Even as the year 1998 was coming to an end everyone, young and old, was time and again, conscious that soon the year 2000 will be out and the world will arrive on the threshold of the 21st century. Of course all these calculations refer to the Gregorian calendar, that is, an almanac beginning after the death of Jesus Christ, which is currently accepted all over the world and India too is used to use the same. Among the several other horologues the two which are mainly followed in India are the Vikram Samvat and the Shalivahan Shaka. All the day to day transactions however depend upon the "Christian" almanac.

Actually ours is a fairly ancient nation with a highly advanced civilization. A number of sciences evolved in this land. Surely the Indian mind must be inquisitive and wanting to know how our forefathers of a bygone era measured time and where precisely we stand today according to their system of horology. Eyebrows are raised when anyone observes that we are about to enter the 52nd century. Most people are like to be mystified by this 52nd century.

Beginning of the Age of Kali
One therefore needs to clarify that the coming of 52nd century belongs to the current Age of Kali. All Indians are aware that we are living in the Age of Kali, because the significance of this age is hardly missed by anybody, thanks to the mythical stories from the Puranas, religious recitations and discourses and the writings of the saints. On receiving news of an untoward event, even an otherwise ignorant matron reacts with an observation to the effect that it is the Age of Kali. Let us leave aside the talk of evil tendencies attributed to the Age of Kali; it is a historical fact based on science that as per the Hindu horology this is the Age of Kali and we are living in its 51st century.

It means the Age of Kali began 5100 years ago when the Age of Doubt, Dwapara, came to a close. As a further elaboration we might say that after the war between the Kauravas and the Pandavas, involving the entire nation the Age of Doubt, Dwapara, came to an end and the Age of Kali started. Since Yudhishthira was then the reigning emperor the Age of Kali is also identified as Yudhishthira Shaka. But a likely doubt is about the basis on which the division into the ages has been conceived. The Age of Doubt, Dwapara, had followed the Treta Age which was preceded by the Age of Truth. Let us acquaint ourselves with this concept has ages.

The Hindu concept of ages
As a matter of fact Time has no beginning, no end. Ages, centuries, years are its units or periods, apportioned for our convenience depending upon planets, constellations, change in Nature, human peculiarities, etc. When we talk of the end of the 51st century of the Age of Kali, how may more years remain before this age comes to end? This is an obvious expectancy. The Age of Kali has a span of 4,32,000 years. So, let anyone calculate how many more to follow. An interesting aspect is that as we go back from the Age of Kali to the other ages of Doubt, Treta and Truth the span of these ages grows double, triple even quadruple. The Age of Doubt had 8,64,000 years; Treta ran for 12,96,000 while the Age of Truth lasted 17,28,000 years. When all the four Ages are past it is said to be the end of a Super Age. So one can now calculate how many years it takes to make a Super Age (mahayuga). By the way we may as well keep on record that the current Age of Kali started on February 18,3102 B.C. when all the planets were in the same house. And it was Chaitra Shukla Pratipada.

But to get a clear idea of Indian horology the measures of Ages and Super Ages would not suffice. There is a common expression manvantara, which means change of manu which again is a bigger measure of Time. The basis for this unit is that with every manu the universe passes through the three stages, namely, creation, preservation and destruction. And then the cycle of universe starts afresh. As calculated by the seers of yore a manu has 32,25,80,000 human years. Thus the time taken by the solar system to complete its single revolution is equal to one manu. In all there are 14 manus, the current, called Vaivaswata is the seventh. In the same way the seers have also calculated the period of a kalpa, which come to 432 crore years. The Vedic seers explain this measurement of time in the Atharva Veda. The measure of the Creator's (Brahmadeva's) day and night are still bigger. The Creator's life span is a 100 days. These figures are literally mind-boggling. How many human years will make the creator's 100-year life span? It is 31,10,40,00,00,00,000.

I explain all the calculations to impress upon you the fantastic range of our hoary ancestors who could take into account the minutest unit of Time and also conceive of astronomically huge units also. We are conversant with the hours, minutes and seconds. Ancient Indians have conceptualized the minutest unit of time which they called truti which is 1/33,750 of a second. What imagination—to traverse from truti to mahakalpa.

