The Mahabharata tells of the length of the 4 Yugas as 4,000, 3,000, 2,000 and 1,000 years (Vana Parva 188:22-26). The Hindi translation reads these as “divine years.” The Linga Purana says that one divine year is equal to 360 human years (5:26-32)…. Thus, Sat Yuga (also written as Krita Yuga) = 4,000 divine years as told in the Mahabharata, multiplied by 360 being the number of human years in one divine year as told in the Linga Purana. Plus we have to add 10% each for the beginning and end transition periods (sandhya + sandhyansh), making the Sat Yuga of 1728,000 human years. The Treta, Dwapar and Kali Yugas are similarly of 1296,000, 864,000 and 432,000 years respectively in the conventional understanding.
Genetic Information | Eve | Africa:
Genetic information indicates that human beings have evolved about 160,000 years ago from one woman who lived in Africa. Thus Vaivaswat Manu cannot be located before this time because he was an evolved human being as indicated in him riding on a boat. Therefore, Sat Yuga, in which he was born has to extend to 160,000 years before present. The remaining 3 Yugas have to be compressed within these 160,000 years. Accordingly, the four yugas cannot be of 1728,000, 1296,000, 864,000 and 432,000 years.
Archaeology | Bronze Age | Egypt | Sumer | Indus Valley:
The Ikshwaku Dynasty descended from Vaivaswat Manu who lived in the Sat Yuga. Large cities like Ayodhya and Mathura were made in the rein of this Dynasty. This means that the Dynasty started towards the beginnings of the urban civilization. The earliest urban civilizations of Indus Valley, Egypt and Sumer began in the 4th millennium BCE. Therefore, the Ikshwaku Dynasty would have ruled after the 4th Millennium BCE.
Since Vaivaswat Manu lived in Sat Yuga, and his descendant Rama lived in Treta Yuga, we may assume that the Ikshwaku Dynasty also began in the Treta Yuga. The Treta, Dwapar and Kali Yugas, therefore, have to be located within the time span of 4000 BCE to present.
In view of above genetic and archaeological evidences, we consider the four Yugas to be of 1728, 1296, 864 and 432 years only and suggest the “000” years added to these numbers is a hyperbole.
Manu | Prajapati | Avatara:
Now we try to locate the Manus, Prajapatis and Avataras in the above framework. The Hindu texts do not give any information of the time of Swayambhu Manu.
Vaivaswat Manu, at whose time the Matsya Incarnation took place, lived in the Sat Yuga. His son Ikshwaku lived in the Treta Yuga. It follows that Vaivaswat Manu lived towards the end of Sat Yuga and the beginning of Treta Yuga.
Astronomers have suggested widely varying time periods for Vaivaswat Manu, Rama and Krishna. Among them, S B Roy, has provided the possible time for the three in a chronological sequence as given below. Further, Rama was born in the Treta Yuga and Krishna in the Dwapar Yuga. The time of these Prajapatis or Avataras and their respective Yugas as suggested by S B Roy are given below:
Vaivaswat Manu: 3212 to 2798 BCE, Sat Yuga.
Rama: 1996 to 1646 BCE, Treta Yuga.
Krishna: 1445 to 1124 BCE, Dwapar Yuga.
The stretch of the Yugas has to be in the ration 4:3:2:1 as described in the Mahabharata and also has to match with the time of the above Prajapati and Avataras. One possible reconciliation of these is as follows, also given at Picture 1.
Sat Yuga: 4728 to 3000 BCE: 1728 Years: Swayambhu Manu and Vaivaswat Manu.
Treta Yuga: 3000 TO 1704 BCE: 1296 Years: Ikshwaku and Rama.
Dwapar Yuga: 1704 to 840 BCE: 864 Years: Krishna
Kali Yuga: Year 840 to 408 BCE.
