Yuga-s are not what we commonly think....

Shastra is a great mystery, not just for non-experts but even for experts. Here you can study a small glimps about the style of shastra Śāstra Is Not Simple, My Friend.

Shastra demands reflection and not mere acceptance. By Mechanical acceptance, The absolute don't reveal itself and there is no other way to know reality, except that it reveals itself. Thus Shastra demands reflection.

"That which is heard (śravaṇam) is to be reflected upon (mananam), and that which is reflected upon is to be meditated upon (nididhyāsanam)."

"Knowledge is of two kinds, that which is derived from scripture, and that which is derived from reflection" Visnu purana

There is also a great story which is mentioned in the Chandogya Upanishad 8.7 where Indra (Head of Devas) and Virocana (Head of demons) went to learn about the 'Self' from Brhama. Brahma after explaining few verses said

'Look at yourselves in a vessel full of water. If you have any doubts about the Self then let me know.'

They then looked at themselves in the water, and Prajāpati asked, 'What do you see?'

They replied, 'We see the reflection of our whole self, including even our hair and nails'.

Prajāpati said again:

'After getting well-dressed and putting on fine clothes and making yourselves neat and clean, then look into the pan of water.'

So the two of them got well-dressed in fine clothes, and made themselves neat and clean. Then they looked into the water. Prajāpati asked, 'What do you see?'

The two of them said, 'Revered sir, just as we are well-dressed in fine clothes, and neat and clean, in the same way, these two reflections are well-dressed in fine clothes, and neat and clean.'

Prajāpati said: 'That is the Self. It is immortal and fearless. It is Brahman.' The two of them left then, happy in mind.

Virocana after understanding this gladly declared to everyone "the body is the self" and continued in his bodily activities. however Indra was not satisfied, and he kept reflecting and went back to 'brahma' again and again until he truly realized what 'Brahma' was pointing to.

Thus the students in Hinduism are motivated to ask questions to clarify doubt again and again until no such doubt remains. and 'Doubt is a sign of intelligence'. it arises after reflection on to certain concepts that has been taught by Guru.

Why i am discussing all this? - You will realize it in a minute.

There is a very popular word - "yuga". Yuga is another very popular word, in-fact i would say the one of the most popular misunderstood words in hinduism alongside "Dharma", "karma" & "Varnashrama"

according to hindu shastra - "kala" is categorized into 4 yugas namely - Sat, Treta, Dwapar & Kali-yuga. what is the time-spane for each yuga that is being believed?

• Kali is 432,000 years long
• Dvāpara goes for 864,000 years
• Tretā is 1,296,000 years
• Satya is 1,728,000 years long

[Pretty Huge]

But, What is the problem with it?

[Answering to which it was rightly said]

By Jayasree Saranathan

"This makes Ramayana time-frame a myth rather than a reality. It is not even possible to claim historicity of Ramayana as everything from geological to climatic conditions could have been different from now and from the description given in Ramayana. In this background, nothing related to Ramayana including the Janma bhumi can be claimed to be authentic."

No material traces of the supposed cities like Ayodhyā, Mithilā, or Laṅkā — described as sophisticated urban centers — could endure natural erosion and tectonic shifts over such an immense timespan.

Consequently, Rāmāyaṇa must then be read as mythic history (itihāsa) — a sacred narrative meant to illustrate cosmic and moral truths, not a literal record of human history. To assert its historicity under those time scales would be to suspend all known principles of history, biology, and geology.

So Rational Hindus are left with two choices:

1. Either accept that our itihasa-s are mythology or
2. Give a better interpretation reconciling the truth presented in the scriptures

And this problem doesn't end here, if we take the meaning of the years literally than scriptures also mentions:

1. Rama had ruled for 11000 years
2. Dasaratha had lived for 60,000 years
3. 3000 years was the measure of life in Treta Yuga when Rama lived.

