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Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India, their Religion and Institutions v1.c6.s6: Sect. VI.—Account of the System of Yugas, Manvantaras, and Kalpas, according to the Vishṇu Purāṇa, and other authorities

Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India, their Religion and Institutions v1.c6.s6

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English

Sect. VI.—Account of the System of Yugas, Manvantaras, and Kalpas, according to the Vishṇu Purāṇa, and other authorities

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I shall in the next section adduce the description given in the Vishṇu Purāṇa of the creation of living creatures, and the origin of the four castes, after first supplying in the present some explanation of the great mundane periods, the *Yugas*, *Manvantaras*, *Kalpas*, etc.

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The computations of these great periods are stated in the third chapter of the first book, and in the first chapter of the sixth book, and are clearly explained by Professor Wilson in his notes to page 50 of his translation.

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One year of mortals is equal to one day of the gods.⁶⁸

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⁶⁸ Vishṇu P. vi. 1, 4 *ahorātram pitṛīṇāṁ tu māso ’bdas tridivaukasām* | See also Manu i. 66 and 67. The Taitt. Br. iii. 9, 22, 1, too, states: *ekaṁ vai etad devānām ahar yat saṁvatsaraḥ* | “This period of a year is one day of the gods.”

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12,000 divine years are equal to a period of four Yugas, which is thus made up, viz.:

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| Kṛita Yuga with its mornings and evenings...... | | | | | 4,800 | divine | years |
| Tretā Yuga | ” | ” | ” | ” | ......3,600 | ” | ” |
| Dvāpara Yuga | ” | ” | ” | ” | ......2,400 | ” | ” |
| Kali Yuga | ” | ” | ” | ” | ......1,200 | ” | ” |
| | | | | making... | 12,000 | divine | years.⁶⁹ |

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⁶⁹ i. 3, 10. *Divyair varsha-sahasraistu kṛita-tretādi-sanjnitam* | *chaturyugaṁ dvādaśabhis tad-vibhāgaṁ nibodha me* | 11. *chatvāri trīṇi dve chaikam kṛtādishu yathākramam* | *divyābdānāṁ sahasrāṇi yugeshv āhur purāvidaḥ* | 12. *Tat-pramāṇaiḥ śataiḥ sandhyā pūrvā tatrābhidhīyate* | *sandhyāṁśakaś cha tat-tulyo yugasyānantaro hi saḥ* | 13. *Sandhyā-sandhyāṁśayor antar yaḥ kālo muni-sattama* | *yugākhyaḥ sa tu vijneyaḥ kṛita-tretādi-sanjnitaḥ* |

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As a day of the gods is = to one year of mortals, the 12,000 divine years must be multiplied by 360, the assumed number of days in a year, to give the number of the years of mortals in this great period of four yugas, thus: 12,000 divine years × 360 = 4,320,000 years of mortals. 1000 of these periods of 12,000 divine, or 4,320,000 human, years—*i.e.*, 4,320,000,000 human years are = 1 day of Brahmā,⁷⁰ and his night is of the same duration. Within that period of a day of Brahmā, 14 Manus reign,⁷¹ and a Manvantara, or period of Manu, is consequently = the 14th part of a day of Brahmā. In the present Kalpa (= a day of Brahmā) six Manus, of whom Svāyambhuva was the first, have already passed away, the present Manu being Vaivasvata.⁷² In each Manvantara seven rishis, certain deities, an Indra, a Manu, and the kings, his sons, are created and perish.⁷³ A thousand of the systems of 4 Yugas, as has been before explained, occur coincidently with these 14 Manvantaras; and consequently about 71 systems of 4 Yugas elapse during each Manvantara, and measure the lives of the Manu and the deities of the period.⁷⁴ At the close of this day of Brahmā a collapse (*pratisancharaḥ*) of the universe takes place, which lasts through a night of Brahmā, equal in duration to his day, during which period the three worlds are converted into one great ocean, when the lotus-born god,⁷⁵ expanded by his deglutition of the universe, and contemplated by the yogis and gods in Janaloka, sleeps on the serpent Śesha. At the end of that night he awakes and creates anew.⁷⁶

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⁷⁰ V. P. i. 3, 14. *Kṛitaṁ tretā dvāparaś cha kaliś chaiva chaturyugam* | *prochyate tat-sahasraṁ cha Brahmaṇo divasaṁ mune* | See also Manu i. 72.

