Saturday 13 June 2020

AGE OF THE EARTH


  B/14                         MY ARTICLES  AND  BLOGS  SERIES -    ON   MYTHOLOGY

HINDU COSMOGENY AND WHEEL OF TIME –AGE OF EARTH


 Time’ I am, the destroyer of all worlds; says the Lord in the Gita ( XI-32); It is by His will that this Universe is created, sustained for a certain period of time and then dissolved..Time (Sanskrit 'kaal' ) is thus a manifestation of the Creator and termed as a deity.
The deity as Time is without beginning and without end. In Hinduism, time is measured in 'Kalpas': As in modern physics, Hindu cosmology envisaged the universe as having a cyclical nature Simply speaking the universe was perceived as periodically expanding and contracting and the time span between the beginning and the end of one creation is called  Kalpa . The scale of this space or time is indeed staggering. No one knows when the first second was struck but we believe that Time is  coeval with the origin of the Universe.  Hindu sages describe time as cyclic, an endless procession of creation, preservation and dissolution. The current universe is just the start of a present cycle preceded by an infinite number of universes and to be followed by another infinite number of universes.
 The concept of  gigantic time scales  based on Hindu cosmogony is of great antiquity. It reflects upon the subtle Aryan mind for the wonderful cosmogical theory. Time is glorified  in a hymn to Time in Atharva-veda (XIX. 53-tr. By Monier Williams; mentioned below ;