5-Year Yugas:
The Yugas were reckoned of 5 year lengths making a cycle of 20 years from the time of the Rig Veda to the Satpatha Brahmana. Later, the Mahayuga cycle of 12000 years was introduced. It was divided in four Yuga in a ratio of 4:3:2:1. Gradually, the time span of Mahayuga cycle was been increased from 12000 years to 43,20,000 years (12000 x 360).
Our suggestion is that the First Chaturyuga came to an end around 408 BCE as described above. The difficulty faced by the scribes, perhaps, was that there was no Pralaya in sight as should have happened at that time. Therefore, they may have increased the span of the Mahayuga cycle from 20 years to 12000 years to 4320,000 years.
Vedveer Arya, From Manu to Mahābhārata. We do not agree with the time suggested by Vedveer Arya for these changes. We refer to him for the limited purpose to establish that there was a change in the reckoning of the Yugas.
Manvantara | Chaturyuga | Vaivaswat Manu| Swayambhu Manu:
Now let us consider the Kalpa, Manvantara and Chaturyuga. The Bhagwata Purana says that a Kalpa consists of 14 Manvantaras presided over by a Manu. Each Manvantara consists of 71 Chaturygas. We are in the 2nd Kalpa (Varaha Kalpa); 7th Manvantara (Vaivaswat Manvantara); 28th Chaturyuga (unnamed); Kali Yuga (Bhagwata Purana 3.11).
The understanding here is that the 14 Manvantaras and 71 Chaturyugas are sequential—they come after one another. Accordingly, the total time elapsed from creation to present would be about 6.2 billion years.
The texts also give certain genealogical information about the 14 Manus of the present Kalpa. The genealogy of these 14 Manus suggests that they lived at three time periods:
1st Kalpa of the 2 Kalpa, consisting of 14 Manvantaras, each consisting of 71 Chaturygas, each consisting of 4320k years = 4294,080k years. Plus, 6 Manvantaras of present Kalpa, each consisting of 71 Chaturygas, each consisting of 4320k years = 1840,320k years. Plus 27 Chaturuygas of present Manvantara, , each consisting of 4320k years = 116,640k years. Plus the first 3 Yugas of present Chaturyga (In the ratio 4+3+2=9 of 10 parts) of 4320k years = 3,960k years. Total = 4294,080k + 1840,320k + 116,640k + 3,960k = 6255,000k years.
Time Period 1: Six Manus: (1) Swayabhu Manu. (2) to (5) Four grandons of Swayambhu Manu, namely, (2) Svarocisa, (3) Uttama, (4) Tamasa, (5) Raivata (all s/o Priyavrata s/o Swayambhu Manu). (6) One great grandson of Swayambhu Manu, Caksusa Manu (s/o Dhruva s/o Uttanpada s/o Swayambhu Manu). The latter 5 of these Manus are bilogical gandsons or great gradsons of Swaymabhu Manu indicating they were contemporaneous.
Time Period 2: Two Manus. (7) Vaivaswat Manu, and (8) Savarni Manu. Savarni Manu was step brother of Vaivaswat Manu indicating that these two were also contemporaneous.
Brahma created Marici by his mind and Daksha from his right thumb (Mani, Vettam, Puranic Encyclopedia, Motilal Banarasidas, Delhi, 1975, Page 192). Kashyapa was son of Marici (Mani, Puranic… Page 398). Aditi, daughter of Daksha was married to Kashyapa, son of Marici (Mani, Puranic… Pages 192, 396). Three sons named Tvasta, Indra and Vivaswan (Surya) were born from this union (Mani, Puranic…Page 318, 879). Vaivaswat Manu was son of Vivaswan (Mani, Puranic…Page 879).
Time Period 3: Six Manus: These are yet to be born: (9) Daksa Savarni, (10) Brahma Savarni, (11) Dharma Savarni, (12) Rudra Savarni, (13) Ruci Savarni and (14) Indra Savarni. These six will be born as rebirths of 6 sons of Vaivaswat Manu. We have put them in a separate group because the time after which their rebirth may take place is not known. These are yet to be born hence outside our radar.
