Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Brahman, who began the work of creation. He found that the Earth
was submerged under primordial waters, so he dived into the waters,
and having assumed the form of a wild boar, he used his tusks and
dragged the land up so that it lay above the surface of the water.
Time in the Universe comprises a series of ever-repeating cycles
from birth, to growth, decline and death, followed by rebirth and the
commencement of a new cycle. But how long is this cycle? Certainly
millions of years. In order to indicate this immensity of time to the
general populace, the storytellers told of a man who once every hun-
dred years went to the top of the mountain and rubbed it with a cloth.
The time that he would take towear the completemountain away was
shorter than one universal cycle from birth to death.
Hindu duration of the Universe
In Hindu tradition the beginning of each cycle is announced by Shiva
the Lord of the Dance, who bangs a drum held in his right hand. The
ageing cycle ends in the flames held in his left hand, when all is
absorbed into Brahma, and a new cycle commences. Each of the
four ages of the world is called a Yuga and the four combined are
termed Mahayuga or 'Great' Yuga. Each cosmic cycle comprises one
day and night in the life of Brahma. The day lasts a Kalpa or
4,320,000,000 years and the night an equivalent time. In a Kalpa
there are fourteen periods called Manvantaras each presided over by
a special cosmic deity. The lifespan of Brahma is thought to be 100,000
daily cycles, and so to Hindus, the Universe and Earth are many
billions of years old.
Buddhist beliefs
Buddhism was founded in the sixth century
BC
in northeast India by
Siddhartha Gautama (563-483
BC
) who was given the title 'Buddha'.
Although Buddhists believe that the cosmic cycles continue unab-
ated, there is possible release from them if 'Nirvana', a state of
happiness or peace, is reached.