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⁷¹ V. P. i. 3, 15. *Brahmaṇo divase brahman Manavaś cha chaturdaśa* | *bhavanti* |

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⁷² This is stated by Manu i. 62 ff. (see above), as well as in the third book of the V. P. i. 3, which gives the names in the same order: *Svāyambhuvo Manuḥ pūrvo Manuḥ Svārochishas tathā* | *Auttamis Tāmasaś chaiva Raivatas' Chākshushas tathā* | *shad ete Manavo 'tītāḥ sāmpratañ tu Raveḥ sutaḥ* | *Vaivasvato 'yaṁ yasyaitat sapta-maṁ varttate 'ntaram* |

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⁷³ V. P. i. 3, 16. *Saptarshayaḥ surāḥ S'akro Manus tat-sūnavo nṛipāḥ* | *ekakāle hi sṛijyante saṁhriyante cha pūrvavat* |

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⁷⁴ Ibid ver. 17. *Chaturyugānāṁ sankhyātā sādhikā hy eka saptatiḥ* | *manvantaram Manoḥ kālaḥ suradīnām cha sattama* | See also Manu i. 79.

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⁷⁵ The birth of Prajāpati on a lotus-leaf is mentioned in the Taitt. Ārany. i. 23, 1, quoted above, p. 32.

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⁷⁶ Ibid 20. *Chaturdaśa-guṇo hy esha kālo brāhmam ahaḥ smṛitam* | *brāhmo naimit-tiko nāma tasyānte pratisancharaḥ* | . . . 22. *Ekārṇave tu trailokye Brahmā Nārā-yaṇātmakaḥ* | *bhogi-śayyāgataḥ śete trailokya-grāsa-vṛiṁhitaḥ* | 23. *Janasthair yogi-bhir devaiś chintyamāno 'bja-sambhavaḥ* | *tat-pramāṇāṁ hi tāṁ rātriṁ tadante sṛijate punaḥ* | See also V. P. i. 2, 59–62, as translated by Wilson, vol. i. p. 41.

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A year of Brahmā is composed of the proper number of such days and nights; and 100 such years constitute his whole life. The period of his life is called *Para*, and the half of it *Parārddha*, or the half of a *Para*. One Parārddha, or half of Brahmā's existence, has now expired, terminating with the great Kalpa, called the Pādma Kalpa. The now existing Kalpa, or day of Brahmā, called Vārāha (or that of the boar), is the first of the second Parārddha of Brahmā's existence.⁷⁷ The dissolution, which occurs at the end of each Kalpa, or day of Brahmā, is called *naimittika*, incidental, occasional, or contingent. (See Wilson's Vishṇu Purana, vol. i. of Dr. Hall's edition, p. 52, with the editor's note; and vol. ii. p. 269. For an account of the other dissolutions of the universe I refer to the same work, vol. i. p. 113, and to pp. 630–633 of the original 4to. edition.)

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⁷⁷ Ibid ver. 24. *Evam tu Brahmano varsham evaṁ varsha-śataṁ cha tat* | *śatam hi tasya varshāṇām param āyur mahātmanaḥ* | 25. *Ekam asya vyatītaṁ tu parārddham Brahmano 'nagha* | *tasyānte 'bhūd mahākalpaḥ Pādmaḥ ity abhiviśrutaḥ* | *dvitīyasya* *parārddhasya varttamānasya vai dvija* | *Vārāhaḥ iti kalpo 'yam prathamaḥ parikalpitaḥ* |

