Listen, O seekers of wisdom, to the sacred account of cosmic time and creation as revealed in the Liṅga Purāṇa. In the vast sweep of ages, each cycle of the four Yugas—Kṛta, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali—holds within it a twilight period of twenty thousand years. When these twilight portions are counted with the Yugas themselves, the total duration for all four amounts to seventy-one hundred thousand years. This entire span of the four Yugas is known as a Manvantara, and its reckoning is proclaimed at the commencement of the years. O best of the twice-born, a Manvantara comprises thirty crore human years and, in addition, sixty-seven hundred thousand more. There is an excess of twenty thousand years, which is excluded; thus the count of a Manvantara is declared in the Liṅga scripture, O Brahmins. Thus, the years of the four Yugas are established. A thousand cycles of these four Yugas constitute one Kalpa, O best of Brahmins. At the end of the cosmic night, the worlds are recreated, while living beings perish during that night. For the celestial beings, there are twenty-eight crore years. Within the Manvantaras, the count is given as three hundred crore, and ninety-two crore. In the previous Kalpa, there were seventy thousand, and again eight thousand everywhere in summary. When dissolution comes at the end of the Kalpa, those beings remaining depart from Maharloka and ascend to Janaloka. There are two thousand crore, eight hundred crore hundreds, sixty-two crore, and seventy hundred thousand. This is the divine calculation for half a Kalpa. A thousand Kalpas make one year of the unborn, the supreme. Eight thousand years constitute the Brahma Yuga, the age of Brahmā; a thousand Savana Yugas mark the origin of all the gods. Indeed, a thousand sacrifices are spoken of, of three kinds and three qualities; likewise, the time of Brahmā, who embodies time itself, is thus declared. Creation, emergence, austerity, what is to be, blossoming, sacrifice again, season, fire, the carrier of offerings, the Sāvitra, and the pure one—all these are encompassed within the cosmic cycle. Uśika, Kuśika, Gāndhāra, Ṛṣabha, Ṣaḍja, Majjālīya, Madhyama, Vairāja, Niṣāda, Meghavāhana, Citraka, Ākūti, and knowledge itself are named; mind, Sudarśa, Bṛṃha, Śvetalohita, Rakta, those clad in yellow, Asita, and the one of all forms—thus are the kalpas of Brahmā enumerated. O best of sages, there are countless, countless Kalpas—billions upon billions. So many days and nights have passed; at the end of the supreme period, all modifications everywhere return to their source. The dissolution of transformation occurs only by the command of Śiva. When transformation is dissolved, both primordial matter and the self remain. By similarity, both persist; but when the qualities become unequal, O sages, creation arises. When the qualities are in equilibrium, dissolution occurs; the cause of both is Maheśvara. By his play, the Lord of gods brings forth these kinds of creations. In brief, innumerable beings arise from primordial matter under its control; innumerable kalpas, innumerable Pitāmahas, and innumerable Haris too—but Maheśvara is only one. All natural evolutions, beginning from primordial matter, proceed by his play. The activity of that god is threefold and consists of qualities; for the transcendent One, there is neither beginning, middle, nor end to his self. Beyond Pitāmaha, there is another, whose day equals two parārdhas; whatever is created during his day is destroyed at his night. Then, the worlds Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ, and Svar, and those above, are destroyed; at night, when all that moves and is still is lost, Brahmā remains in the one ocean. Immersed in the waters of deep sleep, he is called Nārāyaṇa. At the end of the night, awakened, seeing all that moves and is still as void, Brahmā, best among knowers of Brahman, resolved to create. Taking up the earth, which had been immersed in the waters, the eternal one, assuming the form of a boar, established it as before. The Lord made rivers, streams, and oceans as they were formerly. Having carefully made the earth free from depressions and elevations, he placed upon it all the mountains that had been burned by the ancient fire. He established the four worlds, beginning with Bhū, as before; and at that time, the Blessed One again resolved to create. When he resolved to create, delusion arose in the great-souled one; and the twice-born, endowed with prior intelligence, came forth from Brahma, whose birth is unmanifest. Darkness, delusion, great delusion, Tāmisra, and Andha—these five forms of ignorance appeared from the self-born. The creation seized by ignorance is called the primary creation; remembering it as ineffective, the primary creation is attributed to the Lord of creatures. He considered another creation; the principal trees are remembered as having arisen; the throat of that sage, as he meditated, manifested in three ways. First, from him was born the crosswise-flowing creation; next came the upward-flowing creation, which is remembered as sattvic. The downward-flowing creation and the gracious one, as well as the elemental creation, again; from the great Brahma, the first is called Mahat, the second also elemental. The third creation is called the sensory, the fourth is called primary; the fifth is of animals, the sixth is called divine. The seventh is human, O Brahmins; the eighth is remembered as gracious; and the ninth is youthful. These are the natural and modified creations, O seekers, as declared in the sacred tradition.