A quest was launched during 2012 to identify a correlation between the affirmation of H.P.B. in her S.D. 2.69 that the age of humanity has more than eighteen million years (18,618,725 years up to Kali-Yuga 4986, or 1884-1885 C.E.). Many articles were published on this blog, with all details of calculations according to the old Indian Tradition, more specifically from the Tirukkanda Panchanga which can be can clearly be traced to the Sūrya-siddhānta.
A copy of the Sūrya-siddhānta was uploaded on this site. Chapter one is giving the basic calculations for the cycles (yugas) :
We start with the classical Maha-Yuga, made of the four yugas plus the sandhyas and sandhyansas, with a duration of 4,320,000 human years.
Then, we have the duration of a Manvantara, with 71 Maha-Yugas, plus one Krita-Yuga :
Then, we have the definition of the Kalpa, made of fourteen manvantaras, plus the fifteenth sandhi (Krita-Yuga)
Then, the definition of the Day of Brahma, made of one hundred Kalpas.
We learn here that the present Kalpa is the first in the remaining half of this Brahma age.
Then we have the calculation to reach our current date :
The two next verses are the ones of interest for the search for the 18 million years :
Since the end of the Krita Yuga, 47,400 years of the Gods = 47,400 x 360 = 17,064,000 human years have elapsed, to which we add the Krita Yuga :
17,064,000 + 1,728,000 = 18,792,000 human years
We still have a discrepancy of 18,792,000 – 18,618,725 = 173,275 years, but the order of magnitude is very close by.
The 18+ million years, as quoted fom the S.D. are « up till Kali Yuga 4986, or 1887 of our era». So we need to count backward from this date (or from 2018 if we want). Verse 23 set the starting date : the end of the Krita Yuga of the 28th maha-yuga. Yes, this 7th Manvantara (or 4th round) started some 122+ million years, and the 28th maha-yuga some 3,893,120 years ago. When we count backwards from today, the 18+ million years brings us back in the 24th maha-yuga, 826,261 years after the treta-yuga of this maha-yuga.
When we read verse 23, it defines the starting date from which the 18+million years have elapsed. It clearly say : « Of the 28 great yuga, the krita-yuga has passed away. Let reckoning the time from the end of the krita, compute the number of years passed. »It clearly talks about the krita-yuga of the 28 maha-yuga. And from this start, verse 24 tells about the 47,400 divine years (17,064,000 human years). If verse 24 is not related to verse 23, then it may be interpreted as a counting since the beginning of the whole kalpa – which started 1,974,677,120 years ago. The coincidence with the 18+million years from the S.D. is quite striking. Maybe the author made the same assumption that they were the date for the humanity birth.
Always happy to follow up on any clues to this great mystery. Thanks! The reference in verse 24 to 47,400 years of the Gods = 47,400 x 360 = 17,064,000 human years is usually understood to refer to the period at the beginning of the whole kalpa, rather than to after the Krita-yuga of the 28th great yuga of the seventh manvantara. The beginning of the seventh or Vaivasvata manvantara would have taken place 27 great yugas ago, preceding the Krita-yuga of the 28th great yuga, according to verse 22. So we were 116,640,000 years plus 1,728,00 years into the Vaivasvata manvantara at the end of the Krita-yuga of the 28th great yuga, when the Surya-siddhanta is supposed to have been written.