Satya Yuga

The Satya Yuga (Devanagari: सत्य युग), also called Sat Yuga, Krta Yuga and Krita Yuga in Hinduism, is the "Yuga" (Age or Era) of Truth", when mankind is governed by gods, and every manifestation or work is close to the purest ideal and mankind will allow intrinsic goodness to rule supreme. It is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Age."

The cycle

The yugas are said to succeed each other almost endlessly. After the perfect Satya Yuga, a decline marks the "Treta Yuga". Further decline brings about the "Dwapara Yuga", and after it comes the final and dark "Kali Yuga", a time of wickedness, when man kills man. At the end of the cycle a Divine Being is said to take birth and reestablish righteousness, thus beginning a new Satya Yuga.

The Satya Yuga according to some holy texts

Amongst the four eras, the Satya Yuga is the first and the most significant one. Knowledge, meditation, and penance hold special importance in this era. All the pillars of religion are present in totality. The average life expectancy of a human being in Satya Yuga is believed to be over 100,000 years. During Satya Yuga, all people engage only in good, sublime deeds. Ashrams become devoid of wickedness and deceit. Natyam (such as Bharatanatyam), according to Natya Shastra, did not exist in the Satya Yuga "because it was the time when all people were happy".

...as described in the Mahabharata, a Hindu epic:

: [...] there were no poor and no rich; there was no need to labour, because all that men required was obtained by the power of will; the chief virtue was the abandonment of all worldly desires. The "Krita Yuga" was without disease; there was no lessening with the years; there was no hatred or vanity, or evil thought; no sorrow, no fear. All mankind could attain to supreme blessedness. [...]

ee also

*Yuga
*Hinduism