Time, like a seven-wheeled, seven-naved car, moves on.
 His rolling wheels are all the worlds, his axle
Is immortality. He is the first of gods.
We see him like an overflowing jar ;
We see him multiplied in various forms.
He draws forth and encompasses the worlds ;
He is all future worlds ; he is their father ;
He is their son ; there is no power like him.
The past and future issue out of Time,
All sacred knowledge and austerity.
From Time the earth and waters were produced ;
From Time, the rising, setting, burning sun ;
From Time, the wind ; through Time the earth is vast ;
Through Time the eye perceives ; mind, breath, and name
In him are comprehended. All rejoice
According to the eminent British scholar Wilson H.H., who translated the Vishnu Purana, the theogony and cosmogony of the Hindus, as they appear in the Vishńu Puráńa, belong to and illustrate systems of high antiquity, of which we have only fragmentary traces in the records of other nations.
What India calculated thousands of years ago is remarkable. It is really amazing that the early  Hindu sages could conceive of the universe in terms of billions of years . The Hindu view of Time portrays in a way the story of mankind and  human evolution through tens of thousands of years marked by periodic cataclysms relative to new scientific discoveries through archaeological findings.
It is anybody’s guess how they were able to determine the cycle of solar system and the age of the universe at about 4.32 billion years.
 The late astrophysicist Carl Sagan (1980)   expressed amazement at the accuracy of space and time descriptions given by the ancient rishis and saints, who fathomed the secrets of the universe through their mystically awakened senses. He noted that;
 "the Hindu religion is the only one of the world’s great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of births and deaths. It is the only religion in which the time cycles correspond, no doubt by accident, to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long, longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang. And there are much longer time scales still."
(source:HinduCosmology;Oct28/2008;HinduismToday April/May/June 2007 p.14)
 Swami Kriyananada (J. Donald Walters). World renowned as a singer, composer, and lecturer, founder of the Ananda Village writes: 
"Hindu cosmography, for example born in hoary antiquity, strikes one in certain ways as surprisingly modern. India has never limited its conception of time to a few crowded millennia. Thousands of years ago India's sages computed the earth's age at a little over two billion years, our present era being what is called the seventh Manuvantra. This is a staggering claim. Consider how much scientific evidence has been needed in the West before men could even imagine so enormous a time scale." (source: Crises in Modern Thought: The Crises of Reason - By Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters) vol. 1 p - 94).
The ancient seers of abundant intelligence and intellect of the Vedic age with their quest for scientific temper speculated on the age of the earth and the solar system. They were the first to estimate the age of the earth at more than 4 billion years in remote past. A symbolic reference to the figure of 4320 billion years occurs in a verse of the Rig veda,which when translated reads as under:
“Four are his horns, three are the feet that bear him; his heads are two, and his hands are seven in number ” . i.e.4,32,00,00,000 or 4.32 x107 . ( RV-04- HYMN- 058.3 ,Tr. by Griffith) 
It is interpreted to refer to the age of the universe. The later day Puranas  which are evidently based on the Vedas developed the subject further on the basis of researches by the then  astronomers and cosmologists.
The Vishnu Purana in common with other main puranas and Hindu epics explains the cosmic time theory   as under;
“Twelve thousand divine years, each composed of (three hundred and sixty) such days, constitute the period of the four Yugas, or ages. They are thus distributed: the Krita age has four thousand divine years; the Tretá three thousand; the Dwápara two thousand; and the Kali age one thousand: so those acquainted with antiquity have declared. The period that precedes a Yuga is called a Sandhyá, and it is of as many hundred years as there are thousands in the Yuga: and the period that follows a Yuga, termed the Sandhyánsa, is of similar duration. The interval between the Sandhyá and the Sandhyánsa is the Yuga, denominated Krita, Tretá, &c. The Krita, Tretá, Dwápara, and Kali, constitute a great age, or aggregate of four ages: a thousand such aggregates are a day of Brahmá, and fourteen Manus reign within that term. Hear the division of time which they measure. 
Seven Rishis, certain (secondary) divinities, Indra, Manu, and the kings his sons, are created and perish at one period ; and the interval, called a Manwantara, is equal to seventy-one times the number of years contained in the four Yugas, with some additional years: this is the duration of the Manu, the (attendant) divinities, and the rest, which is equal to 8.52.000 divine years, or to 306.720.000 years of mortals, independent of the additional period . Fourteen times this period constitutes a Bráhma day, that is, a day of Brahmá; the term (Bráhma) being the derivative form. At the end of this day a dissolution of the universe occurs, when all the three worlds, earth, and the regions of space, are consumed with fire.( VP/ I/3)”
Let us try to understand what the Purana intends to convey.
1.There are 4 yugas of 12,000 divine years, of three hundred and sixty such days each. A  year of mortals is 360 times of the divine year.
2. Known as,the Krita, Treta, Dwápara , and  Kali with the duration of 4800,3600,2400,1200 years  inclusive of  transition periods i.e.,sandhis respectively, they constitute a Yuga or a great age., or aggregate of four ages:
3.  A thousand such aggregates make up one day of Brahma, and fourteen Manus reign within that term.  They hold office for a fixed term, and then perish. 
4 The  interval between two Manus is called a Manvantara, and is equal to seventy-one times the number of years contained in the four Yugas. This is the duration of each Manu which is stated to be of 8.52.000 divine years, or  306.720.000 years of mortals.
 5  At the end of this day of Brahma a dissolution of the universe occurs, when all the three worlds, earth, and the regions of space, are wiped out by floods or consumed with fire
To sum up;
 Each day of Brahma is called a Kalpa . Brahma holds office,like a bureaucrat, for a fixed tenure of hundred years and then makes way for another incumbent.   In theory, the Kalpas are infinite; as   thousands of millions of Kalpas have passed, and as many are to come.

I. Kalpa. The present Kalpa is known as Varah Kalpa

4.32 x10 7 solar years

II. Manvantaras

Each day of Brahma has 14 Manus  or 1000 Mahayugas .A Manvantra, between two Manus, comprises of  306.720.000   or 308,570,000 solar years. The first Manvantra was presided over by Swayambhuva Manu, the self born i.e. the Creator Himself at the dawn of Time
Each Manvantara is made up of 71 Mahayugas  of 43,20,000 years each. The present incumbent is Vaivasvata Manu, the seventh in the present Cycle,who is ruling since over 120 million years. Manvantaras,in other words,represent phases or  evolutionary  cycles of civilization since the creation took place .

