Time : Kala - The philosophy of Time from Ancient India
Time : Kala
“Kalo asvo vahati saptarasmih sahasrakso ajaro bhuriretah. Tama rohanti kavayo vipascitasya cakr bhuvanani visva”1
“Profilic, thousand-eyed, and undecaying, a horse with seven reins Time bears us onward.
Sages inspired with holy knowledge mount him : his chariot wheels are all the worlds of creatures.”1
The genesis of defining Time in Ancient India evolved from the Vedas, notwithstanding, man since the beginning of the Universemust have wondered about the passage of time on seeing the movement of the sun and the moon. The philosophical debate of Time evolved around the world with Ancient India developing its own thought – its reality and non reality. It is not that the seers did not question the proof of its very existence which did lead to the question of what is the essence of time. Is it what the clock reads? Is it real and absolute or is it an intellectual concept that humans use to understand and sequence events. Are we merely occupying time which is relative? And how old is Time?
The Hindu philosophy has always led all creations of this Universe including Time to the creative power of ‘Brahman’,the ultimate reality – “That” from which everything in this world proceeds and to which everything returns, the origin and cause of all that exists. Time is one but actions and moments are fragmented and appear in a sequence. These segments of time are categorized into seconds, minutes, days, months and so on creating the notion of past, present and future. The ordinary life is sequenced by these three powers of Time which has been called the wire puller of the world machine2. Yet in reality there is no sequence and all the three powers of time are constantly present where the objects move on the three paths separately.Time is a dimension that differentiates activities with quickness and slowness as superimposed on a single locus. All these doctrines of time are valid as long as there is illusion, but when the wisdom dawns, they vanish.
Since Time is ineffable by the senses, the progression of the Sun, measured by the wink of the Nimesha (eye) and prana(breathing), becomes the evidence of its existence and symbol. Without proof there is no evidence of what is to be proved, but even what is to be proved can become proof, for the sake of making itself known3 . Time starts from the end of that stillness of the Universe, the moment of Hrinayagarbha and when the sun rises, moving from Non-Time to Time and again ending in the destruction to restart a new cycle. Time is cyclic according to the Indian philosophy, unlike the Abrahamic view of it being linear and directional. It is depicted as a wheel called the “Kalachakra” or the wheel of time, where the universe undergoes endless cycles of creation, preservation and destruction.
“From Fervour kindled to its height Eternal Law and Truth were born:
Thence was the Night produced, and thence the billowy flood of sea arose.
From that same billowy flood of sea’Savatsaro Ajayata’- the Year was afterwards produced”4
The motion of the sun and the moon have in all ages determined the natural division of time. Sunrise to sunrise was the day, from one moon to another was the month and the year, from the beginning of one season until its return. The most ancient year consisted of 360 days which were about twelve revolutions of the moon and one of the sun. This is embedded in a Rig Veda hymn where the 360 days, with as many nights, are called the 720 children of the Sun. But the twelve lunar months and one revolution of the sun created a difference of eleven days in a year (Solar Year:3651/4 days; Moon’s revolution : 291/2 days).Being conscious of this difference, ancient India created a cycle of 5 solar years with 62 lunations. Three ordinary years of 12 lunations and two years, the 2nd and the 5th, each with an intercalary or thirteenth month with minor upward adjustment of half a day every year. The intercalary month was well known in the Vedic period as oblations were offered not only to the twelve months, but also to the deity of the offspring month called Anhasaspati. The lunar months were divided into two fortnights, pakshas, the dark (Krishna) and the light (shukla) according to the wanning and waxing of the moon with lunar days called tithis. Each year in the five year cycle were named with the first year as Samvatsara and thereafter Parivatsara, Iddvatsara, Anuvatsara and Udvatsara.The year was also divided into three seasons of Grishma (Heat), Varsha (Rain) and Hemanta (Cold).
