The Arctic Home in the Vedas c10.39

c10.39

I have discussed here the meaning of *yuga* and *mânuṣhâ yugâ* at some length, because the phrases have been much misunderstood, in spite of clear passages shewing that ‘a period of time’ was intended to be denoted by them. These passages (V, 52, 4; X, 140, 6) establish the fact that *mânuṣhâ yugâ* denoted ‘human ages,’ and the association of these ages with the ‘first dawn’ (I, 124, 2; I, 115, 2) further shews that the length of a *yuga* was regarded as shorter than a year. The mention of the tenth *yuga* finally settles the meaning of *yuga* as ‘one month.’ That is how I have arrived at the meaning of these phrases, and I am glad to find that I have been anticipated in my conclusions by Prof. Raṅgâchârya, of Madras, on different grounds. In his essay on the *Yugas*,¹ he discusses the root meaning of *yuga*, and, taking it to denote ‘a conjunction,’ observes as follows, “The phases of the moon being so readily observable, it is probable that, as suggested by Professor Weber, the idea of a period of time known as a yuga and depending upon a conjunction of certain heavenly bodies, was originally derived from a knowledge of these phases. The Professor (Weber) further strengthens his supposition by referring to a passage cited in the Ṣaḍviṃsha Brāhmaṇa (IV, 6)¹ wherein the four yugas are still designated by their more ancient names, and are connected with the four lunar phases to which they evidently owe their origin.” Mr. Raṅgâchârya then refers to darsha, the ancient name for the conjunction of the sun and the moon, and concludes, “There is also old mythological or other evidence which leads us to conclude that our forefathers observed many other kinds of interesting celestial conjunctions; and in all probability the earliest conception of a yuga meant the period from new moon to new moon,” that is, one lunar month. The passage stating that it was the first dawn that set the cycle of mânuṣhâ yugâ in motion is already quoted above; and if we compare this statement with Ṛig. X, 139, 6, where Indra, after killing Vṛitra and producing the dawn and the sun, is said “to have set the ordering of the months in the sky,” it will be further evident that the cycle of time which began with the first dawn was a cycle of months. We may, therefore, safely conclude that mânuṣhâ yugâ represented, in early days, a cycle of months during which the sun was above the horizon, or rather that period of sunshine and action when the ancestors of the Aryan race held their sacrificial sessions or performed other religious and social ceremonies.