कृतं त्रेता द्वापरं च कलिश्चेति चतुर्युगम् ।
दिव्यैर्द्वादशभिर्वर्षैः सावधानं निरूपितम् ॥१८॥
maitreya uvÄca
ká¹›taá¹ tretÄ dvÄparaá¹ ca
kaliÅ› ceti catur-yugam
divyair dvÄdaÅ›abhir vará¹£aiḥ
sÄvadhÄnaá¹ nirÅ«pitam
maitreyaḥ uvÄca - Maitreya said; ká¹›tam - the age of Satya; tretÄ - the age of TretÄ; dvÄparam - the age of DvÄpara; ca - also; kaliḥ - the age of Kali; ca - and; iti - thus; catuḥ-yugam - four millenniums; divyaiḥ - of the demigods; dvÄdaÅ›abhiḥ - twelve; vará¹£aiḥ - thousands of years; sa-avadhÄnam - approximately; nirÅ«pitam - ascertained.
Maitreya said: O Vidura, the four millenniums are called the Satya-, TretÄ-, DvÄpara- and Kali-yuga. The aggregate number of years of all of these combined is equal to twelve thousand years of the demigods.
The years of the demigods are equal to 360 years of humankind. As will be clarified in the subsequent verses, 12,000 of the demigods’ years, including the transitional periods which are called yuga-sandhyÄs, comprise the total of the aforementioned four millenniums. Thus the aggregate of the above-mentioned four millenniums is 4,320,000 years.
