Kalpa (time)

Long period of time in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology

A kalpa is a long period of time (aeon) in Hindu and Buddhist cosmology, generally between the creation and recreation of a world or universe.

Kalpa in this context, means "a long period of time (aeon) related to the lifetime of the universe (creation)." It is derived from कॢप् (kḷp) + अ ( a, nominalizing suffix) .

In Hinduism, a kalpa is equal to 4.32 billion years, a "day of Brahma" (12 hour day proper) or one thousand mahayugas, A kalpa is followed by a pralaya (dissolution) of equal length, which together constitute a day and night of Brahma. A month of Brahma contains thirty such days and nights, or 259.2 billion years. According to the Mahabharata, 12 months of Brahma (=360 days) constitute his year, and 100 such years his life called a maha kalpa (311.04 trillion years or 36,000 kalpa + 36,000 pralaya). Fifty years of Brahma are supposed to have elapsed, and we are now in the Shveta Varaha Kalpa or the first day of his fifty first year. At the end of a kalpa, the world is annihilated by fire. The definition of a kalpa equaling 4.32 billion years is found in the Puranas—specifically Vishnu Purana and Bhagavata Purana. The Matsya Purana (290.3–12) lists the names of 30 kalpas, each named by Brahma based on a significant event in the kalpa and the most glorious person in the beginning of the kalpa. These 30 kalpas or days (along with 30 pralayas or nights) form a 30 day month of Brahma. The Vayu Purana has a different list of names for 33 kalpas, which G. V. Tagare describes as fanciful derivations.