In the vast rhythm of existence, the Lord, who is beyond all limitations, brings forth creation during his day and draws it back into dissolution at night. Yet, for him, these notions of day and night are only figurative, for in his true nature, such divisions do not exist. When the Lord’s day prevails, all transformations of the universe—its myriad forms, the universal deities, the lords of beings, and the great sages—remain manifest. But when his night descends, all these dissolve into unmanifestation, only to emerge again at the dawn of his next day. Thus, the Lord’s day and night unfold in this wondrous cycle. At the end of a thousand cycles of the four yugas, fourteen Manus have reigned. Know, O twice-born, that four thousand years make up a Kṛta Yuga. At the end of the Kṛta Yuga, there is a twilight period of one hundred years, and its closing portion is also one hundred years. For the other yugas, these twilight periods are three hundred, two hundred, and one hundred years respectively. Excluding the twilight of the Kṛta Yuga, the remaining portions are six hundred years, and so the Treta, Dvapara, and Kali yugas are counted as three thousand, two thousand, and one thousand years each, without their twilight portions. Now, listen as I explain the measures of time for the Treta, Dvapara, and Tishya ages, as well as for the Krita. For a healthy person, fifteen twinklings of the eye make one kāṣṭhā. Thirty of these kāṣṭhās form one kalā, and thirty kalās together make one muhūrta. Fifteen muhūrtas make a night, and likewise a day. For the ancestors, a day and night together form a month, and their division is explained further. For them, the dark fortnight is their day, and the bright fortnight is their night. Thirty human months make one month for the ancestors, and three hundred months plus sixty more—three hundred sixty months—make a year for them, as understood by human reckoning. By human measure, a hundred years for humans equal three years for the ancestors. Thus is the count established. Twelve months, or ten plus two, are remembered as a year for the ancestors; in worldly terms, this is the year recognized for humans. This, in the Lingapurana, is called the divine day and night. In the divine realm, a day and night together make a year, and their division is again explained. There, the day is the sun’s northern course, and the night is the southern course; these divine days and nights are specially enumerated. Thirty years are considered one divine month, and a hundred human years amount to three divine months. Ten days, likewise, are reckoned as a divine rule, and three hundred and sixty years are counted accordingly. In this way, a divine year is declared by human reckoning to be three thousand human years. Another thirty years are considered the Saptarshi year, totaling nine thousand human years. Another ninety years are called the Dhruva year, which equals thirty-six thousand human years. One hundred years make up the divine rule, which is three hundred thousand human years. Sixty thousand, when counted, make up one thousand divine years according to those who know numbers. By such divine calculation, the number of yugas is determined: first comes the Krita Yuga, followed by Treta, then Dvapara, and finally Kali. These yugas are observed in years according to human reckoning. O foremost of Brahmins, the duration of the Kṛta age by divine measure is fourteen hundred thousand years, counted in thousands and hundreds. Likewise, the Kṛta Yuga consists of forty thousand years, and also ten thousand years multiplied by a hundred. The duration of the Treta Yuga is eighty thousand years, and it is said to comprise seven hundred thousand human years. The Dvapara Yuga lasts twenty thousand years, totaling three hundred thousand years. The Kali Yuga endures for sixty thousand years. Thus, the four yugas together, excluding the twilight portions, are remembered. In total, there are thirty-six hundred thousand years without the twilight portions, and the count here is forty-three hundred thousand years. The twilight portions of the four yugas together make twenty thousand years, so the four yugas with their twilights total seventy-one hundred thousand years. The period made up of the Kṛta, Treta, and the other yugas is called a Manvantara. The count of a Manvantara is stated at the beginning of the years. O best of the twice-born, a Manvantara consists of thirty crore human years, with an additional sixty-seven hundred thousand years. Twenty thousand years are the excess duration, excluded; thus is the count of a Manvantara as declared in the Liṅga scripture. Thus, the count of years for the four yugas is proclaimed; a thousand cycles of four yugas make one Kalpa, O best of Brahmins. At the end of the night, the worlds are created anew; living beings perish during the night. For the celestial beings, there are twenty-eight crore. In the Manvantaras, the count is as follows: three hundred crore, and also ninety-two crore. O Brahmins, in the past Kalpa, there were seventy thousand, and again eight thousand everywhere in summary. When dissolution arrives at the end of the Kalpa, leaving behind those at the end, these beings depart from the Maharloka and go to Janaloka. There are two thousand crore, eight hundred crore hundreds, sixty-two crore, and seventy hundred thousand—so is the great measure of time and beings declared in the divine order.