________________
14. THE CONCEPT OF AGES
Buddhist concept of Kalpa
The concept of Yugas is not limited to Hinduism. It is also found in the later Buddhism when it got interacted with the Christians and Vaishnavites and Saivites and as several syncretic forms of
Buddhism came into existence.
Buddhist Concept of Yugas- Kalacakra Tantra
The concept of Kalpa is the period of time expressed in Indian philosophy. Generally speaking, a Kalpa is the period of time between the creation and recreation of a world or universe.
One Mahakalpa (Great Kalpa) is subdivided into four Asankhyeya-Kalpas (or simply called Kalpas):
1. Kalpa of formation (Vivarta) 2. Kalpa of existence (Vivatasiddha) 3. Kalpa of destruction (Samvarta) 4. Kalpa of emptiness (Samvartasiddha)
Each of the four Kalpas is subdivided into twenty Antarakalpa (Inner Kalpa), so that a Mahakalpa consists of 80 Antarakalpa. Each Small Kalpa is divided into a period of increasing and decreasing. In the increasing period, the length of human life increases by one year every century to 84,000 years and the length of the human body to 8,400 ft. Then it comes to the decreasing period, during which the length of human life decreases gradually to the ten years and the human body to 1 foot in height. There are other distinctions of the Kalpas. A Small Kalpa is represented as 16,800,000 years, a Kalpa as 336,000,000 years and a Mahakalpha as 1,334,000,000 years
Christian concept of Yugas - aeons
We should remember that the Surya siddhanta and Vishnu Purana were all Post Christian constructions. It would be interesting to compare the corresponding concepts in Christianity as seen through the teachings of Jesus which were later expanded out by Paul. Unfortunately we have no written heritage from St. Thomas. So we cannot really comment on what Thomas brought into India. As the theology of dispensational ages and 'ages to come' developed in the rest of Christendom we can certainly assume that some basic notions of it came in to India which contributed to the Yuga concept of Hinduism.
Here are some quotes related to ages as presented by Jesus:
263
