Verse 1

¹Time, from the finest particle up to the two halves of Brahma's life, has been told to you, king. Now hear the measure of the ages, and the aeon and the dissolution too. ²A thousand sets of four ages is called a day of Brahma. That is an aeon, lord of the people, and in it there are fourteen Manus. ³At the end of it comes a dissolution as long, and this is called the night of Brahma. In it these three worlds are made ready for dissolving. ⁴This is called the dissolution that comes of an occasion, in which the maker of the world, the self-born, gathers the world into himself and lies down with the Endless for his seat.

⁵When the two halves of the life of Brahma, highest in place, have gone by, then the seven natures are made ready for dissolving. ⁶This, king, is the dissolution that belongs to Nature, in which the shell of the egg, a thing put together, comes undone, its breaking-up having reached it.