O Vyāsa, listen as the measures of time and creation are revealed, just as the wise have declared them. The reckoning of numbers and the span of lifetimes have been set forth. Know that two fortnights make a month, and two months together are counted as a season. Those learned in the science of calculation distinguish the southern and northern courses of the sun, marking the celestial order. Those who understand the nature of time say that, for the ancestors, a day and a night are reckoned as one. It is during the dark fortnight, O twice-born, that the śrāddha rites for the ancestors are performed. For the gods, however, a day and a night correspond to the day and the northern course of the sun. A single year for the gods is a hundred times greater than for humans, and a thousand divine years are measured likewise. For humankind, a day and night multiplied by ten form a fortnight, and a season is declared by the wise who perceive the true order of things. The great yugas unfold in this way: the Kṛta Yuga endures for four thousand years, Tretā Yuga for three thousand, and Dvāpara Yuga is said to last two thousand years, with its dawn and dusk being two hundred years each. Kali Yuga, the last, is a thousand years in length, as the learned have taught. Thus, four thousand for Kṛta, three thousand for Tretā, two thousand four hundred for Dvāpara, and one thousand two hundred for Kali—together, these comprise the twelve-thousand count of the yugas. At the end of these cycles, the Lord creates the entire world anew, O dear one. A yuga cycle, multiplied by seventy-one, forms the span of a Manu, O best of the twice-born. The course of the sun is again described as twofold: the southern and the northern. When the time of one Manu ends, another arises, and the same span of time repeats itself. At each such period, the course of time is declared by the sage who truly sees. When a thousand yugas have elapsed, the wise speak of it as a night of Brahmā. O best of the twice-born, when those thousand ages are complete, seventy such ages, along with their divisions, have been recounted to you. Fourteen Manus, enhancers of fame, have been described—these are the lords of creatures, O Vyāsa, whose blessedness is celebrated. In the intervals between Manus, dissolutions occur, and at the end of each dissolution, new creations arise; it is impossible to recount all of them, even in hundreds of years. The emanation and dissolution of beings, O Bhārata, proceed in this way—where all the gods dwell together with the seven sages. When the thousand ages are complete, that is called a full kalpa. Having placed Brahmā at the forefront, along with the hosts of Ādityas, the Lord creates all beings, and at the end of each kalpa, He creates again and again. He alone exists, O Vyāsa, united with the great lords. Dissolution does not touch those who reside in the excellent forest of Mahākāla, O Vyāsa. They are free from disease, free from distress, unchanging through every age. Right here, in this delightful forest, dwell Brahmā the grandsire, Marīci, Kaśyapa, Rudra, Bhṛgu, and others, all untouched by the end of time. Thus, in the beginning, O Vyāsa, the kalpa is established in this manner. The distinctions of kalpas have been described in the auspicious forest of Mahākāla, where many signs of yoga remain to be found. Again and again, this city will come into being; indeed, it is said to be immovable. O Vyāsa, it will be renowned on earth as 'Pratikalpa.