Yugas & Avatars

I was bored with my normal routine. I decided to dig back some of those books that lie around from time immemorial at my grandpa’s place. Indeed they are not English novels – but are books related to Hinduism. I was reading some material on the Ten Incarnations of Lord Vishnu. A lot of questions were asked and some answers were given. I also read about the four Yugas that Hinduism talks about and their time span! The symmetric pattern of the information surprised me, to say it in a minimalist way! And with some retrofit analysis I had even more surprises! (And by Google, I found that some or all of this information is already available on the net – but what prevents me from presenting them again? After all this is my own blog!)

Time Span of the four Yugas:

Krita Yuga – 17,28,000 years (Kri – four times kali yuga)
Threta Yuga – 12,96,000 years (Thre – three times kali yuga)
Dwapara Yuga – 8,64,000 years ( Dwa – two times kali yuga)
Kali yuga – 4,32,000 years
A total of 43,20,000 years constitute a Maha Yuga!

Ten Incarnations (Avatars) of Lord Vishnu:

The first FOUR Avatars happened in Kritha Yuga – Matsya, Koorma, Varaaha and Nrisimha
The next THREE Avatars happened in Treta Yuga – Vaaman, Parasuraama and Sri Rama
The next TWO Avatars happened in Dwapara Yuga – Balaraama and Krishna
The next ONE Avatar will happen in Kali Yuga – Kalki

Can we see the symmetry between the Time Span of Yugas and the number of Incarnations happened in every Yuga?

I have heard in so many instances, that how each and every invention of modern day science is already hinted in our Puraanas and Vedas. Some staunch believers even claim that everything is derived from Vedas and there is nothing that is available on this universe that is not touched by the Vedas. As per the order of Incarnations of Lord Vishnu, can we relate to modern day evolution?

First Avatar – Matsya – Creatures that live solely in water;
Next Avatar – Koorma – Creatures that could live both in water and land (amphibian);
Next Avatar – Varaaha – Creatures that solely live on land (ofcourse with swimming ability);
Next Avatar – NaraSimha – The half-lion and half-human – a stage between Homo sapiens and animals (Tiryaks?);
Next Avatar – Vaamana – The Homo sapiens with short stature;
Next Avatar – Parasurama – The rough and tough human (Rama with the axe);
Next Avatar – Sri Rama – The perfect civilized human (Rama with a bow & noble practices);
Next Avatar – BalaRama – The human with occupational skills (Rama with the plough – agriculture is his occupation?)
Next Avatar – Sri Krishna – The Superhuman!
Final Avatar – Kalki – The apocalyptic (The one who would end this Mahayuga!)

We can assume that during each of the avatar’s time span the previous avatars’ creatures existed. For example, during amphibian days, water dwelling creatures lived. Extrapolating this to Sri Rama’s period, we can assume that creatures from Narasimha’s time existed(Hanuman, Jambavan etc.,). I am not an expert in the modern day evolution theory and so I should read more towards that to understand the link.

Another interesting aspect I learnt is on the average life span of the creatures that lived in different yugas and the average dimensions of them!
Safely assuming the average life span of human is around 50 years (across the earth) as of today. Going by the same symmetric math:
Average life span of creatures in Kali Yuga – 50 years;
Average life span of creatures in Dwapara Yuga – 100 years; (Twice)
Average life span of creatures in Tretha Yuga – 150 years; (Thrice)
Average life span of creatures in Krita Yuga – 200 years; (Four times)

Assuming the average dimension of human today is around 5.7 - 6ft / 60 – 70 Kgs;
Average dimension of creatures in Kali Yuga – 6 ft / 60 Kgs;
Average dimension of creatures in Dwapara Yuga – 12 ft / 120 Kgs;
Average dimension of creatures in Tretha Yuga – 18 ft / 180 Kgs;
Average dimension of creatures in Krita Yuga – 24 ft / 240 Kgs;

The most realistic example of a life form from Krita Yuga could be the Giant Sea tortoises (Koorma avatar)! Even today they weigh more than 250 Kgs and live for more than 200 years! Modern day scientists date their existence for millions of years! Though a retro-fit I just cannot believe that such a theory could exist from time immemorial!

May be I should read more to understand things better. I am sure there are missing pieces between and we can argue on a lot of them. But I would only attribute them for our inability to read/interpret them in the right form. That is the prime point of Hinduism – It shows us the ways and allows us to argue and decide what the best is? For example one might argue the Vaamana avatar in Treta Yuga – short stature does not go with the dimension assumptions stated – But what was the definition of ‘short’ in those days? There is no end to these arguments. Everything depends on Trust. I trust Hinduism! I feel by just arguing why it could not be rather than why it could be and by not providing enough attention to our such treasures ‘May be we are missing a lot …’!