Shloka 80
सूर्यरथ-कालचक्र-आयनविभागः, संध्योपासनम्, देवयान-पितृयानम्, विष्णुपद-गङ्गावतरणम्
अहोरात्रार्धमासौ तु कलाः काष्ठाः क्षणास् तथा पौर्णमासी तथा ज्ञेया अमावास्या तथैव च सिनीवाली कुहूश् चैव राका चानुमतिस् तथा
ahorātrārdhamāsau tu kalāḥ kāṣṭhāḥ kṣaṇās tathā paurṇamāsī tathā jñeyā amāvāsyā tathaiva ca sinīvālī kuhūś caiva rākā cānumatis tathā
दिन-रात, अर्धमास, तथा कला, काष्ठा और क्षण—ये काल के परिमाण हैं; इसी प्रकार पौर्णमासी, अमावस्या, तथा सिनीवाली, कुहू, राका और अनुमति भी जानने योग्य हैं।
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
FAQs
This verse treats them as formal measures within sacred time—key markers of the Moon’s cycle used to structure ritual, calendrical reckoning, and the broader cosmic order (kāla).
He lists time from larger spans (day-night, half-month) down to finer units (kalā, kāṣṭhā, kṣaṇa), then links that reckoning to lunar phases and observances, showing time as an ordered system rather than a random flow.
Even when Vishnu is not named directly, the Vishnu Purana frames kāla (time) and cosmic regularity as operating under the Supreme Reality’s sovereignty—time becomes a manifestation of divine order sustaining the universe.