According to Hindu cosmology, there is no absolute start to time, as it is considered infinite and cyclic. Similarly, the space and universe has neither start nor end, rather it is cyclical. The current universe is just the start of a present cycle preceded by an infinite number of universes and to be followed by another infinite number of universes.
Thesis of creation
Rigveda: speculation on universe's creation
The Rigveda, composed between 1500 to 1200 BCE, presents many theories of cosmology. For example:
Hiranyagarbha sukta, its hymn 10.121, states a golden child was born in the universe and was the lord, established earth and heaven, then asks but who is the god to whom we shall offer the sacrificial prayers?
Devi sukta, its hymn 10.125, states a goddess is all, the creator, the created universe, the feeder and the lover of the universe;
Nasadiya sukta, its hymn 10.129, asks who created the universe, does anyone really know, and whether it can ever be known.
According to Henry White Wallis, the Rigveda and other Vedic texts are full of alternate cosmological theories and curiosity questions. For example, the hymn 1.24 of the Rigveda asks, "these stars, which are set on high, and appear at night, whither do they go in the daytime?" and hymn 10.88 wonders, "how many fires are there, how many suns, how many dawns, how many waters? I am not posing an awkward question for you fathers; I ask you, poets, only to find out?" To its numerous open-ended questions, the Vedic texts present a diversity of thought, in verses imbued with symbols and allegory, where in some cases forces and agencies are clothed with a distinct personality, while in other cases as nature with or without anthropomorphic activity such as forms of mythical sacrifices. The Rigveda contains the Nasadiya sukta hymn which does not offer a cosmological theory, but asks cosmological questions about the nature of universe and how it began:
In Hinduism, a Kalpa is indicative for creation and dissolution of a universe. However, there are a few cycles of time mentioned in Hinduism, which consists of several iterations of such "Kalpa"-s. First one of them is referred as "One Month of Brahma", which consists of 30 Kalpas and successive dissolution phases. Each Kalpa in the series are distinctly identified by different names. Current "Kalpa" is referred to as "Sweta-Baraha", next one will be "Neel-Lohita". Combining 12 such "Months of Brahma", one year of Brahma is formed. 100 such years of "Brahma" is called as a "Maha-Kalpa". Length of a Maha-Kalpa is almost 310 Trillions years. 8000 such "Maha-Kalpa"-s form one "Yuga of Brahma", whose length is 2.4 Quintillion years. There are other greater cycles whose lengths are 22.3 Sextillion years, 670 Sextillion years and 201 Septillion years respectively.]
