Shloka 246
कृतयुगवर्णनम् तथा राजधर्मोपदेशः
Kṛtayuga Description and Instruction on Royal Dharma
तस्यापि द्विशती संध्या संध्यांशश्ष तथाविध: । द्वापरका मान दो हजार दिव्य वर्ष है तथा उतने ही सौ दिव्य वर्ष उसकी संध्या और संध्यांशके हैं (अत: सब मिलकर चौबीस सौ दिव्य वर्ष द्वापरके हैं)
tasya api dviśatī sandhyā sandhyāṁśaś ca tathāvidhaḥ |
Vaiśampāyana said: For that (Dvāpara-yuga) too, the twilight period (sandhyā) is two hundred (divine years), and its concluding twilight portion (sandhyāṁśa) is of the same measure. Thus Dvāpara is understood as lasting two thousand divine years, with an additional two hundred at the beginning and two hundred at the end—making a total of twenty-four hundred divine years.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a structured view of cosmic time: each yuga has transitional periods (sandhyā and sandhyāṁśa) that frame its main duration, emphasizing that moral and cosmic orders change gradually rather than abruptly.
Vaiśampāyana is explaining yuga-chronology, specifying the length of Dvāpara-yuga along with its beginning and ending twilight intervals, as part of a broader account of time-cycles and the waxing and waning of dharma.