Over the centuries numerous system of calandar were formedand many of them to account for the study of astronomy and astrology. The Saptarishi Kal, or the cycle of the seven Rishis, the Barhaspatya-Manas, or sixty and twelve year cycles of Jupiter, the Kali-Yuga, the Parasuram Chakra or cycle of 1000 years, the eras of Selenkidae and Parthia, Graha-parivrithiChakra of 90 years, Gupta Kal, Saka Kal, Lakshman Sena era of Bengal were some of the era formulation of which the VikramSamavat is the most prominent Hindu Calendar still in use. It is a unisolar calendar using twelve to thirteen lunar months and is 57 years ahead of the Gregorian Calender.
Another important aspect in the evolution of Time philosophy was the expounding of the Vedic notions of cyclic timelines anddeveloping cosmic or divine ages by embracing the solar and lunar years. The Hindu cosmological framework encompasses the imaginative vastness of cycles of Time where a mahayuga or a cycle of time lasts for 43,20,000 years and encapsulates four lesser cycles, each smaller than the previous and declining in an orderly, arithmetical progression. These are repeated again and again through out every day of the creator of Brahma. The day of Brahma is the basic time unit of creation whereas his night brings about the destruction of the world. The four yugas are Krita (Satya) yuga lasting 17,28,000 years, Treta yuga of 1,296,000 years, Dvapara yuga with 864000 years and Kali yuga believed to have started in 3102 BCE and which will last for 432,000 years. This 4:3:2:1 ratio in the number of years in each yuga is to be found in their other characteristics like the duration of human life and observance of Dharma decreasingaccording to this proportion. The yuga concept in Hinduism, as understood today, is a product of later Puranic texts with their names linked to the ancient practice of dice gambling, marked with 4-3-2-1, and which had both secular and ritual significance near the Vedic altars. The connection between the names of the Yugas and the game of dice lies in the fact that in some Vedic Texts these names are given to the different throws of the game or, according to a different interpretation, to the different dice in the game. The names appear in the Taittiriya Samhita in an invocation to the five world directions (cardinal points plus zenith) which is used during the building of an altar. Each element is associated with different elements such as season, a deity, a sage and acertain age in the life of the calf.The dice throws are among these elements.5 The explanation in the use of the names of the dice throws for the Yugas are multiple and one among them is embedded in a Rig Veda hymn where a relationship between the Gods and the dice is expressed and confirms the “cyclic” character of the coming and going of fortune. The gods move about like dice, who gives us wealth and take it away
The vastness of this cosmological lifespan extends much beyond the Mahayuga with the next step being Manvantara having 71 Chatur yugas. It is a cyclic period of time identifying the duration, reign or age of a Manu, the progenitor of mankind in which the seven Rishis, a Manu, an Indra and kings are created and perish and currently we are in the seventh manvantara. The next is a Kalpa with 4.32 billion years representing 1000 mahayugas and a day of Brahma, the creator (12 hour day). A kalpa is followed by a pralaya (dissolution) of equal length, which together constitute a day and night of Brahma. We are believed to be currently in the Shveat_Varaha kalpa which is the 51st year of Brahma. This is all encompassed within Maha-Kalpaand Maha-Pralaya having 311.04 trillion years representing 100 years of Brahma or his end where he enters the absolute.According to the Hindu philosophy the lifespans for humans, forefathers, devas and Brahma are different with 1 year of a human being 1us or one millionth of a second for Brahma. To measure this vast lifespan of time, wink of the eye (Nimesha) and respiration (prana) was used to describe the units of timeFive and ten winks of the eye made a kashtha. Thirty kashthasmade a kala, thirty kashthas with the tenth of a kala made a muhurta and thirty muhurtas made one day and night. This went upto the day and night of Brahma with the base unit being a Truti representing 29.6 us (One millionth of a second)
But how did people in ancient times record time during the course of the day in absence of any modern day clock. The ordinary class of people must have used their basic senses to perceive time. But Arthshastra enjoins the King to be bound by time and divide his day and night into eight watches to carry out his responsibilities and conduct of life within the accuracy of time. The measurement of time through instruments and conveying it through striking of a drum or a gong are all detailed by Kautilya. This was India of 3rd Century BCE when the Mauryan empire had already been established. But more important was the accuracy of time required for performing the vedic rituals as the benefits were governed by the timings and locations of the heavenly planets. “The very purpose of Vedas is to prescribe how yajnas should be performed. Yajnas should be performed as per auspicious time prescribed. If one can determine time accuracy that will clear all sins and deliver the full benefits of rituals. The Sun (the position) determines the time.”
