History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.775
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.775
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When and how these huge numbers of years for the yugas were suggested remains somewhat enigmatic. It appears that as early as the Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa people had become familiar with huge figures The Śatapatha¹⁰⁸⁴ says that there are 10800 muhūrtas in a year (in one ahorātra 30 × 360), that Prajāpati arranged the Ṛgveda in such a way that the number of syllables it contains is equal to 12000 Bṛhatīs (each Bṛhatī having 36 syllables) i e. 432000 syllables and it is further stated that the Ṛgveda also contains 10800 paṅktis (each paṅkti having 40 syllables i e the syllables are 10800 × 40 = 432000. Prajāpati is said to have arranged the other two Vedas also and the three Vedas amounted to ten thousand eight hundred eighties (that is 80 × 10800 = 864000 syllables), that muhūrta by muhūrta he gained eighty syllables (as there are 10800 muhūrtas in a sacrificial year of 360 days). Dr. Jean Filliozat, Professor at the College de France, Paris, puts forward the theory in a recent article (in the Bulletin of L'Ecole Francaise D'Extreme-Orient, Tome XLIV, Fas. 2, pp.
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538-546) that the number of years in Kaliyuga (432000) was suggested by these figures in the Śatapatha, that the high figures in the ancient Indian literature are scientific and not astrological, and that in the opinion of Heraclitus 10800 ordinary human years were equal to one 'great year', that Berossus held that a great astronomical period was of 432000 years and that as the Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa is far more ancient than both Heraclitus and Berossus, the borrowing, if it exists, must have been by the Greeks from India Vide 'Ancient relations between Indian and foreign astronomical systems' by Dr J Filliozat in JOR, Madras, vol. XXV (for 1957) pp 1-8; also Prof. Zinner (in 'Stars above us' p 59) for theories about the age of the world held by Plato and Berossus. One day of Brahmā is equal to a Kalpa i e 4320000 × 1000 i e 432,000,000,0 In order¹⁰⁸⁵ to find out the human years of the one hundred years of Brahmā's life we shall have to multiply 432,000,0000 by 2, then by 360 and then by 100. That is, the day and night of Brahmā come to 8640000000 human years; the year of Brahmā would then be equal to 311040000000 human years (taking 360 days as a year); one hundred years of Brahmā thus come to 311040000000000 years Alberuni (Sachau, vol.
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I p 332) also mentions this colossal figure about the life of Brahmā Some said that the extent of Brahmā's life was 108 years Brahmā is said to have already lived 50 years and it is the second half of his life that is running and at present it is the Vārāha¹⁰⁸⁶ Kalpa and Vaivasvata-manvantara¹⁰⁸⁷ (7th) that are going on. The past six Manus are Svāyambhuva, Svārocisa, Uttama, Tāmasa, Raivata, Cāksusa and the present is Vaivasvata, the 7th Manu (Brahma 5 4-5, Kūrma I. 51. 4-5, Visnu III 1. 6-7) The remaining seven Manus are differently named in several Purānas e. g. Visnu (III 2 14 ff) and Narasimhapurāna 24 17-35 mention the future Manus as Sāvarni, Daksa Sāvarni, Brahmasāvarni, Dharmasāvarnika, Rudra-sāvarni, Ruci and Bhauma; while Brahma (5. 5-6) mentions four of the future seven as Sāvarni, Raibhya, Raucya, Merusāvarni Kūrma (I. 53 30-31) names the future four in the same way as Visnu (only substituting Savarna for Sāvarni wherever it occurs and the last two as Raucya and Bhautya) All the fourteen Manus are enumerated in Nāradapurāna I 40 20-23 Alberuni (tr by Sachau, vol I chap.
