jectural period adopted by astronomers to facilitate their
methpd. of calculation, is subdivided into a given number? of
yugS or ages in such a manner that the. Cali Yug ofthe
cycle* last completed, ended 707 years before the historical
era of Vicramaditya, or 764 years before Christ. Therefore
The satyayug or golden age, began before Christ 3164
The treta yng, or silver age ......... w*..... »-2204
The dwhpar yug, or brazen age ..............1484
The cali yug,'“dr-iron age ........ ......... 1 004
And ended . . . . . . . . .............................................. - 764
Making in all 2400 years.
“ During the first period of 960 years, called the; golden
age, the Hindus had no_ real history, the whdleibeing fabulous
except what relates to the flood, which is allegorically represented
by the fish incarnation.”
“ With the second period, or silver &ge, the Hindu empire
commences under the Solar and Lunar dynasties ; -and
from Budha, the son of Sóma, thëTTrst ofithe lunar line;
they reckon about fifty reigns down to the end of th<|
Dwhpar, which make, at an average, .twenty ^foury-years to
a reign.”
It therefore appears that the heroic age of India, the.period
at which the children of the Sun and Mopn are- said to have
begun to reign over mortal men, commenced, according to the
Indian history, about twenty-two centuries before the Christian
era. The famous war of the Mahabharat is dated eleven
centuries before the same epoch.
This calculation of the antiquity of thé Hindoos, founded
on the remains of their astronomy, coincides with the most
satisfactory conclusions respecting the date of their sacred
books, and the oldest relics of Hindoo literature.
In the admirable analysis of the Yedas, inserted by Mr.
Colebrooke in the eighth volume of the Asiatic Researches,
we are informed that the different portions of these ancient
Indian scriptures were composed at different times. The
exact period at which they were compiled, or that in which
* The present Cali Yug is the fourth age of the sixty-seventh Maha Yug of the
seventh Manwantara, contained in the Calpa of 2,400,000, which consists of fourteen
Manwantaras=2,399,040-p(l satya yug=960 years.) . -
the greater part w*as va^cthélly&wri tten, cannot be determined
from dpy*4at® -y'et ^obtained, but Mr. 'Colëbrooke is of opinion
that some parts writings,»-and those especially which
Contain prayeKS’tjrëcit e d c e r e m o n i e s termed Yajnya
are as old als the oa’fendar, > whieh purports»! have been framed
for the rë^ülfetioii^öf such ritpsl^f TMskaleiid'ar from the posi-
tions of thé: SQlêtitiatpoihtsi^Mtcaitéd by it, is proved;* 'according
to- »the S^lm'éf’femineht-. writer; .to havé» ifteeil cojnS'tracted in
thè fóutt’èenth' Cèhibury before the^(&hrisffei,TO;]erat ' It has likewise
leen shown from anothertpUsèage. o f the Yédrasybhat the
;©brrespdndduh‘&rt>f ^seasons- with month 9*$s ''there statéd agtees
with the» same p.ositibnvof the cardinafpibints.' • ‘
Th^ë "data afford theMneans of éstiniatiri^i|Ée real antiquity
riff hb'ySanskritdapjgWge’ and literature. The ancient
pialect-of the Yedas, and especially that of the thfëe«fi<rst-'oï‘
fhese hooks isy according to Mr. Colebrooke* extremely difficult
and obscure. It is rather to be^coiaiddered as. the parent
|s>f the more polished and refined idiom,'the classical Sanskrit;
than the same language properly so termed.*
It fe unnecessary to - go into any ..details in' regard to th§;
antiquity of the Semitic nations, bütrit will hé* worth while
to remark a circumstance!;whi&|i brings the history of these
nations in the earliest tiriiës info near relation with that ofthe
Hindoos. We have observed that the chronology of India
•commences like the mythical history of the* Egyptians and
many other nations, with dynasties said to have been the immediate
offspring of the Sun and Moon. The Solar and Lunar
races, the first mortal rulers, began their reign according' to
the old Hindoo chronology of Parasara, in the treta yug or
silver age. From the preceding period of 960 years,, the
golden age of the Hinddos'yby them ealled the satya yug,
the only record that exists* the remarkable;history of the
flood, allegorically represented by the fable of Satyavrata and
the incarnation of Yishnu in the Fish-Avatar. In the ancient
* It would be very interesting to know whether this ancient Indian dialect, the
idiom of the Yedas, displays many nearer analogies to the sister languages, the
Mceso-gothic, Greek and Latin, than the later Sanskrit. A remarkable instance
has been noticed by M. A. W. dé Schlegel in his preface to Mr. Haymaim’s German
translation of my work on Egyptian Mythology.