Archive · 16 Jan 2026
Big Bang: Ancient Indian texts and modern science
Scientists believe the Big Bang started our universe 13.8 billion years ago.
A scientist named Roger Penrose thinks that the Big Bang might have been the end of a previous universe and the start of ours.
He calls this idea Conformal Cyclic Cosmology (CCC).
Some other scientists disagree, saying the evidence Penrose sees is just random noise.
Interestingly, ancient Hindu texts also talk about a cycle of universes being created, lasting for a very long time, and then ending.
This cycle is described in texts like the Puranas, Vedas, Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita.
The cycle includes creation (Srishti), a single cycle of the cosmos (Kalpa), and the end or destruction (Pralay).
Penrose's theory is not proven, but it's interesting that similar ideas appear in both modern science and ancient texts.
Roger Penrose proposed that the Big Bang was the end of a previous universe and the start of ours, calling this theory Conformal Cyclic Cosmology (CCC).
Penrose believes the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) comes from supermassive black holes from the previous universe.
Some scientists disagree, saying the 'hot spots' Penrose sees are just random statistical noise.
Ancient Hindu texts, like the Puranas, Vedas, Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita, describe a cycle of universes being created, lasting for around 4,320 million years, and then ending.
Penrose proposed this theory to solve the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which states that entropy, or disorder, always increases.
- Who
- Roger Penrose, a Nobel laureate in Physics, and ancient Hindu texts
- What
- The Big Bang and the theory of cyclic universes
- When
- The Big Bang occurred 13.8 billion years ago; Penrose's theory and Hindu texts discuss cycles of universes
- Where
- The theories and texts are global, with Penrose's work being scientific and the Hindu texts being ancient Indian
- Why
- Penrose proposed the theory to solve the Second Law of Thermodynamics and the observed order in the early universe
- Big Bang
- The beginning of our universe 13.8 billion years ago
- Roger Penrose
- Nobel laureate in Physics 2020
- Conformal Cyclic Cosmology (CCC)
- Penrose's theory suggesting the Big Bang was the end of a previous universe
- Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
- The afterglow of the Big Bang, according to Penrose, comes from supermassive black holes from the previous universe
- Hindu texts
- Mention a cycle of creation, preservation, and destruction of universes
- Srishti, Kalpa, Pralay
- Hindu concepts for creation, a single cycle of the cosmos, and cosmic dissolution, respectively
- Second Law of Thermodynamics
- States that entropy, or disorder, always increases