The four ages of the world, descending from truth to strife.
The Yugas divide cosmic time into four descending ages — Satya, Treta, Dvapara, and Kali — each shorter and more morally degraded than the last, before the cycle resets and begins again. We are said to live in the Kali Yuga, the dark and final quarter.
The Yugas unlock deep time: a scale on which empires are momentary and decline is structural, not accidental. They relativise the present, framing any era as one phase in an immense recurring rhythm. The perspective is humbling and oddly consoling — whatever is falling apart has fallen before, and will, in time, be made whole.