History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.84

v6.c82.84

The word 'yuga' occurs at least 33 times in the Ṛgveda and appears to have been used in several senses Vide H of Dh vol. III, p 886-890. Two senses stand out as prominent, viz a short period or a very long period For the first sense we may cite Ṛg. I. 158. 6 ('Dīrghatamas, the son of Mamatā, became old in the 10th Yuga, he became brahmā high priest and leader of the waters flowing to their goal' ⁶⁹⁹ Here yuga cannot mean a period of more than ten years and probably means a period of five years; in Ṛg III. 26.3 we read 'like a neighing horse by its mother, Vaiśvānara (Agni) is kindled by the Kuśikas in each yuga', vide Ṛg III 55.18 ⁷⁰⁰ In the Vedāṅgajyotiṣa ⁷⁰¹ (verses 1 and 5) yuga is said to comprise five years There is nothing to prevent us from taking this sense in the two passages cited from the Ṛgveda. In Ṛg III. 55. 18 it is possible to recognize a recondite reference to five year units of time each divided into six seasons In the Ṛgveda *saṁvatsara* means a year in several passages such as I. 110. 4, I. 140 2, I. 161 13, I 164 44, VII 103 1, 7, 9, X. 190 2. In Ṛg X. 87. 17 we have the derivative form 'Saṁvatsarīna' ⁷⁰² from saṁvatsara 'O Agni that observest what men do! May the demon possessing magic devices not partake of the cow's milk that springs after a year'. In Ṛg X. 62 2 we have the word *parivatsara* 'those ancestors that shattered Vala by righteousness and forced out the wealth consisting of cows' and in Ṛg. VII. 103. 8 the word '*parivatsarīṇa*'. Saṃvatsara and Parivatsara are two of the five names bestowed on the five years of a yuga in the other saṃhitās. Just as the word yuga was used in several senses even in the Ṛgveda it is quite possible that the words 'saṃvatsara' and 'parivatsara' meant simply year and also successive years of a cycle of five years. In the Tai. S. (V 5 7. 1-3) *namaskāra* (salutation) is offered to Rudra with Saṃvatsara, to his bow towards the right with Parivatsara, to his bow behind with Iḍāvatsara, to the bow towards the north with Iduvatsara and to the bow above with Vatsara. The Vāj. S. (27. 45) names these five separately with Iḍāvatsara in place of Iduvatsara; similarly, in Atharva VI 55.3 salutation is offered to Iḍāvatsara, Parivatsara and Saṃvatsara. In Tai. Br. (I 4. 10. 1⁷⁰³) Agni, Āditya, Candramas and Vāyu are identified with Saṃvatsara, Parivatsara, Iḍāvatsara and Anuvatsara and it should be noticed that the four names of years are brought in close relation to the four cāturmāsyas, viz Vaiśvadeva, Varuṇapraghāsa, Sākamedha and Śunāsīrīya. Thus even in the Saṃhitās names (generally five) are mentioned in a certain fixed order. There is no reason why this should be so unless they formed a fixed series in a cycle. Thibaut in his *Grundriss* (p. 9) hammers on the fact that sometimes only two or three or four out of the five are mentioned and argues (rather obstinately) that knowledge of the five year yuga cannot be assumed for the Vedic times. It should be noted that Kautilya speaks of the yuga of five saṃvatsaras and of the insertion of two intercalary months, one at the end of 2½ years and the other at the end of five years.⁷⁰⁴