ॐ कालाय नमः

Kāla — The Cosmic Clock

The Vedas measure time from the blink of an eye to the life of Brahmā — one continuous wheel of ages. This page shows the whole scale, where we stand on it right now, and what the future holds.

Live · the clock is ticking now

1/30

muhūrta of the day

nimeṣa (blinks) into it

000000

truṭi since dawn

One truṭi ≈ 29.6 µs — a thousandth of a blink — and this counter races through them

The clock of a day

nimeṣa (a blink) → kāṣṭhā → kalā → muhūrta (48 minutes) → ahorātra — the day itself. Thirty muhūrtas make the day; thirty days make the month; six seasons make the year. Your calendar page already uses muhūrta, pakṣa and māsa — this is the full ladder.

The clock of the ages

The same day-and-night rhythm scales to the cosmos: four yugas make a mahāyuga; 71 mahāyugas make a manvantara; 14 manvantaras make a kalpa — one day of Brahmā, 4.32 billion years long. One hundred such years is the life of the universe itself.

The ladder of time

From the truṭi — barely a thousandth of a blink — to the varṣa, the year. Every rung is twelve times… well, not quite. The ancients preferred their own multipliers.

1
truṭi
त्रुटि
The infinitesimal — a bare flutter of time
29.6 µs
2
tatpara
तत्पर
One hundred truṭi
3.0 ms
3
nimeṣa
निमेष
A single blink of the eye
88.9 ms
4
kāṣṭhā
काष्ठा
Eighteen blinks
1.6s
5
kalā
कला
Thirty kāṣṭhā
48s
6
ghaṭi
घटी
Thirty kalā — a nāḍikā (24 minutes)
24 min
7
muhūrta
मुहूर्त
Two ghaṭi — 48 minutes, the sacred hour
48 min
8
ahorātra
अहोरात्र
Thirty muhūrta — one day-and-night
1 days
9
pakṣa
पक्ष
Fifteen days — the waxing or waning fortnight
15 days
10
māsa
मास
Two pakṣa — one lunar month
30 days
11
ṛtu
ऋतु
Two māsa — one season
6.0 months
12
varṣa
वर्ष
Six ṛtu — one year
12.2 months

Micro-unit values follow the chain anchored at the universally accepted muhūrta = 48 minutes (with ghaṭi = 24 min); different purāṇas give slightly different figures for the smallest units — the famous truṭi is sometimes quoted as 1/1687.5 s in another reckoning.

The four ages, turning

Each mahāyuga descends through four yugas as dharma — the cosmic balance — loses one leg at a time, then is reborn.

Satya Yuga

1.73 million years

The golden age — dharma stands on four legs, truth and meditation reign.

Tretā Yuga

1.30 million years

Dharma on three legs — sacrifice and ritual flourish.

Dvāpara Yuga

864 thousand years

Dharma on two legs — worship of deities and scripture grows.

Kali Yuga

432 thousand years

Dharma on one leg — the iron age we live in now.

Where we are in the great wheels

Five nested cycles, five progress rings — the outermost is Brahmā's life, the innermost the Kali Yuga we live in.

Life of Brahmā50.0%
100 divine years · 77.76 trillion of 155.52 trillion years
Day of Brahmā (Kalpa)45.6%
Śveta-Vārāha Kalpa · day 1 · 1.97 billion of 4.32 billion years
Manvantara39.3%
7th — Vaivasvata Manu · 120.53 million of 306.72 million years
Mahāyuga90.1%
28th of this Kalpa · 3.89 million of 4.32 million years
Kali Yuga1.2%
Year 5128 of the Kali age · 5 thousand of 432 thousand years

Our cosmic address

Every moment has a full postal address in this reckoning — here is the one for 2026 CE, by the standard Sūrya-Siddhānta count.

Life of Brahmā
50.0%
100 divine years
Day of Brahmā (Kalpa)
45.6%
Śveta-Vārāha Kalpa · day 1
Manvantara
39.3%
7th — Vaivasvata Manu
Mahāyuga
90.1%
28th of this Kalpa
Kali Yuga
1.2%
Year 5128 of the Kali age

5,128

Kali years elapsed

1.2%

of Kali's 432,000

427 thousand

years remain

7th

Manvantara · Vaivasvata

What comes next

The wheel keeps turning. Here is the road ahead, in order.

