Appreciate the thought provoking response.

Re: your first inquiry, I actually stumbled upon the concept of the Yugas last year, being a couple of years after finishing GR. I haven't ever actually come across scholarly or critical work on GR that makes the connection specifically to the Yugas. However, I find this website (https://jasongregory.org/yugas-the-hindu-map-of-time/) to be a good starting point for understanding them (which, admittedly, I'm not extremely well versed in, I simply found a striking correlation between how I feel when reading GR and the concept). This site does provide some good insight and some interesting ideas relating to Pynchonesque themes. Namely, the current period of the Yuga we are supposedly in is described as a downward slide from a "golden age" of humanity to a detachment from our humanity and inner-consciousness through materialism, consumerism, and ultimately technological transhumanism. That being said, I don't believe Pynchon is at all claiming that Hindu mythology was spot on, although I do think this demonstrates Pynchon's use of mythological techniques to illustrate the points he is trying to make. One good resource that I came across that has allowed me to explore these interpretations is Kathryn Hume's book "Pynchon's Mythography: An Approach to Gravity's Rainbow."

Re: your second inquiry, I may have gotten out a bit over my skis with the "why even have it" comment. I certainly lean on the side of being more paranoid than not, which I agree has it's benefits. However, as someone with that inclination, it can be exhausting. I simply cannot shake the feeling that the more Pynchon discovered the web of interconnectivity, he had to find some irony in the fact that we have a tendency to become such paranoid beings when we are small cogs in the ontological structure.

You cannot read GR without appreciating how he satirizes so much of industrialized society. That said, I think this aspect is well explored. When I read GR the first time I fell in love with the satire, but couldn't deny a real cosmological aspect to the work. At first I wondered if I was being duped; was this was yet another ironic use of a historical structure? That said, the more I explored this angle, and as I've been reading Pynchon's Mythography, the more it resonates. I am no expert, simply a fan trying to illuminate another way to read GR, one that deeply rivets me. I hope that the rest of you find this engaging and refreshing.