[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [General history and culture](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general) › [Ancient Indian Historical Tradition](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.pargiter-1922) › c20.31 # Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c20.31 Ancient Indian Historical Tradition c20.31 - **Language:** English ### [c20.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.pargiter-1922.c20.31) It is unnecessary here to pursue this matter into the later fully developed theory of the yugas and manvantaras, wherein 71 four-age periods (catur-yuga) made up a manvantara. It was a fanciful brahmanical elaboration; and one feature in it is that the present time is the Kali age in the 28th four-age period of the Vaivasvata manvantara, so the events of traditional history were sometimes distributed among those 28 periods.⁷ Thus a pretentious passage declares⁸—Datta Ātreya as Viṣṇu’s fourth incarnation and Mārkaṇḍeya lived in the 10th Tretā age (i. e. in the Tretā age of the 10th four-age period); Māndhātṛ as his fifth incarnation⁹ and Utathya lived in the 15th Tretā; Rāma Jāmadagnya as his sixth and Viśvāmitra lived in the 19th Tretā; Daśaratha’s son Rāma as his seventh and Vasiṣṭha lived in the 24th age¹; Vyāsa as his eighth with Jātūkarṇya, and Kṛṣṇa as his ninth with Brahma-Gārgya lived in the 28th Dvāpara.² Such assignments sometimes observe some chronological consistency, often they are erratic, and in any case, being brahmanical notions lacking the historical sense, they are unreliable. - [Previous: c20.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.pargiter-1922.c20.30) - [Next: c20.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.pargiter-1922.c20.32) - [Up: c20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.pargiter-1922.c20) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.pargiter-1922.c20.31](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.general.pargiter-1922.c20.31) · Pramāṇa