Kali Yuga and the Qualities of Nature

According to Hinduism, humanity unfolds in 4 cycles or ages called Yugas. These cycles are: Krita Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. This last cycle is the one we are in at present, the dark age, analogous to winter. In the Mahabharata it says that the age of Kali began at midnight on the twelfth day of the Kurukshetra war, as the two armies kept on killing each other until dawn without stopping at sunset to pray.