I met Tenzin ji this Sunday who was visiting his parents in Hyderabad. He had brought some books from SIDH for me. Along with the books was the yearly planner published by SIDH. They named it SAMYOJNA. I guess the word comes from combination of Samay and Yojna. Samay means time and Yojna is plan. So a planner would reflect to planning of time.
The starting few pages in the planner are taken to explain the traditional Indian concept of time, the traditional calender (Lunar calender) and how the calender varies from one part of India to other. Reading those pages filled me with joy and excitement. I was happy to learn the Lunar calender and excited to know that extensive research has been done on the concept of time in India. I was so excited, I felt the need to share some of it in the blog.
Traditionally, time (of kaal) is considered in three ranges in the Hindu philosophy. The first is the cosmic time determined in terms of the life span of Brahma. Brahma is the GOD in Hindu philosophy also referred by Om. In Hindu mythology, one year represents one day for the divine. 360 divine days make one divine year and 12,000 divine years make one Mahayug. Mahayug is also devided in 4 yugs namely Kali yug (432,000 human years), Dwapar yug (864,000 human years; dw= twice), Treta yug (1,296,000 human years; tre=thrice) and Krita yug (1,728,000 human years; 4 times kali yug). 72 Mahayugs make one Manvantara i.e the life of Manu (a character in Hindu mythology). And 14 such Manvantaras make one day (kalpa) for Brahma. This works out to 4.35 billion human years. According to Panchang (a hindu way to calculate time), in the year 2008 (the gregorian way), the universe is 1,955,855,109 human years old.
The second range of time is the Panchang time, which is measured in units of days and months. This is used in determining the seasons etc. There are 6 seasons in one year, namely Vasant (spring), Greeshm (Summer), Varsha (Rain), Sharad (Autumn), Hemant (Winter) and Shishir (early spring).
The third range of time is ishorological, which is used to determine the duration of day and is measured in lesser units. This I found most interesting, though I'm not quite sure what the word ishorological means. The Truti (particle) is the smallest unit of duration. In modern terms it ranges anywhere between one ten thousand millionth of a second to one Kshan (moment). The Kshan (moment) loosely ranges from 2/45th of a second to about 4 seconds. The Nimesha/Mimisha (twinkling of an eye), which is the time taken for upward and downward movement of eyelid is equal to 4 kshanas. The lava (fraction) is the duration of a completed blink (i.e the time taken to shut completely and open the eyes) is equal to 8 kshanas. The taal (hand clap) ranges from one quarter to three quarter of a second. It is an extremely elastic phenomena depending on the intensity of clap.
All this seemed very excited to me for mainly two reasons. One, we could go beyond a second and accurately calculate the time taken by very real and common phenomena of blinking and clapping. And secondly, our research on time w.r.t to celestial movements. I guess the study of Indian astrology would be interesting.
By the way, since I'm writing this blog on the new year day I thought I would also mention that in many parts of India the year starts from Makar Sankranti, which this year would fall on 14th Jan.
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The smallest unit of time in Indian Traditional concept is named as Krati-Krati which is equivalent to 1/34,000, as I read from some Indian web site. NEXT Unit is Truti equal to 1/300 second, 2 Trutis make 1 Luv, 2 Lavs make 1 Kshana, 30 Kshana make 1 Vipal, 60 Vipals make 1 Pal, 60 Pals make 1 Ghati, 2.5 Ghatis make 1 Hora (Hour in English), 24 hours make a Day. This Gati is also called Ghalige in South India and being used in all Panchangas( Years dairy).On the higher side India had the names of Numbers upto the Power of 53 raised on the base of 10 and each 10 multiple had a name in contrast with English system where we have name for every 3 Zeroes like million, trillion etc.
I welcome further comments
The Krati-Krati in my earlier comment is to be read as 1/34000 th of a Second.
great information. please give me the link from where i can learn more about this.
great information. please give me the link from where i can learn more about this.
phenomenal work bro!!!!!!!!!
wat a way to embark for 2008 journey...
speechlesss!!!
i dont kno wat shud i say to dis mindblowing/mindboggling.....
so deep in such an abstract topic!!
an eyeopener to me( not so much concerned abt HINDU MYTHOLOGY)
i wud luv to learn more abt dis...
hey man can u pls get me a link of some more abt dis n abt SAMYOJNA...
nice work dude!!!!!!!!
Hey Harsh so are we still living in kalyug and how many years are left before Earth see's better days...
The Kaliyug is 4,32,000 human years out of which we have already gone 5007 years as of 2007 and still 4,26,993 years to go.
I suggest you to to go through the Shloka 17 of Bhagavadgita Chapter 8where the one day of Brahma is explained. Similar is the night.one day is equivalent to one Kalpa which is 1000 Mahayugas( all 4 yugas combined.
I welcome some more comments.
UHS
dear uhs, u seem to have a lot of information on this topic. it wud be great for me if u could give a short intro of urs, as it appears a little awkward to not know u but still respond to u. also please provide any link where i can read more. im really interested in knowing the traditional concept of time. and parminder, i have no idea when kalyug ends, but some one told me the next century belongs to the change. maybe they meant start of sat yug. but my information on this is extremely limited and unconfirmed.
