YUGA, ytYgli ( Sid., yoke,. period of time, generation). in 'Hindu mythology and astron omy, the name of a lung period of years corre sponding to an age of the world. Four such eras are mentioned : Krtu- 1'ua. nue, Draper(' yu. and TI A first was the age of the world, but each succeeding period be came shorter and more evil. until the last, or Kali-ynga (q.v.). The Kali-yuga is said to have begun in the year B.C. 3101. A description of these immense world-periods, which comprise myriads of years, is. found in Menu (q.v.), the Nohubhurata. (q.v.), and the Purayas (q.v.). Conceived as a day of the gods, each of these long mundane eras is believed to be preceded by a period called sundhya, or twilight, and fol lowed by a similar period sand/y(1);/.4a, or portion of twilight. The precise length is given in divine years and reduced afterwards to terms of human years. The Krita-Yuga consists of 4000 divine years, its Sandhya of 400, and its Sandhyamga likewise of 400 divine years. The Ti-eta-Yuga consists of 3000, and its Sandhya and Sandhyam4a of 300 divine years each; the Dvapara-Yuga of 2000 divine years, with 200 such years as its Sandhya, and 200 as its Sandhyam4a; and the Kali-Yuga of 1000 di vine years, with 100 such years as its Sandhya, and 100 as its Sandhyam;-a. Since a divine
year comprises 360 solar years of mortals, a year of men being a day of the gods, these Yugas, with their Sandhyas and Sandliyamas, would several ly represent 1,728.000, 1,296.000, 864,000, and 432,000, or in the aggl'egate 4,320,000 solar years of mortals. This cycle is called a Naha yuga, or 'great Yuga,' and a thousand such, com prising 4.320,000,000 years, make up a day and night of Brahma. As a designation of time Yuga is confined almost wholly to philosophical and descriptive works, for it plays no actual role in the strictly scientific works of Hindu astronomy. The term Yuga is sometimes. though exceptional ly. applied also to other divisions of time. Con sult Thibaut, Astronomic. .1strologie (end Mat/c-. ģIntik (Strassbitr, 1899).