Astronomy & Cosmology
Vast cosmic time-cycles (yugas/kalpa)
1st millennium BCE-CEPuranic & astronomical traditionPuranas; Surya SiddhantaPan-Indian / unspecified
1,000 BCE
Cosmological cycles spanning billions of years (a kalpa ~ 4.32 billion years).
- Dated
- 1,000 BCE–1000
- As scholars put it
- 1st millennium BCE-CE
- Originator
- Puranic & astronomical tradition
- Source text
- Puranas; Surya Siddhanta
- Region
- Pan-Indian / unspecified
- Discipline
- Astronomy & Cosmology
- Evidence
- Plausible precursor
- Confidence
- Low
- Verification
- Reference-cited
Meanwhile in the West
Modern cosmology also works in billions of years.
Fair to say
A mythic/cyclical framework; any numerical resemblance to the universe's age is coincidental, not scientific derivation.
Path to modern innovation
Often cited as an unusually large ancient time-scale.
Transmission
Cultural cosmology, not derived from measurement.
Primary sources
- 4Surya Siddhanta TranslationUnreviewed
- 5Surya SiddhantaUnreviewed
References
- 1Surya Siddhanta
- 2Puranic sources
Further reading
Corrections and additional sources: edit IND-029 on GitHub.