ dvādaśa-śataṁ divya-varṣāṇām | sandhyā-sandhyāṁśayoḥ pramāṇaṁ samam eva viduḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “After that, the Kali Yuga is remembered as lasting one thousand divine years. Then a hundred years are declared as its twilight (sandhyā), and another hundred as its after-twilight (sandhyāṁśa). Thus the Kali Yuga amounts to twelve hundred divine years in all; understand the measures of the twilight and after-twilight to be equal.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that the yugas have fixed, knowable durations, including equal transitional phases (sandhyā and sandhyāṁśa). This presents moral decline and restoration as structured processes within cosmic order, not random events.
Vaiśampāyana is explaining the traditional measure of the Kali Yuga: 1000 divine years for the main period, plus 100 divine years of sandhyā and 100 divine years of sandhyāṁśa, totaling 1200 divine years.