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Of this elaborate system of Yugas, Manvantaras, and Kalpas, of enormous duration, no traces are found in the hymns of the Rig-veda. Their authors were, indeed, familiar with the word *Yuga*,⁷⁸ which frequently occurs in the sense of age, generation, or tribe. Thus in i. 139, 8; iii. 26, 3; vi. 8, 5; vi. 15, 8; vi. 36, 5; x. 94, 12, the phrase *yuge yuge*⁷⁹ means "in every age." In iii. 33, 8; x. 10, 10, we have *uttarā yugāni*, "future ages," and in x. 72, 1, *uttare yuge*, "in a later age;" in vii. 70, 4, *pūrvāṇi yugāni*, "former ages,"⁸⁰ and in i. 184, 3, *yuga jūrṇā*, "past ages." In i. 92, 11; i. 103, 4; i. 115, 2; i. 124, 2; i. 144, 4;⁸¹ ii. 2, 2; v. 52, 4; vi. 16, 23; vii. 9, 4; viii. 46, 12; viii. 51, 9; ix. 12, 7;⁸² x. 27, 19; x. 140, 6⁸³ (in all of which places, except i. 115, 2, the word is combined with *manushyā*, *mānushā*, *manushaḥ*, or *janānām*), *yuga* seems to denote "generations" of men, or rather, in some places, "tribes" of men. In v. 73, 3, the phrase *nāhushā yugā* must have a similar meaning. In i. 158, 6, it is said that the rishi Dīrghatamas became worn out in the tenth *yuga*; on which Professor Wilson remarks (R. V. vol. ii. 104, note): "The scholiast understands *yuga* in its ordinary interpretation; but the *yuga* of five years is perhaps intended, a lustrum, which would be nothing marvellous." Professor Aufrecht proposes to render, "in the tenth stage of life." The first passage of the Rig-veda, in which there is any indication of a considerable mundane period being denoted, is x. 72, 2 f., where "a first," or, "an earlier age (*yuga*) of the gods" is mentioned (*devānām pūrvye yuge*; *devānām prathame yuge*) when "the existent sprang from the non-existent" (*asataḥ sad ajāyata*); but no allusion is made to its length. In the same indefinite way reference is made in x. 97, 1, to certain "plants which were produced before the gods,—three ages (*yugas*) earlier" (*yāḥ oshadhīḥ pūrvāḥ jātāḥ devebhyas tri-yugam purā*). In one verse of the Atharva-veda, however, the word *yuga* is so employed as to lead to the supposition that a period of very long duration is intended. It is there said, viii. 2, 21: *śataṁ te ayutaṁ hāyanān dve yuge trīṇi chatvāri kṛinmaḥ* | "we allot to thee a hundred, ten thousand, years, two, three, four ages (*yugas*)."⁸⁴ As we may with probability assume that the periods here mentioned proceed in the ascending scale of duration, two *yugas*, and perhaps even one *yuga*, must be supposed to exceed 10,000 years.

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⁷⁸ In Professor Willson's Dictionary three senses are assigned to *yuga* (neuter) (1) a pair; (2) an age as the Kṛita, Tretā, etc.; (3) a lustre, or period of five years. When used as masculine the word means, according to the same authority, (1) a yoke; (2) a measure of four cubits, etc.; (3) a particular drug.

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⁷⁹ Sāyaṇa, on iii. 36, 3, explains it by *pratidinam*, "every day;" on vi. 8, 5; vi. 15, 8; vi. 36, 5, by *kāle kāle*, "at every time."

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⁸⁰ Sāyaṇa takes the phrase for former "couples of husbands and wives," *mithunāni jāyāpatirūpāṇi*.

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⁸¹ In i. 92, 11 and i. 124, 2, Ushas (the Dawn) is spoken of as, *praminatī manushyā yugāni*, "wearing away human terms of existence, or generations." In commenting on the former text Sāyaṇa explains *yugāni* as equivalent to *kṛita-tretādīni*, "the Kṛita, Tretā, and other ages," whilst in explaining the second, he takes the same word as signifying *yugopalakshitān nimeshādi-kālāvayavān*, "the seconds and other component parts of time indicated by the word," or as equivalent to *yugmāni*, "the conjunctions of men,"—since the dawn scatters abroad to their several occupations men who had been previously congregated together!" In his note on i. 144, 4, he gives an option of two different senses: *manoḥ sambandhīni yugāni jāyāpati-rupāṇi hotradhvaryu-rūpāṇi vā* | "couples consisting of husband and wife, or of the hotṛi and adhvaryu priests."