Now we try to place Manus (1) to (8) in a time frame. We have shown above that Vaivaswat Manu lived towards the end of Sat Yuga at 3000 BCE. It follows that the first six Manus numbered (1) to (6) were born some time before 3000 BCE. The texts give us no information to determine their time in more detail. Thus we place these 6 Manus at an unspecified time before 3000 BCE; and Vaivaswat and Savarni Manus at 3000 BCE as shown in Picture 2.
In making this suggestion we assume that the 6 earlier Manus and Vaivaswat and Savarni Manus were born in same Chaturyuga. In other words, we place these 8 Manvantaras within the same Chaturyuga. Reason is that the texts give us absolutely no information about the earlier 27 Chaturyugas of the present Manvantara. The earlier 27 Chaturyugas, if they happened at all, would also not match with the genetic and archaeological information given above. Thus we assume that the 27 earlier Chaturyugas is an interpolation not grounded in reality. Actually, there may be only 1 Chaturyuga with 14 Manvantaras within it.
Kalpa | Braahm Kalpa | Varaha Kalpa | Flood | Varaha Avatara:
The last point is of Kalpa. The first Kalpa was Braahm Kalpa. The second Kalpa, running at present, is Varaha Kalpa. The name “Varaha” of the present Kalpa helps us locate the same. The third Avatara after the Flood was that of Lord Varaha. The first three Avataras, namely Matsya, Koorma and Varaha, are all related to water or flood. It is possible these three Avataras took place at the time of the Flood at the time of Vaivaswat Manu. From this we deduce that the Varaha Kalpa may have started at the time of the Varaha Avatara after the Flood at 3000 BCE. It follows that the Braahm Kalpa before it would have ended at 3000 BCE. We thus give our suggestion for the Kalpas in Picture 3. In this way we can reconcile the Manvantaras, Chaturyugas and Kalpas with genetic and archaeological evidences.
Traditional Timeline | Bhagwata Purana | Reconciliation:
The Bhagwata Purana says that we are living in the 2nd Kalpa of the life of the present Brahma. Each Kalpa consists of 14 Manvantaras. Each Manvantara consists of 71 Chaturygas. We are in the 4th Yuga (Kali) of the 28th Chaturyuga of the 7th Manvantara of the 2nd Kalpa (Bhagwata Purana 3.11). We have shown this in a diagram at Picture 4.
This timeline leaves many questions unanswered:
1. The texts give no timeline for Swayambhu Manu. It is not clear whether he lived in the 1st Braahm Kalpa or the present 2nd Varaha Kalpa.
- 2.The texts give no information about the 14 Manvantaras and 71 Chaturyugas of the Braahm Kalpa that allegedly took place before the present Varaha Kalpa.
- 3. The texts give no information of the 71 Chaturyugas of the first six Manus of the present Varaha Kalpa.
- All these unanswered questions are resolved if the Chaturyuga was the largest time scale, within which there were 2 Kalpas and 14 Manvantaras—partly overlapping. We have given this possible reconciliation in Picture 5 with the changes marked in red colour.
- The Braahm Kalpa overlapped with the first 6 Manvantaras and with Sat Yuga of the only Chaturyuga. Varaha Kalpa overlapped with 7th and 8th Manvantaras and with the Treta-Dwapar-Kali Yugas of the present Chaturyuga. In this way we can reconcile the Hindu Kalpa-Manvantara-Chaturyuga periods with scientific evidence from genetics and archaeology.