Reading that above, it is almost impossible to justify this claim that a human body can tolerate existence of even 1000 years. If someone says "Oh Rama was not human", then our reply would be - "Is he not performing human leela?". and even if we accept that "Was Dasratha also not human?".

so we have two problems:

• Problem 1: How could Rama rule 11,000 years or Dasaratha live 60,000 years?
• Problem 2: If Yugas are millions of years, how is Ramayana historical?

And that is why Deliberation on truth is necessary [as we discussed earlier]

Problem 1 : How could Rama rule 11,000 years or Dasaratha live 60,000 years?

Dr. Saranathan points out that the rsi's were not absurd about human life. Because the Vedas itself assigns 100 years to human just as how it assigns 100 brhma years to brahma.

"Since a hundred years were appointed (for the life of man), interpose not, gods, in the midst of our passing existence, by inflicting infirmity in our bodies so that our sons become our sires (i.e. let us not become so feeble and firm as to be, infants and to require the paternal care of our own sons]. [R.V 1.89.9]"

Hmmm....interesting

The Dvija in Hinduism are also responsible to recite "Sandhya-vandanam" - 3 times a day. the mantra is picked up from Vedas where the repition is something like this:-

May we see the Sun for a hundred autumns.
May we live for a hundred autumns.
May we hear good words for a hundred autumns.....

okay, Live for hundred autumns means - 100 years. not 1000.

Chandogya-upanishad 3.16.1-7

The human body is like a sacrifice, and the first twenty-four years are like the morning libation......
Then the next forty-four years are like the midday libation....
and the evening phase consists of 48 years.
Having known this, the sage Mahidasa also known as Aitareya conquered diseases and lived for 116 years. One who realises this lives for 116 years.

Īśāvāsya Upaniṣad (verse 2)

"कुर्वन्नेवेह कर्माणि जिजीविषेच्छतं समाः।"
"One should wish to live a hundred years performing karma."

elsewhere you have heard an ideal life-cycle divided roughly into 4 phases:

• 25 years of Brahmacarya
• 25 Years of Grhastha
• 25 Years of Vanaprastha
• 25 Years of Sannyasi

and if these verses are not enough, then Dr. Jayasree mentiones one more important verse:-

He writes:-

(3) Valmiki Ramayana 5-34-6

Sita also echoes the longevity of 100 years in her dialogue with Hanuman at Ashoka vana. On seeing Hanuman having come to redeem her from distress she utters an adage of her times, "yehi jivantam aanandho naram varsha shathaath api". It means 'Happiness rushes to the surviving man even though (it be) at the end of a hundred years".

Coming from Sita, this dialogue and adage cannot be ignored as she lived in Treta Yuga when Dasaratha was said to have lived for 60,000 years and Rama ruled for 11,000 years. and where life of a person is mentioned as 3000 years.

So the Vedas, Upanisad, Itihasa, Puranas and sings continously the boon for 100 years.

Thus we end up having two options:-

1. Accept these verses which is projecting life of 100 years, and interpret those verses where un-natural, un-scientific, irrational numbers are mentioned.
2. Accept those verses [Dasaratha living 60K years] and interpret these verses which are repeatedly mentioned accross all scriptures.

And what happens when two verses contradict? We apply hermenutical principled called nyaya (For ex:-)

(Mukhya–Lakṣaṇā Vṛtti) - If a statement can be understood in its direct sense (mukhya-vṛtti) without violating reason (yukti) or perception (pratyakṣa), that is to be preferred. Figurative sense (lakṣaṇā) is adopted only when the literal sense becomes impossible or absurd (anupapatti).

(Yukti–Anupapatti Nyāya) If the literal interpretation contradicts reason, perception, or known laws of nature, it must be reinterpreted (anupapatti-nivṛtti).

(Abhyāsa Nyāya) When one idea is repeated consistently across texts, it carries greater authority than a single or exceptional statement.

(Arthavāda–Vidhi Nyāya) - Statements that praise (arthavāda) are secondary to those that prescribe or establish facts (vidhi or siddhānta).

When scriptural statements conflict, accept that interpretation which accords with reason (yukti), experience (pratyakṣa), and the broader scriptural harmony (samanvaya).