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⁸² This verse, ix. 12, 7, is also found in Sāma V. ii. 552, where, however, *yujā* is substituted for *yugā*.

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⁸³ This verse occurs also in Sāma V. ii. 1171, and Vāj. S. xii. 111.

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⁸⁴ For the context of this line see Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1866, page 42.

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The earliest comparison between divine and human periods of duration of which I am aware is found in the text of the Taitt. Br. quoted above in a note to p. 42: "A year is one day of the gods.⁸⁵ But so far as that passage itself shows, there is no reason to imagine that the statement it contains was anything more than an isolated idea, or that the conception had, at the time when the Brāhmaṇas were compiled, been developed, and a system of immense mundane periods, whether human or divine, had been elaborated. That, however, the authors of the Brāhmanas were becoming familiar with the idea of extravagantly large numbers is clear from the passage in the Taitt. Br. iii. 12, 9, 2, quoted above, p. 41, in the note on Manu xii. 50, where it is said that the creators were engaged in a sacrifice for 100,000 years.

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⁸⁵ An analogous idea is found in the S'atapatha Brāhmaṇa xiv. 7, 1, 33 ff. (= Bṛihadāraṇyaka Upanishad pp. 817 ff. of Cal. ed.) *atha ye śatam manushyāṇām ānandāḥ sa ekaḥ pitṝṇāṁ jitalokānām ānandaḥ* | "now a hundred pleasures of men are one pleasure of the Pitṛis who have conquered the worlds." And so on in the same way; a hundred pleasures of the Pitṛis equalling one pleasure of the Karmadevas (or gods who have become so by works); a hundred pleasures of the latter equalling one pleasure of the gods who were born such, etc.

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Professor Roth is of opinion (see his remarks under the word Kṛita in his Lexicon) that according to the earlier conception stated in Manu i. 69, and the Mahābhārata (12,826 ff.), the four Yugas—Kṛita, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali, with their mornings and evenings, consisted respectively of no more than 4,800; 3,600; 2,400; and 1,200 ordinary years of mortals; and that it was the commentators on Manu, and the compilers of the Purāṇas, who first converted the years of which they were made up into divine years. The verse of Manu to which Professor Roth refers (i. 69), and the one which follows, are certainly quite silent about the years composing the Kṛita age being divine years:

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*Chatvāry āhuḥ sahasrāṇi varshāṇāṁ tu kṛitaṁ yugam | tasya tāvach chhatī sandhyā sandhyāṁśchaścha tathāvidhaḥ | 70. Itareshu sasandhyeshu sasandhāṁśeshu cha trishu | ekāpāyena varttante sahasrāṇi śatāni cha |* “They say that four thousand years compose the kṛita yuga, with as many hundred years for its morning and the same for its evening. 70. In the other three yugas, with their mornings and evenings, the thousands and hundreds are diminished successively by one.”

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Verse 71 is as follows: *Yad etat parisankhyātam ādāv eva chatur-yugam | etad dvādaśa-sāhasraṁ devānāṁ yugam uchyate |* which, as explained by Medhātithi, may be thus rendered: “Twelve thousand of these periods of four yugas, as above reckoned, are called a Yuga of the gods.” Medhātithi’s words, as quoted by Kullūka, are these: *Chaturyugair eva dvādaśa-sahasra-sankhyair divyam yugam |* “A divine Yuga is formed by four yugas to the number of twelve thousand.” Kullūka, however, says that his predecessor’s explanation is mistaken, and must not be adopted (*Medhātither bhramo nādarttavyaḥ*). His own opinion is that the system of yugas mentioned in vv. 69 and 71 are identical, both being made up of divine years. According to this view, we must translate v. 71 as follows: “The period of four yugas, consisting of twelve thousand years, which has been reckoned above, is called a Yuga of the gods.” This certainly appears to be the preferable translation, and it is confirmed by the tenor of verse 79. Verse 71, however, may represent a later stage of opinion, as it is not found in the following passage of the Mahābhārata, where the previous verse (69) is repeated, and verse 70 is expanded into three verses, though without any alteration of the sense:

