The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1213 page)

Kalpa
.

In Hinduism, a day and a night in the life of
Brahm
, consisting of four
yugas
, i.e. one
mah
(great)
yuga
; or sometimes calculated as 1,000 yugas; in any case, an immense endurance of time.
In Buddhism (P
li,
kappa
), the length of a kalpa is equally vast: through the four stages of a kalpa, a universe arises, continues, declines, persists in chaos. Within this mah
kalpa, there are twenty small kalpas.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Kalpa S
tras
.

Hindu texts which deal with details of life, especially ritual matters. Kalpa, dealing with ritual, is part of the
Ved
gas
, i.e. the auxiliary disciplines which enable
brahmans
to implement the Vedas in practice.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(Heb. ‘light and heavy’). Principle of determining Jewish
halakhah
: it means that what applies in a less important case will certainly apply in a more important one. The phrase has come to mean an inescapable conclusion.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search