Hence all these hermenutical principle shouts for the acceptance of the 1st option - which is accept the realistic śaradaḥ śatam verses and interpret the exaggerated ones figuratively

so we must understood a principle which is:

"Kālaḥ anubhava-sāpekṣaḥ" — Time is relative to perception and experience.

This is a classical example of subjective time compression — a metaphysical principle also mirrored in physics: time is not absolute, but depends on frame of reference.

Dr. Saranathan points out:-

"Though all this looks like poetic exaggerations, there is a calculation behind them. This is known from the Tamil Sangam composition called 'Paditru Patthu', in which the poet 'Perum kundrur Kizhar' gives the following equation for the age of the Cheran king 'Kudakko Ilanjeral Irumporai'. (verse 90)

• 1 day in King's life = 1 month
• 1 month = 1 year
• 1 year = 1 Oozhi (duration not known, but it refers to deluge)
• 1 Oozhi = 1 Varambu (duration not known, but could refer to deluge after a Mahayuga)

Similar view is echoed in Mahabharata wherein Bheema says that for an exalted person observing certain difficult vows of Vedic culture, one day (ahorātraṃ) is equal to one year. Yudhsithira was one such exalted person. At the expiry of first thirteen days after they commenced exile, he is deemed to have completed 13 years in exile. Therefore they can go back to Kauravas and reclaim their lands.

The same rule if applied to Dasaratha who was supposed to have ruled for 60,000 years comes to an unrealistic span of years. So here we have to apply discriminatory sense of understanding. The king was old and was in throne for a long time. It appeared that even 60 years of his age or rule looked like 60,000 years!"

This tradition if applied to Rama, equates 11,000 years of his rule to 31 years.

"Now, this time-compression principle solves the problem of individual lifespans. But there is a separate and bigger question: If the Yugas themselves span millions of years (Kali = 432,000 years, etc.), how can we claim the Ramayana is historical or that these events happened in a real timeline? This requires a different answer entirely..."

Problem 2 : If Yugas are millions of years, how is Ramayana historical?

Dr. Saranathan explains - The answer lies in understanding that Yugas operate on two levels...

In Vedic cosmology, there are two concurrent scales of time:

Divya (Cosmic) Yuga — The Divya Yuga (or Deva Yuga) is the astronomical or metaphysical time used in Purāṇas to calculate the age of the universe and the cycles of creation.

Each Mahāyuga (great age) consists of 4 Yugas in the ratio 4:3:2:1:

Satya (Kṛta) Yuga — 1,728,000 years

Tretā Yuga — 1,296,000 years

Dvāpara Yuga — 864,000 years

Kali Yuga — 432,000 years

A thousand such Mahāyugas make one Kalpa, a “day” of Brahmā — about 4.32 billion years of human time.

This vast scale is not meant to describe human civilization but the pulsation of the cosmos — the breathing of Īśvara through creation and dissolution (sṛṣṭi–pralaya). It’s the measure used in saṅkalpa mantras before rituals:

“Śvetavarāha-kalpe, Vaivasvata-manvantare, Kaliyuge, Prathama-pāde…” That means the ritual is situated in cosmic time, using Divya Yuga reckoning.

Since all religious acts are ultimately directed toward the Devas, the reckoning of time in the saṅkalpa is expressed in divya-yuga parimāṇa—the divine measure of time used by the gods. However, this celestial scale of the Chatur Mahā Yuga cannot be taken as the human measure of time.

Dharmic (Human) Yuga — measured by the moral and spiritual condition of human society, specifically in Bhārata Varsha (the Indian subcontinent). Here, yuga is not chronological but Dharmic. The Mahābhārata (Śānti Parva 140) explicitly states:

'O bull of Bharata's race, that Krita, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali, as regards their setting in, are all dependent on the king's conduct.'

Therefore, the Ramayana is historically situated within a Dharmic Yuga framework during Treta, regardless of where the Divya Yuga calendar places it. The two scales operate independently.

so when did Ramayana happened?

