Is the Svetavaraha Kalpa and the Padma Kalpa the same?

Question

According to Wikipedia, the previous kalpa was known as the Padma kalpa:

Currently, 50 years of Brahma have elapsed. The last Kalpa at the end of 50th year is called Padma Kalpa. We are currently in the first 'day' of the 51st year.[26] This Brahma's day, Kalpa, is named as Shveta-Varaha Kalpa.

However, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in his commentary of the Srimad Bhagavatam 2.10.47 states:

The present duration of a kalpa of Brahmā is called the Varāha-kalpa or Śvetavarāha-kalpa because the incarnation of the Lord as Varāha took place during the creation of Brahmā, who was born on the lotus coming out of the abdomen of Viṣṇu. Therefore this Varāha-kalpa is also called Pādma-kalpa, and this is testified by ācāryas like Jīva Gosvāmī as well as Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura in pursuance of the first commentator, Svāmī Śrīdhara. So there is no contradiction between the Varāha and the Pādma-kalpa of Brahmā.

So then are the Padma Kalpa and the Svetavaraha Kalpa the same or different?

Answer 1

No the two are not the same and wikipedia is actually right on this point. According to this excerpt from the Vishnu Purana they are certainly different:

When the-three worlds are but one mighty ocean, Brahmá, who is one with Náráyańa, satiate with the demolition of the universe, sleeps upon his serpent-bed--contemplated, the lotus born, by the ascetic inhabitants of the Janaloka--for a night of equal duration with his day; at the close of which he creates anew. Of such days and nights is a year of Brahmá composed; and a hundred such years constitute his whole life. One Parárddha, or half his existence, has expired, terminating with the Mahá Kalpa called Pádma. The Kalpa termed Váráha is the first of the second period of Brahmá's existence.

Answer 2

The above answer is partially correct because Sveta Varaha kalpa can also be called Padma kalpa. A kalpa is called Padma when there is a manifestation of the universe from lotus. Sri Viswanath Chakarvarti Thakur writes on SB 3.11.37

"This verse describes the first day in the fifty-first year of Brahma, in the second half of his life. The Padma-kalpa (the previous day) is described in verses such as padmam kalpam atho srnu (SB 2.10.47) and the verses after udaplutam visvam idam (SB 3.8.10), with a description of a lotus in one ocean of water. The appearance of one Brahma with no one else present is described in vilokya tatranyad apasyamanah (SB 2.9.7) Thus, Brahma did not see Sanaka and the others who live for the whole of Brahma’s life.

Because of these verses, some have another explanation for the Padma-kalpa.

They say that Mahaloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka and Satyloka, which remain without being destroyed until the end of the second half of his life, become covered with water at the end of the first half of Brahma’s life (thus no planets or the great sages are not visible to Brahma on the first day of his fifty-first year). Those who live till the end of Brahma’s life on those planets enter into Narayana along with Brahma during the night at the end of the first half of Brahma’s life. They say that the first day in the second half of Brahma’s life (when he appears on a lotus and sees no planets and no sages) is called Sveta-varaha or Padma- kalpa. As well, in the next chapter it will be explained that Sanaka, Marici and others appeared from Brahma. This is similar to the Brahma-kalpa. That day cannot be called Brahma-kalpa since it comes after this description of the Padma-kalpa.

In verse 36 of this chapter, describing Padma-kalpa, the word ante can mean “at the end of the first day.” Thus the second day after Brahma’s birth could be called the Padma-kalpa. Ayam tu in this verse then means that the Padma-kalpa is also a name for the Varaha- kalpa, the first day in the second half of Brahma’s life. It is called Varaha-kalpa because Varaha avatara appeared during that kalpa. The word api after dvitiyasya indicates that even the first kalpa of Brahma’s life is called the Padma-kalpa. This is the explanation of some persons. "

In summary, this kalpa can also be called Padma because Sri Brahma recreated the planetary systems from the lotus in this kalpa.

Answer 3

According to Padma Purana too, Padma Kalpa and Varaha Kalpa both are not same.

Padma Purana, Srishti Khanda, Chapter 3 - Kinds of creation:

At the end of the night which is of the same measure (as the day)he again brings about the creation. Such is the year of Brahma and likewise are his hundred years. Long is the life-span of that great one, viz. one hundred years. Only one Parardha (half of the span) has rolled by, O sinless one. At the end of it there was the great Kalpa known as Padma. Of the second Parardha, O king, this present Kalpa (called) Varaha is conceived to be the first one.

Currently we are living in the second Parardha, first Kalpa of the second Parardha is called Varaha and the last Kalpa of first Parardha was called Padma Kalpa. So both are different.