3102 BCE
Kali Yuga dawns
Krishna departs the world; the Mahābhārata era closes and the iron age begins.
2026 CE
We are here
Kali year 5,128 — barely 1.2% of the age has passed.
~427 thousand years from now
Kalki and the end of Kali
The final avatāra appears; dharma is restored and the golden age returns.
The 29th Mahāyuga
A new Satya Yuga opens
A fresh 4.32-million-year cycle begins with 1.728 million years of golden age.
~2.35 billion years from now
Pralaya — the great dissolution
The 1000th mahāyuga completes; the universe dissolves into the cosmic night, then a new day of Brahmā dawns.
~155.5 trillion years from now
Mahāpralaya — a new Brahmā
Brahmā's hundred years end; the entire cosmos returns to the Supreme, and creation begins anew.

📜 Sources & honesty notes

• The yuga/manvantara/kalpa figures follow the Sūrya-Siddhānta as transmitted through the Purāṇas (Vishṇu Purāṇa, Book I).
• Kali Yuga's epoch (midnight, 17–18 February 3102 BCE) is the traditional date of Krishna's departure; different traditions cite 3102, 3101 or 3140 BCE.
• Micro-unit values (truṭi, tatpara, nimeṣa…) vary between purāṇas; the ladder here is anchored at muhūrta = 48 minutes for internal consistency.
• The current-year position ("51st year of Brahmā, Śveta-Vārāha Kalpa, Vaivasvata Manvantara, 28th mahāyuga") is the standard classical reckoning used by tradition.

Glossary of Sanskrit terms

Every Sanskrit word used on this page, in the Devanagari script, with its meaning in English.

Kālaकाल: Time itself — the cosmic force that measures all change; often personified as Kāla, the devourer.
Truṭiत्रुटि: The smallest named unit of time, roughly a thousandth of a blink — a fleeting moment.
Nimeṣaनिमेष: A blink of the eye — the natural beat at which ancient timekeeping begins.
Kāṣṭhāकाष्ठा: A unit of about 1.6 seconds, made of eighteen nimeṣas.
Kalāकला: A minute of about 48 seconds — the breath of a mantra, the flicker of a flame.
Ghaṭiघटी: A 24-minute hour used in classical Indian timekeeping — sixty ghaṭis make a day.
Muhūrtaमुहूर्त: An auspicious 48-minute period — thirty muhūrtas divide the day; the word now means any chosen auspicious time.
Ahorātraअहोरात्र: A full day-and-night, from ahar (day) and rātri (night).
Pakṣaपक्ष: A fortnight — the waxing (śukla) or waning (kṛṣṇa) half of the lunar month.
Māsaमास: A month, counted by the moon's journey through the sky.
Ṛtuऋतु: A season — the six seasons of the Vedic year, from spring (vasanta) to winter (śiśira).
Varṣaवर्ष: A year — the full circuit of the sun through the twelve signs.
Yugaयुग: An age or era; the Vedas name four, each shorter and dimmer than the last as dharma declines.
Satya Yugaसत्य युग: The golden age — dharma stands on four legs and truth reigns for 1,728,000 years.
Tretā Yugaत्रेता युग: The silver age of 1,296,000 years, when dharma stands on three legs.
Dvāpara Yugaद्वापर युग: The bronze age of 864,000 years, when dharma stands on two legs.
Kali Yugaकलि युग: The iron age of 432,000 years we live in now, when dharma stands on a single leg.
Mahāyugaमहायुग: The great age — one full cycle of the four yugas, 4,320,000 years.
Manvantaraमन्वन्तर: The reign of one Manu — 71 mahāyugas, after which the world is remade under a new Manu.
Kalpaकल्प: A day of Brahmā — 4.32 billion years, ending in the night of dissolution (pralaya).
Brahmāब्रह्मा: The creator of this universe, who lives one hundred of his own years of 360 kalpas each.
Pralayaप्रलय: Dissolution — the universe returns to the cosmic waters at the end of Brahmā's day.
Mahāpralayaमहाप्रलय: The great dissolution at the end of Brahmā's life, when the entire cosmos is absorbed.
Dharmaधर्म: The cosmic order and right conduct — its gradual loss is what shortens each successive yuga.
Avatāraअवतार: A descent — the divine taking a visible form to restore dharma, as Kalki will at Kali's end.
Kalkiकल्कि: The tenth and final avatāra, yet to come, who ends Kali Yuga and begins the next golden age.
Sūrya-Siddhāntaसूर्य-सिद्धान्त: The classical treatise on astronomy and time-measurement whose numbers this page follows.