Nomenclature of days
The days of the week also deserve to be studied. From Sunday to Saturday the sequence of the seven days is fixed. What is the basis for this sequence? The reason is that only seven of the planets and satellites of the solar system affect the Earth's atmosphere, and their names are added to the seven days of the week. Assuming the Earth as the focal point they ascertained the sequence of the planets and accordingly named the days. The name of the first planet of the day was assigned to the day. It is a matter of pride that the order of the week's days as decided by the Indian seers is accepted all over the world. Suffice it to say that the names of the months too have been decided according to the position of the sun, the moon and the constellations.

. Meaningful concept
Having correctly appreciated the measurement of time, briefly described above, it would be useful to ascertain where exactly we stand today in the ageless stream of Time. This is the seventh, that is the Vaivasvata manu. Out of the latter's 28 Super Ages the current one is the Age of Kali. As mentioned earlier 51 centuries of this Age about to be completed and shortly we enter the 52nd century. All this is included in the pledge we announce in our religious rituals. The pledge recited at special religious occasions begins as follows :

(At present we are passing to the Shvetavaraha kalpa, that is, the first day of the Creator's second parardha. Twenty-seven Super Ages of this manu have elapsed and of the Age of Kali belonging to the 28th Super Age 5099 years have elapsed.) It should be noted here that in their measurement of time Indians have accepted one more convenient time unit called samvatsara which is equal to 60 years. In samvatsara cycle of the Age of Kali right now we are in the 85th samvatsara. Correspondingly according to the Gregorian calendar it began in 1939 and will end in 1999.

Observe the system in practice
This endeavour to point out in brief some of the salient features the Hindus system of measuring time was to bring to everybody's notice what a tremendous leap the erudite seers could take, how high they could soar right from sage Kanada followed by Brahmagupta and Aryabhatta II. It is also hoped that readers may be encouraged to observe to some extent this sytem in practice. We should at least get used to mentioning the Yugabda in our correspondence, diaries, calendars, etc. It is the world's oldest system of measuring time which covers the entire universe. We have every right to take pride in it and express the same in our dealings.

There is another purpose. India's true history and its antiquity were deliberately ignored and consigned to oblivion by the alien rulers. It is necessary that the false historical accounts that the Britishers made the English-'educated' swallow is exposed to the citizen of Independent India. It is essential that we undertake to rewrite history as it truely happend. The Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Samkalan Yojana and its affiliated State Committees are for their part trying to bring to light the means with which the history of the 5100 years of the Age of Kali can be correctly compiled and offered for study.

Welcome with fervour
To make the advent of Yugabda 52 a worthwhile event it is necessary that people on a wider scale are made aware that not only India but the whole world is entering the 52nd cnetury of the Age of Kali. Let the Gregorian/Christian era enter its 21st century; we Indians should however welcome the 52nd century with great gusto. With this in view we must accelerate our publicity and propaganda. In order to acquaint the people with the Age of Kali we undertake a planned effort to make use of all the media—newspapers, television, booklets, public meetings, conferences, gatherings and the like. Lectures by experts and other knowledgeable people should be arranged wherever possible, One expects that Indians would enthusiastically come forward on Thursday, March 18, 1999 (Varsha Pratipada, Shaka 1921) to proclaim the advent of the New Indian Century in every town and village through rallies and processions, ringing of bells and other means of drawing public attention. Prior to the big day we can have various competitions for students and citizens—both men and women, relating to the event. It should prove useful to build up the right atmosphere if we could obtain the blessings from the wise and learned by arranging their felicitations well in advance. The practice of sending New Year greeting cards on the occasion of the Christian new year has become quite common. It should nurture the spirit of nationalism if the people, specially the student community underlook on a large scale the exchange of greeting cards on the occasion. Let us all strive to the utmost that this important stage in the Indian measurement of time is recognized at the levels with great feeling and enthusiasm.