III.Mahayuga

A  Mahayuga is  subdivided into 4 Yugas. Each Yuga has its own characteristics and different duration. 
IV.Yugas or Epochs 

There are four Yugas, or epochs in the proportion 4:3:2:1. First comes Krita Yuga, then it changes into Treta , then it changes into Dwapara  and  finally it changes into Kali Yuga. After the Kali Yuga, Krita Yuga will start all over again. Each Yuga has a dawn and a twilight period, each a tenth of its length, called transitional period,with the following duration in human years :

Krita- yuga or Golden Age             :  17,28,000  
Tretâ-yuga or Silver Age                :  12,96,000 
Dwapara-yuga or Bronze Age       :    8,64,000 
Kali-yuga or Iron Age                     :    4,32,000
Total  i.e Mahayuga                       :  43,20,000

It is not known precisely if the Brahmas’ Day is an actual division of time or just a hypothetical theory but it is evident that the conclusions drawn are based on insight, logical deductions or speculation.
The unique Indian Yuga system  is not peculiar to Hinduism. It has some parallelism in other cultures also.  Even the ancient Greeks and Egyptians etc. had their own similar time periods.   In the  Sumarian king lists, Berossus, who records  their chronology, was a priest of Bel and had a school of astronomy on the island of Kos in the third century . He gives the figures for the reigns of the 120 Assyrian kings who preceded the Flood a total of 4,32,000 years.which corresponds to the age of Indian Kali yuga which is  surprisingly no chance coincidence . (by Prof.R.K Harrison / jets 36/1-March1933/3-8  from Wikipaedia)

From the above data, the age of the universe or the present solar cycle can be computed as under;

 Age of the Earth
 How much time elapsed since the creation of the world ?

Author Dick Teresi says "Indian cosmologists, are  the first to estimate the age of the earth at more than 4 billion years. They came closest to modern ideas of atomism, quantum physics, and other current theories. India developed very early, enduring atomist theories of matter. Possibly Greek atomistic thought was influenced by India, via the Persian civilization."
In the present Kalpa, six Manus, of whom Swyambhuva was the first, have already completed their tenure; the present being Vaivasvata. According to the Surya-Siddhanta, we are currently in the Kali-yuga of the twenty-eighth age (maha-yuga) of the seventh manvantara .The Kali-yuga is believed to have begun in February 3102 BCE. On the basis of this information, the time that has elapsed since the beginning of the present day of Brahma or Kalpa up to February 2010 can be calculated as follows;
6 manvantaras  ;                        306720000 x 6=  1,840,320,000 +
7 sandhis                                    12,096,000 +
27 maha-yugas                         116,640,000 +
1 krita-yuga                                   1,728,000 +
1 treta-yuga                                   1,296,000 +
1 dwapara-yuga                                864,000 +
 Kali-yuga upto 2010 AD                      5,111     1,972,949,111 years.
In conclusion, according to Hindu chronology, the time that has elapsed from the beginning of the present day of Brahma up to February 2010 is 1,972,949,111 years.
 According to the ancient Hindu astronomical text, the Sûrya-Siddhânta.( Chapter 1, verse 24)  '47,400 divine years passed in creating animate and inanimate things, planets, stars, gods, demons, and the rest.' Since one divine year equals 360 solar years, 47,400 divine years are equal to 17,064,000 solar years. In other words, the present kalpa on earth began after a period of divine activity lasting  17,064,000 ( 1,972,949,111 -  17,064,000) = 1,955,885,111 years, and only then did the period of what Theosophist H.P. Blavastky calls 'cosmic evolution' begins.
The  28 maha-yugas refer to the current time  cycle of the  Vaivasvata manu in so far as it concerns  the  emergence of humans on our planet.  By a simple calculation we  find that this epoch of Vaivasvata manu  started 120,533,102 ( 120 million ) years ago but its complete duration is of the order of 306,720,000 years. Nevertheless, it appears to be just a general, rounded figure and  refers to the period since the approximate beginning of the human life .
Similarly, the Puranas define the paramanu, which is on the order of a few hundred thousandths of a second. The Puranas describe time units from the infinitesimal truti, lasting 1/1,000,0000 of a second to a mahamanvantra of 311 trillion years.

