Adhyaya 46 — Cosmic Dissolution, the Emergence of Brahma, and the Measures of Time (Yugas, Manvantaras, and Brahma’s Day)
ब्रह्मणो दिवसे ब्रह्मन् मनवः स्युश्चतुर्दश ।
भवन्ति भागशस्तेषां सहस्रं तद्विभज्यते ॥
brahmaṇo divase brahman manavaḥ syuś caturdaśa | bhavanti bhāgaśas teṣāṃ sahasraṃ tad vibhajyate ||
हे ब्राह्मण! ब्रह्मा के एक दिन में चौदह मनु होते हैं। उनके-उनके काल भागों के रूप में विभक्त हैं; वह दिन सहस्र भागों में विभाजित है।
Human history is framed as cyclical and governed by vast cosmic measures; this relativizes individual events and encourages steadiness (dhairya) and dharma across changing ages.
Primarily Manvantara (the succession and structure of Manu-periods) and, by implication, Sarga/Pratisarga insofar as creation and dissolution recur across Brahmā’s day-night.
The ‘thousand divisions’ alludes to the thousand mahāyugas constituting a kalpa-day; it symbolizes ordered manifestation (ṛta) emerging from measurable time rather than randomness.