Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c20.3

c20.3

It is noteworthy that this theory of the four ages did not apply to the whole world. It is declared repeatedly that these ages prevailed in India (*Bhārata varṣa*),¹ and the descriptions of the other continents (*varṣa*) say nothing about the ages occurring there,² and portray conditions incompatible therewith. The four ages therefore concerned India only, and it is declared that they prevailed only in India.³ The position of these ages in the seventy-one four-age periods which made up a *manvantara*⁴ in the cosmological scheme was therefore a later elaboration. The early idea was that the four ages were a peculiarity of India alone, hence obviously the explanation of them must be sought in the conditions of ancient India.