Jainism is an independent and the most ancient religion of the world. It is a belief with the past and the present day leaders of the religion that there is no start or end to Jainism. It is- they say from "Anadikal" -(no time period), and this is no exaggeration.

But as the present day world understands it 'Jainism has started with the advent of "Bhagwan Rishabh Dev" -The first Tirthankara of Jains'. He was the first Tirthankar of Jains who lived a life of 84 lac years before getting "Nirvan"(independence from birth & re-birth). To understand the exact time period of "Lord Rishabh Dev", it is very important for all of us to understand our "Kal Chakra". (figure) All lives on Earth are governed by this "Chakra". Many "Kal Chkra" have passed away before the present and the 5th "Kal Chakra". The One we are living in.

To describe the shape of this chakra

imagine two snakes and joining them for making a circle with both their heads joined and both their tails joined. This "chakra" is formed of 20 crore x 1 crore Sagar(20 Kota Koti Sagar). Here sagar is a unit of millions of years. Just like a decade is a unit of 10 years similarly, sagar is a unit of 10 palyopums.

Here comes a new term, plopum. So we first need to understand palyopum very well. It can be illustrated as:

Let's say - take a cubic pit about 6km-8kms of width and 6km-8kms length also 6km-8km of depth. Now fill this entire pit with small's child's hair. Fill the pit so densely that even if the truck passes over this pit, the filling is not even disturbed. After 100 years, take out one small hair out of the filling. Repeat the process after every 100 years and calculate the time taken to empty the pit in such a manner Yes! This time period is a Palyopum.
 

This "Kal Chakra" is further divided into six parts

The first half is divided into 6 parts and second half is also divided into 6 parts. Each part is called an "ARA" and denotes a time span. The first part is made of 4 crore x 1 crore Sagars. This time period - according to the scripts - was a period of happiness and happiness(Sukham Sukham as known technically). The second part lasted for 3 crore x 1 crore Sagar and was a period of happiness only(Sukham).

The next part, 3rd ARA known as "Sukham Dukham" lasted for 2 crore x 1 crore Sagar. It was a period of happiness but with sadness and less of misery. This was the period when our first Tirthankara "Lord Rishabh Dev" took birth and attained "Dev Gati" (Explained in jain Logo explaination). He lived for time span which is the maximum span among all the other Tirthankaras. Here we can say was started the present day Jainism - otherwise there is no beginning to Jainism, it is from even before than Rishabh Dev ji. Our all the other 23 Tirthankaras came as well as became "Keval gyani" in the 4th part of this Chakra. This part lasted for 42000 years less than 1 crore x 1 crore Sagar. A period of sadness(Duknam) at the maximum and a little of happiness.

"Lord Mahavira", our 24th Tirthankar, achieved "Devgati" at end of this part that is just 3 years and 8 months before the beganing 5th part. That can be a reason he is most popular among our present generation.

You and me - we are at present living in the 5th ARA of this half Chakra. This part has a span of 2100° years. We are still left with approximately 18,450 years of this part. After this time period 6th part of Kal chakra start which will also last for 2100° years but will be a period of sadness and sadness(Dukham Dukham). It is also estimated that life in this part be very short lived" say a maximum of 20 years and maximum height would be 2 feet. So, much of heat will be there in the atmosphere that there will be no flora left on earth and even today we can smell the beginning of such Era.

At the end of 6th part the second half of the "Kal Chakra" will begin but exactly in reverse order 6th part 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd & 1st. At the beginning of 4th part
our 1st Tirthankara (all 24 Tirthankaras will be new) of that part will take his place of Earth and he would be "Lord Mahadev". We will have 23 more new Tirthankaras in the 3rd part.(This is a belief till today).

The worst time period according to this "Kal Chakra" is still to come and will last for 42000 years and if we want to escape through such a period we should work for it in this very life by being true to ourselves and others.

How we can do this continued in the topic "Belief of Jainism".