Dvapara Yuga

Particular age of the world in one of the
reckonings of cosmic time. According to
traditional belief, time has neither
beginning nor end, but alternates
between cycles of creation and activity,
followed by cessation and quietude.
Each of these cycles lasts for 4.32 billion
years, with an active phase known as the
Day of Brahma, and the quiet phase
known as the Night of Brahma. In one
reckoning of cosmic time, the Day of
Brahma is divided into one thousand
mahayugas (“great cosmic ages”), each
of which lasts for 4.32 million years.
Each mahayuga is composed of four
constituent yugas (units of cosmic
time), named the Krta Yuga, Treta Yuga,
Dvapara Yuga, and Kali Yuga. Each of
these four yugas is shorter than its predecessor, and ushers in an era more
degenerate and depraved. By the end of
the Kali Yuga, things have gotten so bad
that the only solution is the destruction
and recreation of the earth, at which
time the next Krta era begins.
The Dvapara Yuga is thus the third of
the four yugas contained in a mahayuga,
and lasts for 864,000 years. The metal
associated with the Dvapara yuga is
bronze—less valuable than the gold and
silver associated with the earlier ages,
but better than the iron of the Kali yuga.
This is popularly believed to be the cosmic age in which the god Krishna
appeared on earth.