Time Dilation in Puranas

Many of us would have watched the movie Interstellar in awe for its spectacular visual effects, great story telling and dramatic moments. While it is based on science fiction, the director has taken care that the events in the movie are mostly scientifically accurate.

One of the concepts on which the movie is based on is time dilation. In physics and relativity, time dilation is the difference in the elapsed time as measured by two clocks that are in relative motion to each other. In simple terms, time can run differently in different planets in the Solar system based on certain conditions. For example, a day in one planet (sunrise to sunrise) can be a year in another far off planet. Of course, for this to happen there are other elements that are needed such as black holes, strong gravitational fields and high speed travel, but the concept is accepted as possible.

This concept of time dilation plays out in the movie interstellar. Scientists from earth are sent on a mission to find a habitable planet when staying on earth becomes no longer viable. When they find a planet near a black hole, scientists Cooper and Amelia set out to explore the same while Romilly stays in the space shuttle. After spending about 3 hours on the planet, Cooper and Amelia return to the shuttle to see that 23 years have passed and Romilly has aged significantly. Here it is claimed that 1 hour in the planet corresponds to about 7 years causing a large time dilation.

Interestingly and not surprisingly, time dilation is mentioned in several places in our scriptures. For example, 1 Earth year is said to be the equivalent of 1 day in Indraloka. Similarly days are defined in each of the Saptalokas (Bhu, Bhuva, Suva, Maha, Jana, Tapa and Sathya Loka). Here are some of the mentions of Time Dilation in our Puranas:

• Bhagavata Purana mentions a king called Kakudmi (also known as Raivata) who ruled Kushasthali. When Kakudmi’s beautiful daughter Revati reached a marriageable age, Kakudmi made a list of suitors for her and went to Brahmaloka to ask the opinion of Lord Brahma about a suitable husband for his daughter. When they arrived, Brahma was listening to a musical performance . They waited for a few moments until the performance was finished. Then when Kakudmi made his request Brahma laughed and explained that during the short time they waited several chatur-yugas had passed on earth. He added that whichever groom Kakudmi had selected are all gone, along with their sons, grandsons and other descendants. However, Brahma comforted him saying that Vishnu has incarnated on earth as Krishna and Balarama.  He recommended Balarama as a worthy husband for Revati. Kakudmi was satisfied and the marriage was happily celebrated.
• Another example is the story of Muchukunda that is mentioned in our Puranas. Muchukunda was a Suryavanshi king who preceded Rama. Once when the Asuras were harassing the Devas, they sought the help of Muchukunda to defeat the demons. King Muchukunda agreed to help and fought off the demons. Satisfied with his services, the Devas offered him a boon. Muchukunda chose to join his family on earth. Indra explained to him that several Yugas have elapsed on earth and the whole dynasty has come to an end by the time he completed fighting. Astonished, Muchukunda then expressed his desire to sleep for a long time without disturbance. Thus Muchukunda lived from early Treta yuga to the later period of Dwapara yuga (Krishna’s yuga)  assisted by time dilation.
• Another episode is in Mahabharata when Arjuna goes to Devaloka to get powerful weapons from the Devas. After acquiring them he is instructed by Indra to learn dance from the Apsara Urvashi. Arjuna is astonished to see that Urvashi has not aged at all, though she married Pururava, his forefather who lived centuries ago. He realises that time passes differently in different planets.

These are just a few instances of time dilation and there could be several more that relate to the concept. It takes a movie like Interstellar for us to go back to our Puranas to understand such concepts. Let’s start focussing on our scriptures and teach them to our kids too. In my humble opinion, these instances tell us an important thing. That spirituality and science do the same thing – they help in our search to understand the truth.