Modern Views on tha Age of the Universe
It would be interesting to compare the vedic concept of time and cosmic cycles with what is now believed by the present day scientists to be the probable age of the earth since it was born. .   
It is to be believed that the approximate age of Earth is about 4.54 billion years old (Chidrawi and Hollis, 2010). This is based on Paleontological and geological evidence (Alford and Hill 2010). However life has not been on Earth since the beginning (Chidrawi and Hollis, 2010). The oldest evidence of life found today is fossils resembling spherical and filamentous prokaryotes found in fossil stromatolites that are 3.5 billion years old (Alford and Hill, 2010).
“By studying several things, mostly meteorites, and using radioactive dating techniques, specifically looking at daughter isotopes, scientists have determined that the Solar System is 4.6 billion years old. Well, give or take a few million years. That age can be extended to most of the objects and material in the Solar System.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) website has a lot of indepth material about how the age of the Solar System was determined. The basics of it are that all material radioactively decays into a stable isotope. Some elements decay within nanoseconds while others have projected half-lives of over 100 billion years. The USGS based their study on minerals that naturally occur in rocks and have half-lives of 700 million to 100 billion years. These dating techniques, known as radiometric dating, are firmly grounded in physics and are used to measure the last time that the rock being dated was either melted or disturbed sufficiently to re-homogenize its radioactive elements. This techniques returned an approximate age for meteorites of 4.6 billion years and Earth bound rocks around 4.3 billion years. The USGS admits that they were unable to find any rock that had not been altered by the Earths tectonic plates, so the age of the Earth could be refined in the future.
.( How Old is the Solar System?” by JERRY COFFEY on JULY 16, 2008)
Precession of Equinoxes
The concept of the manvantra seems to indicate the phases of human evolution and have been based on astronomical observations and linked  to the discovery of the phenomenon known as  the precession of the equinoxes. It is generally not known that  the figure of 71 referred to in the calculations for a manvantra is very significant as it hints at the precessional movement of the Earth which the ancient astromomers  calculated at 71, a round figure.
Let us understand this complicated issue in a simple way. A tropical year as, for example, the time from solstice to solstice, or equinox to equinox, is about 20 minutes shorter than the sidereal year, which is measured by the Sun's apparent position relative to the stars. It makes a difference of approximately  one year every 25,920 years, thus after one complete cycle of 25,920 years the positions of the seasons revert back  to the position from where they started . This is known as precession which causes  one degree shift approximately every 72 years, thus a 360 degree movement requires 25920 years to complete one such cycle.  The  present day astronomers have calculated the value of precessional cycle at 25920 years whereas the ancient cosmologists had adopted a round figure of 24000 years and the solar year at 360 days for ease of calculations. Interestingly, the Surya Siddhanta specifies a value of 54 arc seconds per year for precession, as against the current value of 50.29 arc seconds per year. This translates into a Precessional Year of exactly 24,000 years. !
Even for working out the degree of 54, required intimate and expert knowledge of astronomy and higher mathematics.
Dissolution of the earth after the day of Brahma. 
Though the life of Brahma, meaning the universal spirit, seems to be fantastic and interminable but from the view of eternity it is as  short as a flash of lightning in the material world.  Even he is not free from the process of birth and old age, thus making us to believe that Brahma here means the One who  is known as the Creator  and the entire Universe functions as per the cosmic laws ordained by Him.  The different  Manus are only imaginary entities meaning the various phases of evolution. The terms Brahma and Manu being the derivative forms may mean the Kalpa Administrator and Manvantra Administrator respectively.
The Vishnu Purana further states that at the end of a thousand periods of four ages the earth is for the most part exhausted . A dreadful drought occurs that lasts 100 years, and all the waters are dried up. Then mighty clouds form and the three worlds are completely flooded with water. and, in consequence of the failure of food, all beings become languid and exanimate, and at last entirely perish.
 Then lord Vishnu reposes on the waters in meditative rest for another whole kalpa (4.32 billion years) before renewing the creation. The characteristic of this destruction is that the three worlds continue to exist but are made uninhabitable.(V,P I/ 3)

