Time (Kala) – Shiva Purana

During the 7-8 chapters Section 7.1 of Vayaviva-saṃhita of Shiva Purana, Shiva informed about the glory of time.

Role of Time -
The universe is under the control of Kala. Kala is under the control of Shiva. Shiva is not subject to its control. Nobody is beyond death. Neither nobility of birth, nor good conduct nor strength nor skill is of any avail. Kala is unthwartable. No one dies or is born before time. No one flourishes well before the proper time. No one is happy or miserable before the time for it arrives. There is no object which is untimely. Kala is the cause of all births.
Nimesa to Year -
The basic unit of life is Nimesa. The time taken for the winking of an eye is Nimesa. Fifteen such Nimesas constitute one Kastha. Thirty such Kasthas make one Kala. Thirty Kalas make one Muhurta. Thirty Muhurtas make one day. Thirty days constitute one month of two fortnights. A month constituting the bright and dark halves is one day of the manes. Six months constitute one Ayana. Two Ayanas make a year. One human year constitutes one day and night for the celestials, Uttarayana being the day and Dakṣiṇayana the night. The divine month like the human month constitutes thirty days. The year of the gods constitutes twelve months. Three hundred and sixty human years make one divine year.

Yuga to Kulpa -
There are four Yugas. The first Yuga is Kṛta, then comes Treta. Dvapara and Kali are the other Yugas. Four thousand years constitute the Kṛtayuga. The period of four hundred years constitutes the intervening junction and a hundred-year period constitutes Sandhyaṃsha (a subdivision of the junction). In the three other yugas, their Sandhyas and Sandhyaṃshas the thousands and the hundreds become reduced by one. Thus, the twelve thousand years and the surplus period constitute a Caturyuga. A thousand Caturyugas constitute a Kalpa. Seventyone Caturyugas constitute a Manvantara. In a Kalpa there are fourteen such Manvantaras. In this order, hundreds and thousands of such Kalpas and Manvantaras have passed by this time.
A Kalpa constitutes a day of Brahma. A thousand Kalpas make a year of Brahma. Eight thousand Brahma years make one Brahma Yuga. A thousand Brahma Yugas make one Savana of Brahma. Three thousand and three Savanas make the life time of Brahma. A day of Brahma’s life constitutes the life of fourteen Indras, a month of his life constitutes a four hundred and twenty Indras; a year of his life five thousand and forty Indras; his whole life five hundred and forty thousand Indras. A day of Vishnu is the life-time of Brahma. A day of Rudra is equal to the life-time of Vishnu. A day of Shiva is equal to the life-period of one Rudra. A day of Sadashiva is the life-period of Shiva. A day of Sakṣat Shiva is the life-period of Sadashiva. The life-time of the latter is equal to the life-period of five hundred and forty thousand previous deities.

Parameshvara’s night shall be known to extend so long. His day is the period of creation. His night is the period of dissolution.
But understand that he has neither day nor night as we conceive them. The subjects, the Prajapatis, the three deities, gods, Asuras, the sense-organs, the sensual objects, the five great elements, the subtle and gross elements, the cosmic Intellect, the deities, all these abide during the day of the self-possessed Parameshvara. They get dissolved at the end of the day. At the end of the night again begins the origin of the universe.