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XLIV p 387) gives the names of Manvantaras according to the Visnudharmottara, Visnupurāna and other sources Sāvarnya ¹⁰⁸⁸ Manu as a great benefactor and leader of some territory occurs in Rg X 62 11 It is said that each Manvantara had a separate set of sages, sons of Manu, gods, kings, smrtis, Indra and guardians for the proper regulation of dharma and for the protection of the people (Brahma 5 39, Visnupurāna III chapters 1-2) In the Visnupurāna it is said that some gods remain for four yugas, some for a manvantara and some stay for a kalpa 1088a The Visnudharmasūtra (chap. XX 1-15) has the same account of Manvantaras and Kalpas as Manu's but it adds one detail viz that the whole age of Brahmā is equal to a day of Purusa (Visnu) and the night of Purusa is also as long. It is remarkable that the same view is attributed by Alberuni (Sachau vol I. p. 332) to the Puliśasiddhānta. It is not known whether those European scholars who regard Puliśa to be Paulus Alexandrinus have shown that this detail occurs in the work of the Greek Astrologer Paulus. In the Vanaparva (188 22-29) the same account as in Manu occurs except this that 12000 years are called Yuga¹⁰⁸⁹ simply and not caturyuga (as in Manu I 71). The Mārkaṇḍeya has a long story about Svārociṣa in chapters 58-65, devotes to Uttama chap 66-70, chapter 71 to Tāmasa, chap. 72 to Raivata, chap. 73 to Cākṣuṣa, chap.
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74-76 to Vaivasvata, chap 77 to Sāvarṇi, chap 78-90 to Devī, chap 91-95 to Raucya or Ruci, chap 96-97 to Bhautya The word 'Vaivasvata' (son of Vivasvat, the Sun) is applied to Yama in several passages of the Ṛgveda (X 14 1, X. 58. 1, X 60 10, X 164 2) The Anukramaṇī, however, ascribes Ṛg. VIII. 27-31 to Vaivasvata Manu as the ṛṣi and in one of the Vālakhilya hymns (Ṛg X 52 1) occurs the following verse 'O Indra! just as you drank the soma extracted in (the sacrifice of) Manu Vivasvat, just as you frequently accept the hymn of praise in (sacrifice of) Trita, so may you simultaneously delight in (the soma and praise) of Āyu '¹⁰⁹⁰ It may be noted that the Manusmṛti names only the seven Manus (I. 61-63) and states that each Manu during his own time (which extended over thousands of years) created the movable and immovable world and protected it, that Manvantaras are numberless (Manusmṛti I 80) and that the Great God (Parameṣṭhin) brought about the creation and destruction of the world during the Manvantaras. Some of the Purāṇas such as Matsya (9. 37-39, 142. 40, 144. 97-98), Vāyu (59. 34), Agni (150. 21), Viṣṇu (I. 3 and VI. 3) state that Manu and the seven sages in each Manvantara (i. e. where there is a change of Manu) who are the śiṣṭas that then exist are devoted to dharma, being ordered by Brahmā for the purpose of continuing the worlds, declare the truth and promulgate the Vedas. Some modern writers (like Dr.
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Daftari) think1090b that in ancient times there was an Indian institution of public functionaries called Manu and the Saptarṣis, whose function was to legislate and promulgate the Vedas. With great respect to the erudite scholar, I disagree with him. The extant Purāṇa passages are less than 2000 years old, while the present Vaivasvata Manvantara started several millions of years ago and even Kaliyuga in which we are deemed to live started in 3102 B C. Besides, there is a dissolution of the world at each day of Brahmā, if one is to rely on the Paurāṇik accounts. How could a tradition of the several Manus survive such pralaya? A rationalistic interpretation requires that all this that is stated in the Purāṇas is mere conjecture and imagination and that one cannot safely build theories about the governance of society in ancient times on the accounts contained in Purāṇas. The Manusmṛti (II. 19) appears to assign the function of the regulation of the conduct of all men in the world to the learned brāhmaṇas born in Brahmārṣideśa (i e. Kurukṣetra, the countries of Matsya, Pañcāla and Śūrasena or Mathurā) at least after his own code was promulgated