Samaya () or Samayam () is a Sanskrit term referring to the "appointed or proper time, [the] right moment for doing anything." In Indian languages, samayam, or samay in Indo-Aryan languages, is a unit of time.
Meaning
In contemporary usage, samayam means time in Dravidian languages such as Kannada, Malayalam, and Tamil, and in Indo-Aryan languages such as Bengali, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati.
Jainism
Meaning
Samaya represents the most infinitesimal part of time that cannot be divided further. The blink of an eye, or about a quarter of a second, has innumerable samaya in it. For all practical purposes a second happens to be the finest measurement of time. Jainism, however, recognizes a very small measurement of time known as samaya, which is an infinitely small part of a second.
Measurements
The following are measures of time as adopted by Jainism: indivisible time = 1 samaya innumerable samaya = 1 16,777,216 = 1 30 = 1 day and night 15 days and nights = 1 (fortnight) 2 = 1 month 12 months = 1 year innumerable years = 1 10 million million = 1 10 million million = l or 1 1 + = 1 (one time cycle)
Example
When an Arihant reaches the stage of moksha (liberation), the soul travels to the Siddhashila (highest realm in universe) in one .
Hinduism
is the basic unit of time in Hindu mythology. It is stated to be an epithet of Shiva in the Agni Purana.
Other uses
The samayachakra is the great chariot wheel of time which turns relentlessly forward.
is a term used in Indian classical music to loosely categorize ragas into times of day. Each raga has a specific period of the day (praharam) when it is performed.
In Gandharva-Veda the day is divided into three-hour-long intervals: 4–7a.m., 7–10a.m., etc. The time concept in Gandharva-Veda is more strictly adhered to than it would be, for example, in Carnatic music.