Hindu religious scriptures such as the Vedas and Purāṇas describe a large range of units of Kāla or time measurements, spanning from Paramāṇu (about 17 microseconds) to the mahā-Manuvantara (311.04 trillion years).
The Hindu view of the universe is that of a cyclic phenomenon that repeatedly comes into existence and deliquesces away into oblivion.
Brahmā the deva (god) of creation and one of the Trimūrti (trinity) initiates the birth of the universe equaling 311.04 trillion years. This universe is then sustained by Vishnu, the second person of the Trimūrti. The cycle ends with the complete annihilation of the universe by Shiva, the third person of the Trimūrti.
Each cycle is divided into a number of manuvantara or age of a Manu, which is an astronomical period of time measurement. Each Manuvantara has four ages and is ruled by a specific Manu, created by Brahmā. “Manu” is a title accorded to a progenitor of the human race because during his period, he creates the world, and all its species. Each manuvantara lasts the lifetime of a Manu, upon whose death, Brahmā. creates another Manu to continue shristi, the cycle of creation.
The duration of a Mahayuga is 4,320,000 years. One Manuvantara, the lifespan of one Manu, is 71 Mahayugas or 306,720,000 years. The present Manu has already lived for 28 Mahayugas, which is 120,960,000 years. It eventually takes 14 Manus and their respective Manuvantara to create a Kalpa, Aeon, or a ‘Day of Brahma’.
Those who know that the day of the creator (Brahmā) lasts one thousand Yugas (or 4.32 billion years) and that his night also lasts one thousand Yugas, they are the knowers of day and night. (Bhagavad Gita 8.17)
Thereafter, at the end of each Kalpa, there is a period of dissolution or Pralaya, wherein the earth and all its life forms are destroyed, and is called the ‘Night of Brahmā‘. After that, Brahmā the creator starts a new cycle of creation all over again.
Simon Casie Chitty in his work “Remarks on the Origin and History of the Parawas” mentions a myth about the origin of the Paravars similar to other deluge stories, like those of Utnapishtim from ancient Sumerian Mythology, and the story of Noah’s ark from the Torah, the Bible and the Qur’an.
Kumari-kaṇṭam is the name of a supposed sunken landmass referred to in ancient Tamil literature and in the Sanskrit Matsya Purana. It is said to have been located in the Indian Ocean, south of present-day Kanyakumari district at the southern tip of India which stretched for 700 kavatam from the Pahruli river in the north to the Kumari river in the south. As the modern equivalent of measure kavatam is unknown, estimates of the size of the lost land vary from 1,400 miles (2,300 km) to 7,000 miles (11,000 km) in length, to others suggesting a total area of 6-7,000 square miles, or smaller still an area of just a few villages.
The ancient Kumari Kandam drawn with the background-knoweldge gathered from the literature references. (Courtesy – Gems from the Pre Historic Past)
None of the texts in Tamil literature name the land ‘kumari-kaṇṭam‘ or ‘Kumarinadu‘. The only similar pre-modern reference is to a kumari-kaṇṭam named in the medieval Tamil text ‘Kanthapuranam’, as being one of nava-kanṭam or nine continents, bearing the name of Kumari, daughter of King Bharata, and the only region not inhabited by barbarians. In the 19th and 20th century Tamil revivalist movements, however, came to apply the name to the territories described in Adiyarkkunallar’s commentary to the Tamil epic Silappadhikaram. They also associated this territory with the references in the Tamil Sangams (academies), and said that the fabled cities of southern Madurai (Then Madurai) and Kapatapuram where the first two Tamil Sangams were supposedly held were located on kumari-kaṇṭam.
Time Portal Machine at The Niagara Gorge Discovery Center, Niagara Falls.
Last year, on August 3, I visited the Niagara Gorge Discovery Center, at Niagara Reservation State Park, Niagara Falls. There, I had a hands-on learning experience with interactive displays. One that fascinated me most was the virtual Time Portal Machine that allows us to view snapshots of the movement of continents through the ages. I took a series of photos of the continental drift from 160,000,000 BCE to 50,000,000 BCE.
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According to the Matsya Purana, at the close of the last kalpa (aeon), King Manu (whose original name was Satyavrata or Vaivasvata Manu), was the King of kumari-kaṇṭam, the supposed sunken landmass in the Indian Ocean, south of present-day Kanyakumari district at the southern tip of India, where the Paravars lived.
The Matsya Avatar of Vishnu appeared, initially as a Shaphari (a small carp), Manu while he washed his hands in a river flowing in his land of Dravida. The little fish implored the compassionate king to save it. King Manu put it in a pitcher containing water. The little fish kept growing bigger and bigger, and King Manu first put it in a larger pitcher, and then deposited it in a well. When the well also proved insufficient for the ever-growing fish, the King placed Him in a reservoir. As the fish grew larger, Manu placed the fish in a river, and when even the river proved insufficient for the growing fish, he placed it in the ocean, after which the fish almost filled the vast expanse of the great ocean.
It was then that Lord Matsya, revealing himself, informed King Manu of an impending all-destructive deluge. The King built a huge dhōni (boat), which housed his family, subjects, seeds, and animals to repopulate the earth after the end of the deluge. At the onset of the deluge, Vishnu appeared as a horned fish and Adishesha, the king of all Nagas (serpent deities), one of the primal beings of creation, appeared as a rope, with which Manu fastened the dhōni to the horn of the fish.
Eventually, the water subsided and dry land appeared and the dhōni perched on the top of the Malaya Mountains in the Southernmost part of the Western Ghats.
History of the Paravars – Chapter 3: The Myths (Continued) . By T.V. Antony Raj Myth 6: The Deluge Hindu religious scriptures such as the…