The four yugas (Era or Epoch) in Hinduism

A yuga is the period-of-time or ages. In Hinduism, the Chatur-yuga (Four-Yuga) are large time periods characterizing and defining humans as well as social development on the earth. There are four different yugas, (Chatur---> Four) and each of them have their own feature in history.

Let's see their names:

Satya Yuga (सत्य युग)

Treta Yuga (त्रेता युग)

Dwapara Yuga (द्वापर युग)

Kali Yuga(कली युग)

Let's learn briefly on them:

1. Satya Yuga: It is also called as Krita yuga, which is the first of the yuga. Satya means truth. It lasted for 17,28,000 years or 4800 Divine years. It is the truth or golden age, where all humans were good and very religious. It was the first and best yuga without crime and all humans were kind and friendly. It is called Krita Yuga as there was one religion and all men were saintly. Humans used to be 33 feet in height and average human lifespan was of 1,00,000 years.  The bull of Dharma symbolizes that morality stood on all four legs during this period. Though there was virtue, some demons were there too, for those, lord Vishnu incarnated in the form of Matsya, Kurma, Varaha and Narsimha.

Satya Yuga

2. Treta Yuga: Though 'treta' means third but it is the second yuga in the order. Compared to Satya yuga, virtue diminishes slightly along with truthfulness and religion. Wars started in this yuga, there used to be three quarters truth and a quarter Sin. Normal human height used to be 22 feet with life span of 10,000 years. It lasted for 3,600 divine years, or 1,296,000 human years.  The bull of Dharma symbolizes that morality stood on three legs during this period. Lord Ram, a form of Lord Vishnu ascended in this yuga, and killed demons.

Treta Yuga(Lord Ram)

3. Dwapara Yuga: 'Dwapara' means second or two though this is third in the order. In this yuga, war happened frequently, disease became rampant, humans fought with each other. The average life span of humans is claimed to be of 1000 years. There used to be two quarters or a half both virtual and sin. The average human height used to be of 11 feet. It lasted for 864,000 years or 2400 divine years.  According to Puranic sources, Krishna's departure marks the end of Dwapara Yuga and the start of Kali Yuga.

Dwapara Yuga(Lord Krishna)

4. Kali Yuga: It is the final is and the present age. People in this age will stop following the truth and the Dharma and they lack virtues. This is the age of darkness and ignorance. They aren't as powerful as their earlier ancestors were in the Satya Yuga. People are lairs, environment is polluted, water and food will become scarce. There is one quarter virtue and three quarters sin. Normal human height is about 5 feet and average human life ranges from 100 years to 80 years.  Kali Yuga began roughly 5,121 years ago and has 426,879 years remaining as of 2020 CE. It will last about 432,000 years (1200 divine years). Kalki, also called Kalkin, is the future tenth avatar of the god Vishnu. He will end the Kali yuga and start the Satya yuga and the cycle of Yugas again. 

Kalki in Kali Yuga