Not only is the kr.tayugasomewhere in the future, but there are pura ̄n.ic passages
which say that moks.ais easier to attain in the kaliyugathan in any other age (e.g.
Vis.n.u 6.2.15–18). Yet it does suggest that perfection belongs to the past –
perhaps one reason why the Pura ̄n.as want to associate themselves with it.
Another timescale used in the Pura ̄n.as is that ofmanvantaras, periods ruled
over by a primal king and his descendants. There are 14 of these in all, 6 in the
past, the present one (that of Vaivasvata Manu), and 7 more to come. These are
regarded as making up a kalpa, and thus being equal to a thousand caturyuga
periods (although the division of 1,000 by 14 produces so many decimal pionts
that it is hard to believe that manvantaras, caturyugas, and kalpaswere originally
part of the same system). Again, the present time is seen as coming near the
center of the kalpasystem, since the present kalpa, the vara ̄ha(the era of the
Boar), is the beginning of the second half of Brahma ̄’s lifetime. At the end of
eachkalpathe dissolution (pralaya) of the trailokyatakes place, to be followed by
its recreation by Brahma ̄ at the beginning of the next. At the end of Brahma ̄’s
lifetime a more radical pralayaoccurs, however, when all being is destroyed,
except that of the Supreme Being itself.
The Pura ̄n.ic world-view is anthropocentric in that it gives human beings the
central place in its systems ofmanvantarasandkalpas. But it also places them
within a vast time-span, so that they could easily be dwarfed into insignificance
by it. In a similar way, it places human beings at the center of a vast expanse of
space. Bha ̄ratavars.a, the territory which they inhabit, is one of 9 regions (in an
earlier scheme it may have been 4) in an island-continent (dvı ̄pa) named
Ja ̄mbu ̄dvı ̄pa. Around this island-continent spreads the Ocean of Milk, and
around this spreads another dvı ̄pa.In all there are 7 dvı ̄pas, with 7 oceans sur-
rounding them, extending to the Loka ̄loka mountains, the boundary between
the world (loka) and what is not the world (aloka).
This is the horizontally extended cosmos, but the Pura ̄n.as also have a view
of the cosmos as extended vertically, through different upper lokasinhabited by
gods, divine seers, and other celestial beings, and through lower levels (talas)
inhabited by serpents (na ̄gas) and demons (asuras). It is these upper and lower
regions which make up the trailokya, together with the earth, the home of
human beings and other animals. The lower levels are not hells, although hells
(narakas) also exist. Through all these regions beings may transmigrate in
sam.sa ̄ra, the cycle of rebirths which is regulated by karma, and from which moks.a
brings release. In all this expanse, only Bha ̄rata is the home of human beings as
we know them. It is the only place where the caturyugasystem operates, where
the religious exercises of sacrifice, asceticism, and giving are practiced, the only
place from which moks.acan be attained (Vis.n.u2.3.19–26).
However, in this universe ofbhaktineither sacrifice, asceticism, nor giving is
absolutely central. The chief quality required in each human life is devotion to
the Supreme God, either in his/her own transcendent form or in some manifesta-
tion. Whether expressed in terms of reflective, thoughtful piety (e.g. by Bharata
inVis.n.u2.13.9–11), or in displays of extreme emotion (e.g. by Prahla ̄da in
Bha ̄gavata7.4.38–41) the important factor in bhaktiis its power to bind together
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