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Mahabharata at 1500 BCE:
- The Mahabharata says that at the time of the war the solar and lunar eclipses occurred within a span of 13 days in the same month (6.3.28-29). This happened in 3229, 2559, 2056, 1853, 1792, 1708 and 1397 BCE. Bhatnagar has placed the Mahabhrata War between 2250 and 1280 BCE based on the location of the sun between Visakha and Anuradha Nakshatra in the autumn season.We have already placed the Dwapar Yuga in which the War took place at 1705 to 840 BCE. Thus the date of the Mahabharata War can be fixed as follows:3102 BCE: Does not match with the position of the 2056, 1853, 1792,1708 and 1397 BCE matches with both these astronomical requirements; and the date of does not match with the latter requirement. Of these Conclusion:
- Our suggestion is that the Braahm Kalpa overlapped with the first 6 Manvantaras and with Sat Yuga of the only Chaturyuga that came to an end around 3000 BCE at the time of the Flood. Varaha Kalpa overlapped with 7th and 8th Manvantaras and with the Treta-Dwapar-Kali Yugas of the present Chaturyuga which started at 3000 BCE at the time of the Flood. Rama lived in the Treta Yuga at 3000 to 1704 BCE, and Krishna in Dwapar Yuga at 1705 to 840 BCE.
- [1] https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/genetic-adam-and-eve-all-humans-are-descendants-one-man-and-woman-who-021536.[1] Krishna, Yugas & Avatars, http://ramakjn.blogspot.in/2006/06/yugas-avatars.html, Retrieved July 16, 2015.[1] Krishna, Yugas & Avatars, http://ramakjn.blogspot.in/2006/06/yugas-avatars.html, Retrieved July 16, 2015.[1] Roy, S B, “Scientific (Astro-Dynastic) Chronology of Ancient India,” in C Margabandhu et. al., Editors, Indian Archaeological Heritage, Agamkala Prakashan, Delhi, 1991, Page 702-703. Other scholars place the war of Mahabharata in which Krishna had participated variously between 5500 BCE and 900 BCE (Vartak, P V, The Scientific Dating of the Mahabharat War, Ved Vidnyana Mandal, Pune, http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/ancient/mahabharat/mahab_vartak.html, Retrieved September 7, 2013; IGNCA, Dating The Kurukshetra War, http://ignca.nic.in/nl002503.htm, Retrieved September 7, 2013). The range of 1445 BCE to 1124 BCE for the birth of Krishna suggested by Roy is within this larger range and we accept this.
[1] Vedveer Arya, From Manu to Mahābhārata. We do not agree with the time suggested by Vedveer Arya for these changes. We refer to him for the limited purpose to establish that there was a change in the reckoning of the Yugas.
[1] 1st Kalpa of the 2 Kalpa, consisting of 14 Manvantaras, each consisting of 71 Chaturygas, each consisting of 4320k years = 4294,080k years. Plus, 6 Manvantaras of present Kalpa, each consisting of 71 Chaturygas, each consisting of 4320k years = 1840,320k years. Plus 27 Chaturuygas of present Manvantara, , each consisting of 4320k years = 116,640k years. Plus the first 3 Yugas of present Chaturyga (In the ratio 4+3+2=9 of 10 parts) of 4320k years = 3,960k years. Total = 4294,080k + 1840,320k + 116,640k + 3,960k = 6255,000k years.
[1] Brahma created Marici by his mind and Daksha from his right thumb (Mani, Vettam, Puranic Encyclopedia, Motilal Banarasidas, Delhi, 1975, Page 192). Kashyapa was son of Marici (Mani, Puranic… Page 398). Aditi, daughter of Daksha was married to Kashyapa, son of Marici (Mani, Puranic… Pages 192, 396). Three sons named Tvasta, Indra and Vivaswan (Surya) were born from this union (Mani, Puranic…Page 318, 879). Vaivaswat Manu was son of Vivaswan (Mani, Puranic…Page 879).
[1] Savarni Manu was son of Surya (Vivaswan) and a maid (Mani, Puranic… Page 485).
[1] All years except 1792 BCE taken from “Dating the “Mahabharatha” – Two eclipses in thirteen days,” www.blogarama.com/…/1716110-dating-mahabharatha-two-eclipses-thirteen-days. Figure of 1792 BCE taken from Ashok Bhatnagar, Date of Mahabharata War Based on Astronomical References—A Reassessment, Page 378.
[1] Ashok Bhatnagar, Date of Mahabharata War Based on Astronomical References—A Reassessment, Page 375-376.
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