How do Hindus measure time?

In Hindu philosophy, the concept of time is expansive, with time units ranging in length from an infinitesimal fraction of a second all the way out to trillions of years. While there are varying schools of thought, there is a common belief in the cyclic nature of time and an incessant cycle of creation and destruction of everything in existence.

This ancient belief system is impressively similar to the theories on space and time that have been developed in modern physics. People in Jain, Buddhist and Hindu religious circles may use this system of time to determine the dates of holidays and make astrological calculations.