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M. Bh. iii. 12826 ff. — *Ādito manuja-vyāghra kṛitsnasya jagataḥ kshaye | chatvāry āhuḥ sahasrāṇi varshāṇām tat kṛitaṁ yugam | tasya tāvachchhatī sandhyā sandhyāṁścha tathāvidhaḥ |*

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"In the beginning, after the destruction of the entire universe, they say that there are four thousand years: that is the Kṛita Yuga, which has a morning of as many hundred years, and an evening of the same duration." And then, after enumerating in like manner the other three Yugas with their respective thousands and hundreds successively diminished by one, the speaker (the sage Mārkaṇḍeya) proceeds in verse 12831: *Eshā dvādaśahasrī yugākhyā parikīrttitā | etat sahasra-paryantam aho brāhmam udāhṛitam |* "This period of twelve thousand years is known by the appellation of the Yugas. A period extending to a thousand of these is called a day of Brahmā."

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Nowhere, certainly, in this passage is any mention made of the years being divine years.

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The earliest known text in which the names of the four Yugas are found is a verse occurring in the story of Śunaḥśepha in the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa vii. 15: *Kaliḥ śayāno bhavati sanjihānas tu dvāparaḥ | uttish-ṭhaṁs tretā bhavati kṛitaṁ sampadyate charan |* "A man while lying is the Kali; moving himself, he is the Dvāpara; rising, he is the Tretā; walking, he becomes the Kṛita."⁸⁶ But this brief allusion leaves us quite in the dark as to the duration which was assigned to these *yugas* in the age when the Brāhmaṇa was compiled.

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⁸⁶ This verse has been already translated no less than six times; twice into German by Weber and Roth (Ind. Stud. i. 286 and 460), once into Latin by Streiter (see Ind. Stud. ix. 315), and thrice into English, by Wilson (Journ. R. A. S. for 1851, p. 99), Müller (Anc. Sansk. Lit. p. 412), and Haug (Ait. Br. ii. 464). All these authors, except the last, concur in considering the verse as referring to the four Yugas. Dr. Haug, however, has the following note: "Sāyana does not give any explanation of this important passage, where the names of the Yugas are mentioned for the first time. These four names are, as is well known from other sources, ... names of dice, used at gambling. The meaning of this Gāthā is, There is every success to be hoped; for the unluckiest die, the Kali is lying, two others are slowly moving and half fallen, but the luckiest, the Kṛita, is in full motion. The position of dice here given is indicatory of a fair chance of winning the game." Both Dr. Haug's translation and note are criticised by Professor Weber (Ind. Stud. ix. 319). Of the following verses, which occur in Manu ix. 301 f., the second is a paraphrase of that in the Aitareya Brāh- *mana*: *Kṛitam tretā-yugañ chaiva dvāparaṁ kalir eva cha* | *rājno vṛittāni sarvāṇi rājā hi yugam uchyate* | 302. *Kaliḥ prasupto bhavati sa jāgrat dvāparam yugam* | *karmasv abhyudyatas tretā vicharaṁs tu kṛitaṁ yugam* | "301. The Kṛita, Tretā, Dvāpara, and Kali *yugas* are all modes of a king's action; for a king is called a *yuga*. 302. While asleep he is the Kali; waking he is the Dvāpara age; intent upon action he is the Tretā, moving about he is the Kṛita." The former of these two verses of Manu is reproduced nearly verbatim in the M. Bh. xii. 3408; and the same idea is expanded in the same book of the same poem, vv. 2674 ff., 2682, 2684, 2686, 2693 ff. The words *kṛita*, *tretā*, *dvāpara*, and *kali*, are found in the Vāj.-Saṁhitā, xxx. 18, and in the Taitt. Brāhmaṇa, iii. 4, 1, 16; but in both places they denote dice, as does also the word *kṛita* in the Chhāndogya Upan. iv. 1, 4 (where see the commentary). On the Yugas the reader of German may also consult Weber's Indische Studien, i. pp. 39, 87 f., 282 ff.

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