 Even the great scientist Einstein supports the vedic view when he says, "Cosmic expansion may be simply a temporary condition which will be followed at some future epoch of cosmic time by a period of contraction. The universe in this picture is a pulsating balloon in which cycles of expansion and contraction succeed each other through eternity."Hindu culture had this unique vision of the infiniteness of time as well as the infinity of space. When modern astronomy deals with billion of years, Hindu creation concepts deal with trillions of years. Each creation and dissolution follows in sequence.

Mythology versus Science
 The formation of mighty clouds flooding the three worlds  completely with water is symbolic of the dissolution of the Universe after the completion of cosmic cycles when the rains continue  uninterruptively for a much longer time and deluge the whole world. Viewed in terms of modern science ,the Puranic statement is supported by the second law of thermodynamics which states that as time goes on, there is an increase in entropy, resulting in the ultimate collapse of the universe.
By O P Gupta


CHANDRAGUPTA MAURYA


 B-13                                                     HISTORY
 CHANDRAGUPTA  MAURYA-THE PRIDE OF INDIA



In 324 BCE,Chandragupta Maurya, an ambitious adventurer (Sandrakottos, 324-300 BCE) founded the Maurya dynasty after overthrowing the reigning Nanda king Dhanananda .Prior to Chandragupta's consolidation of power, small regional kingdoms dominated the north western subcontinent, while the Nanda dynasty dominated the middle and lower basin of the Ganga. After Chandragupta's conquests, the Maurya Empire extended from Bengal and Assam in the east, to Afghanistan and Baluchistan in the west, to Kashmir and Nepal in the north, and to the Deccan Plateau in the south. It was for the first time that most of the subcontinent was united under a single command.  Capitalising on the destabilization of northern India by the Persian and Greek incursions, the Mauryan empire under Chandragupta would not only conquer most of the Indian subcontinent, but also push its boundaries to  far off Persia and Central Asia, conquering the Gandhara region.
His achievements, which ranged from conquering Alexander Macedonian’s satrapies in the northwest, and conquering the Nanda empire by the time he was only about 20 years old, to defeating Seleucus Nicator and establishing centralized rule throughout South Asia, remain some of the most celebrated in the history of India. Over two thousand years later, the accomplishments of Chandragupta and his successors, including Ashoka the Great, are subjects of great study in the annals of South Asian and world history.The empire had its capital city at Pataliputra (near modern Patna).
After Alexander's death in 323 BCE, Seleucus invaded India in 305 BCE, confronting Chandragupta Maurya near the river Indus.  It is said  that Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the  first  pan-Indian empire (324-187), defeated the remaining Macedonian satrapies in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent and Greek garrisons of Seleucus, founder of Seleucan Empire in Persia and Syria. Chandragupta fielded an army of 600,000 men and 9,000 war elephants. Seleucus appears to have fared poorly, having ceded large territories west of the Indus including the Hindu Kush, modern day Afghanistan, and the Baluchistan province of present-day Pakistan. When Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE, his generals divided up his empire into satrapies so that each of them would have a territory to rule, but by about 316, Chandragupta Maurya was able to defeat and incorporate all of the satrapies in the mountains of Central Asia, extending his empire to the edge of what is now IranTajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
 Archaeologically, definite indications of Mauryan rule, such as the inscriptions of the Edicts of Ashoka, have been found as far as Kandhar in southern Afghanistan.
Classical sources  suggest that following their peace treaty,the Greek  general Seleucus Nicator, the successor of Alexander,  married  his  daughter  to Chandragupta to formalize  a strategic diplomatic alliance. In a return gesture, Chandragupta sent 500 war-elephants, a military asset which would play a decisive role at the Battle of Ipsus in 302 BC. In addition to this treaty, Seleucus appointed an ambassador, Megasthenes, to Chandragupta’s Court, and later Deimakos to his son Bindusara’s Court, at Pataliputra (modern Patna in Bihar state). Later ,Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt and contemporary of Ashoka the Great, is also recorded by Pliny the Elder as having sent an ambassador named Dionysius to the Mauryan court.
In his Indica, Megasthenes (317-312 BCE ),  an envoy of King Seleucus in the court of Maurya king, reveals to Europe in colourful details the wonders of Mauryan India: an opulent society with abundant agriculture, engineered irrigation and  seven castes:  philosophers, farmers, soldiers, herdsmen, artisans, magistrates and councillors. The riches of India under the Magadha kings became a proverb throughout the world. He defined the extent of the then territory of India as under :
               India then being four-sided in plan, the side which looks to the Orient and that to the South, the Great Sea compasseth; that towards the Arctic is divided by the mountain chain of Hēmōdus from Scythia, inhabited by that tribe of Scythians who are called Sakai; and on the fourth side, turned towards the West, the Indus marks the boundary, the biggest or nearly so of all rivers after the Nile.

