Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the People of India, their Religion and Institutions v1.c6.s6.34

v1.c6.s6.34

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.