Dr. Jayshree answers:-

Instant answer is that it did not happen lakh years ago as that scale pertains to Divya Yuga of the Devas and Brahma (galactic).

Thoughtful answer is that it happened some time before Krishnavatara when Dharma was 3/4th of what was in Krita yuga. Some notable features of this yuga are - there is no untimely death of kids, food is produced with little effort (like not breaking the earth but by sprinkling the seeds), kings are engaged in yajnas, presence of many Vedas, Brahmins and kshatriyas practicing emancipation etc. However overlap of yugas is reported in the Treta Yuga of Ramayana. Two such instances are found in Treta yuga that give us a better perspective on how the yugas were identified by our ancestors and sages.

Divya Yugas (cosmic scale) use 4:3:2:1 ratios in years; Dhārmic Yugas use the same ratio symbolically for Dharma levels.

One can deduce the current Yuga by observing the Dharma in society.

Texts like Mahābhārata show even elites (Yudhiṣṭhira, Bhīma) asking sages about Yugas to verify whether Dharma of their time is declining.

What decides the yuga?

"Krita, Treta, Dvāpara, and Kali — their appearance depends on the conduct of the king."
(rājadharmānusāreṇa yānti varṇāḥ kṛtādayaḥ…)

The Mahābhārata emphasizes that the king — symbolizing leadership — is the pivot of Dharma.

"It is not the era that creates the king, but the king who creates the era."
(Śānti Parva 68)

A Dharmic ruler establishes law, justice, and sacred order — thus creating a Krita Yuga even in dark times. Conversely, when rulers uphold greed and injustice, even the brightest age degenerates into Kali. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa (7.71) goes further:

"The king is time itself; he is Yuga, he is Dharma, for he upholds the world."

In this way, time becomes a Dharmic mirror: the quality of governance and collective ethics determines the very texture of the age.

Examples:

• Mahābhārata (Vana Parva 125.8) notes that while one part of the world dwells in Dvāpara, another may still live in Treta.

• Rāmāyaṇa (Yuddha Kāṇḍa 6.35.13–15) describes how under Rāma's reign, Dharma restored a Krita-like purity even within Treta.

• Janaka of Mithilā, in Treta, is said to have lived by the Dharma of Krita Yuga (Mahābhārata 12.308.19).

Time, then, is not a passive current sweeping humanity forward, but a mirror of how Dharmic the society is. Each act of righteousness shifts the world's moral gravity toward light. The Yuga thus becomes both a cosmological law and a personal responsibility — a reminder that within every moment lies the potential for renewal of the Golden Age.

As the Mahābhārata beautifully concludes:

sarveṣu kāleṣu kṛtaṃ samācaran bhavet kṛtayugaḥ —
"Whosoever lives by Dharma at all times, for him, it is always Krita Yuga."

Summary:

1. Shastra demands reflection and critical inquiry, not mechanical acceptance
2. Yuga is often mistaken only for purely chronological time.
3. Vedic texts consistently prescribe 100 years as the ideal human lifespan across multiple scriptures
4. Rama's rule of 11,000 years and Dasaratha's lifespan of 60,000 years are not literal
5. Yugas operate on two concurrent scales: Divya (Cosmic) Yuga measured in celestial years, and Dharmic (Ethical) Yuga determined by upholdoing the dharma and is applicable to humans.

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This is all i can explain here, those who want detail study can hop on to here: https://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2018/01/divya-and-dharma-two-sides-of-yuga.html

where you can also study in detail:

1. Overlapping Yugas
2. Bhārata Varṣa as the Theatre of Yuga
3. Kalki as an avatara at the end of kali-yuga
4. People living for 1000s of years – myth or reality?
5. The Yuga as a pair
6. Maha yuga of Devas.
7. Markandeya on Yuga.
8. Vasishtha on Yuga.
9. Narayana on Yuga.
10. Junction of Krita and Treta yuga..... and so on

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Recommended Reading

MUCH RECOMMENDED

• Yuga
  Jayasree Saranathan
  Read online

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This blog is compiled from the work of Jayasree Saranathan