Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c20.2

c20.2

TIME that is treated as historical in tradition is divided into four ages (*yuga*), the Kṛta (or Dharma or Satya), Tretā, Dvāpara and Kali (or Tiṣya), and this reckoning appears to have an historical basis, though later speculations elaborated it into an amazing yet precise scheme of cosmogony. That scheme does not render this reckoning of four ages unworthy of attention, because the genealogies refer to them sometimes, and it appears that they did correspond to certain periods.