India was the motherland of our race
and Sanskrit the mother of Europe's languages.
India was the mother of our philosophy,
of much of our mathematics, of the ideals embodied in
Christianity... of self-government and democracy.
In many ways, Mother India is the mother of us all."
-WillDurant
- American Historian 1885-1981
Raising 10 to the Power of 53
The highest prefix used for raising 10 to a power in today’s maths is ‘D’ for 10 to a power of 30 (from Greek Deca). While, as early as 100 BCE Indian Mathematicians had exact names for figures upto 10 to the power of 53.
Raising 10 to the Power of 53
ekam =1
dashakam =10
shatam =100 (10 to the power of 10)
sahasram =1000 (10 power of 3)
dashasahasram =10000 (10 power of 4) Ayutam
lakshaha =100000 (10 power of 5)
dashalakshaha =1000000 (10 power of 6) Niyutam
kotihi =10000000 (10 power of 7)
Arbudaham ( 10 power of 8)
ayutam =1000000000 (10 power of 9) Vrindam
kharvam 10
niyutam = (10 power of 11) Nikharva
kankaram = (10 power of 13) vivaram = (10 power of 15) paraardhaha = (10 power of 17)
nivahaaha = (10 power of 19)
utsangaha = (10 power of 21)
bahulam = (10 power of 23)
naagbaalaha = (10 power of 25)
titilambam = (10 power of 27)
vyavasthaana
pragnaptihi = (10 power of 29)
hetuheelam = (10 power of 31)
karahuhu = (10 power of 33)
hetvindreeyam = (10 power of 35)
samaapta lambhaha = (10 power of 37)
gananaagatihi) = (10 power of 39)
niravadyam = (10 power of 41)
mudraabaalam = (10 power of 43)
sarvabaalam = (10 power of 45)
vishamagnagatihi = (10 power of 47)
sarvagnaha = (10 power of 49)
vibhutangamaa = (10 power of 51)
tallaakshanam = (10 power of 53)
ekam =1
dashakam =10
shatam =100 (10 to the power of 10)
sahasram =1000 (10 power of 3)
dashasahasram =10000 (10 power of 4)
lakshaha =100000 (10 power of 5)
dashalakshaha =1000000 (10 power of 6)
kotihi =10000000 (10 power of 7)
ayutam =1000000000 (10 power of 9)
niyutam = (10 power of 11)
kankaram = (10 power of 13)
vivaram = (10 power of 15)
paraardhaha = (10 power of 17)
nivahaaha = (10 power of 19)
utsangaha = (10 power of 21)
bahulam = (10 power of 23)
naagbaalaha = (10 power of 25)
titilambam = (10 power of 27)
vyavasthaana
pragnaptihi = (10 power of 29)
hetuheelam = (10 power of 31)
karahuhu = (10 power of 33)
hetvindreeyam = (10 power of 35)
samaapta lambhaha = (10 power of 37)
gananaagatihi) = (10 power of 39)
niravadyam = (10 power of 41)
mudraabaalam = (10 power of 43)
sarvabaalam = (10 power of 45)
vishamagnagatihi = (10 power of 47)
sarvagnaha = (10 power of 49)
vibhutangamaa = (10 power of 51)
tallaakshanam = (10 power of 53)
The Decimal
100 BCE the Decimal system flourished in India
"It was India that gave us the ingenious method of expressing all numbers by means of ten symbols (Decimal System)….a profound and important idea which escaped the genius of Archimedes and Apollonius, two of the greatest men produced by antiquity."
-La Place
Raising 10 to the Power of 53
The highest prefix used for raising 10 to a power in today’s maths is ‘D’ for 10 to a power of 30 (from Greek Deca). While, as early as 100 BCE Indian Mathematicians had exact names for figures upto 10 to the power of 53.
34000TH of a Second to 4.32 Billion Years
India has given the idea of the smallest and the largest measure of time.
Krati Krati = 34,000th of a second
1 Truti = 300th of a second
2 Truti = 1 Luv
2 Luv = 1 Kshana
30 Kshana = 1 Vipal
60 Vipal = 1 Pal
60 Pal = 1 Ghadi (24 minutes)
2.5 Gadhi = 1 Hora (1 hour)
24 Hora = 1 Divas (1 day)
7 Divas = 1 saptaah (1 week)
4 Saptaah = 1 Maas (1 month)
2 Maas = 1 Rutu (1 season)
6 Rutu = 1 Varsh (1 year)
100 Varsh = 1 Shataabda (1 century)
10 Shataabda = 1 sahasraabda
432 Sahasraabda = 1 Yug (Kaliyug)
2 Yug = 1 Dwaaparyug
3 Yug = 1 Tretaayug
4 Yug = 1 Krutayug
10 Yug = 1 Mahaayug (4,320,000 years)
1000 Mahaayug = 1 Kalpa
1 Kalpa = 4.32 billion years
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