Kurma Purana — Purva Bhaga, Shloka 8
Time-Reckoning (Kāla-gaṇanā): Yugas, Manvantaras, Kalpas, and Prākṛta Pralaya
चत्वार्याहुः सहस्त्राणि वर्षाणां तत्कृतं युगम् / तस्य तावच्छती सन्ध्या सन्ध्यांशश्च कृतस्य तु
catvāryāhuḥ sahastrāṇi varṣāṇāṃ tatkṛtaṃ yugam / tasya tāvacchatī sandhyā sandhyāṃśaśca kṛtasya tu
Ipinahahayag na ang Kṛta (Satya) Yuga ay binubuo ng apat na libong taon; at para sa yugang iyon, ang sandhyā—ang takipsilim sa simula—ay may kaparehong sukat sa daan-daang taon, at gayundin ang sandhyā-aṁśa, ang takipsilim sa wakas ng Kṛta Yuga.
Sūta (narrator) relaying the Purāṇic teaching on cosmic time to the sages (Naimiṣāraṇya frame)
Primary Rasa: adbhuta
Secondary Rasa: shanta
FAQs
Indirectly: by defining vast, ordered cycles of time (kāla) within which beings experience Dharma and its changes, the verse supports the Purāṇic view that the unchanging Self stands apart from time while the cosmos moves through measured epochs.
No specific practice is taught in this verse; it provides the kāla-framework (yuga and its sandhyā periods) that later supports Kurma Purana’s discipline-oriented teachings—where sādhanā, austerity, and Dharma are aligned with the conditions of each age.
It does not explicitly mention Śiva or Viṣṇu; however, as a shared Purāṇic cosmology, the measured order of time is presented as a universal doctrine compatible with the Kurma Purana’s Shaiva–Vaishnava synthesis in other sections.