The Surya Sidhanta broadly details two time measuring instruments in ancient India, one being a shadow based system called Chaya Yantra with six variants in the shape of the gnomon and the other being a flow based system called a JalYantra with variants used as water, oil, sand and kapala. The Jalyantra was a copper vessel with a hole of a specific measure in the bottom, set in a basin of pure water, and which sank sixty times in a day and night. The chaya yantra worked with the complexities of direction and circular lines on a horizontal platform which measured time based on the shadow of the sun falling on this platform through a gnomon. The magnificent 13thcentury Konark Sun Temple on the coastline in Puri is designed in the shape of a huge sun chariot. Drawn by seven mighty spirited horses on twelve pairs of beautifully decorated wheels, it is a symbol of that chaya yantra embedded with the units of time. The seven horses represent seven days of a week, the twelve pairs of wheels represent Twelve months of the year, twenty four wheels signify twenty four hours of a day and the eight major spokes in the wheel signify eight major prahar (three hour period) of a day. The thinner spoke between two wider spokes is of ninty minutes. There are thirty beads between one wider spoke to the next thinner spoke and each bead represents three minutes. The sun dial shows time in anticlockwise and the top centre wider spoke represents 12 o clock based on the shadow of the sun falling on it. This temple is a representative of that importance imbibed in the intellectual fabric of time philosophy and measurement in ancient India.
What is amazing of the Hindu Time philosophy is that it is priori to the Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity which postulated that Time was relative and was not the same everywhere in the universe. The rate at which time passes depends on the frame of reference and there is Time dilation. This theory of relativity in the modern age was already embedded in the Hindu philosophy many thousand years ago where Time was considered relative and passing at different speeds for different people and in different situations. When Time of Brahma, the creator, was made different to that experienced by a normal human being on earth, it was with this sense of relativity that the numbering was postulated. A beautiful story of a princess narrated in Vishnu Puran sums it all ;
“Revati was the only daughter of Kakudmi, a king in the ancient times. Like any father he felt that that no human could prove to be good enough to marry his lovely and talented daughter. Kakudmi took Revati with him to Brahmaloka—abode of Brahma.
When they arrived, Brahma was listening to a musical performance by the gandharvas, so they waited patiently until the performance was finished. Then, Kakudmi bowed humbly, made his request and presented his shortlist of candidates. Brahma laughed, and explained that time runs differently on different planes of existence and that during the short time they had waited in Brahmaloka to see him, 27 chatur-yugas had already passed on Earth and all the candidates had died long ago. Brahma added that Kakudmi was now alone as his friends, ministers, servants, wives, kinsmen, armies and treasures had now vanished from Earth and he should soon bestow his daughter to a husband as Kali Yuga was near.
Kakudmi was overcome with astonishment and alarm at this news.[10] However, Brahma comforted him and added that Vishnu the Preserver was currently on Earth in the forms of Krishna and Balarama and he recommended Balarama as a worthy husband for Revati.
Kakudmi and Revati then returned to earth, which they regarded as having left only just a short while ago. They were shocked by the changes that had taken place. The landscape and environment had changed and time had moved with a different speed while they were with Brahma.”
Time is ultimately a womb of all that is created, sustainer of all that exists, destroyer of all that ceases to be. As Yajnavalkya, one of the greatest Vedic seers of 8th century BCE, says –“Kalahsanmanyah sukarye vinyaset’ (Time is something to be cherished and used wisely)
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