Vedic Index of Names and Subjects v1.c3.s18.138

v1.c3.s18.138

which the Rigveda³ calls the daśama yuga, ‘the tenth stage of life.’ Longevity seems not to have been rare among the Vedic Indians, for the desire to live a ‘hundred autumns’ (śaradaḥ śatam) is constantly expressed.⁴ Dīrghatamas is said to have lived 100 years,⁵ and Mahidāsa Aitareya is credited with 116.⁶ Onesikritos⁷ reported that they sometimes lived 130 years, a statement with which corresponds the wish expressed in the Jātaka⁸ for a life of 120 years. Probably the number was always rather imaginary than real, but the comparative brevity of modern life in India⁹ may be accounted for by the cumulative effect of fever, which is hardly known to the Rigveda. See Takman.