 Megasthenes was amazed  to find a civilization which he described to the incredulous Greeks- “still near their zenith”-as entirely equal to their own. He also testifies to the “high character and wisdom” of the councillors of the Maurya king and to their effective power”                    
          ( E.B. Havell,1915) and“that there was no slavery in India” (H. Kohn).
The government made no pretense to democracy and was probably the most efficient that India had ever had. Akbar,the greatest of the Moghuls, had nothing like it and it may be doubted if any of the ancient Greek cities were better organized  (V. A. Smith in the Oxford History…, 1923).
According to Col. James Tod,Chandragupta was a descendant of the Puru dynasty: Sandrocottus is mentioned by Arrian to be of this line ; and we can have no hesitation, therefore, in giving him a place in the dynasty of Puru, the second son of Yayati, whence the patronymic used by the race now extinct, as was Yadu, the elder brother of Puru. By the time his conquests were complete, Chandragupta succeeded in unifying most of Southern Asia. Megasthenes later recorded the size of Chandragupta's acquired army as 400,000 soldiers, according to Strabo (see  AAR).
His son, Bindusara,  became the new Mauryan emperor. Bindusara was succeeded  by his son Ashoka the Great ( 270-236 BCE ) who was one of the most powerful kings in history due to his important role in the history of Buddhism. He expanded the kingdom over most of  the present day India, barring the extreme south and east.At its height under Emperor Ashoka the Mauryan Empire included all India except the far South.
 Kautilya
Chandragupta's chief adviser or prime minister Chanakya, who is also known as Kautilya and wasthe author of the Arthashastra, is regarded as the architect of Chandragupta's early rise to power. Chandragupta Maurya, with the help of Chanakya, began laying the foundation of the Mauryan Empire. While in Magadha, Chanakya by chance met Chandragupta in whom he spotted great military and executive abilities. Chanakya was impressed by the prince's personality and intelligence. The shrewd Chanakya trained Chandragupta under his expert guidance and together they planned the conquest of the Nanda Empire. He wrote a compendium known as the Arthashastra, a manual of laws, administrative procedures and political advice for successfully running a kingdom.
Renunciation
Chandragupta renounced his throne towards the end of his  glorious innings and became an ascetic under the Jaina saint Bhadrabahu, migrating south with him and ending his days  in Shravanabelagola, in present day Karnataka.