A manvantara is one of the divisions of time in Hindu tradition, made up of 71 YUGAS. Fourteen manvantaras make up one KALPA, which consti-tutes one day in the life of the god Brahma or 4,320,000,000 years. Each manvantara has its associated MANU, or human progenitor. Each manvantara also has seven RISHIS (saints/seers), certain deities, and its own INDRA (king of the gods).
Further reading: Cornelia Dimmitt and J. A. B. van Buitenen, Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in the Sanskrit Puranas (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1978); W. J. Wilkins, Hindu Mythology, Vedic and Puranic, 2d ed. (Calcutta: Rupa, 1973).
Encyclopedia of Hinduism. A. Jones and James D. Ryan. 2007.