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same meaning as the astronomical term ‘conjunction’. Prof. Weber suggests that the period of time known as Yuga was connected with four lunar phases.
Following this suggestion Mr. Rangacharya [1] has advanced the theory that “in all probability the earliest conception of a Yuga meant the period of a month from new-moon when the Sun and the Moon see each other i.e., they are in conjunction”. This view is not accepted by others. For instance, according to Mr. Shamshastry [2] the term Yuga is in the sense of a single human year as in the Setumahatmya which is said to form part of the Skanda Purana. According to the same authority it is used in the sense of a Parva or half a lunation, known as a white or dark half of a lunar month.
All these attempts do not help us to know what was the period which the Vaidikas intended to be covered by a Yuga.
While in the literature of the Vaidikas or theologians there is no exactitude regarding the use of the term Yuga in the literature of the astronomers (writers on Vedanga Jyotish) as distinguished from the Vaidikas the word Yuga connotes a definite period. According to them, a Yuga means a cycle of five years which are called (1) Samvatsara, (2) Parivatsara, (3) Idvatsara, (4) Anuvatsara and (5) Vatsara.
Coming to Kali it is one of the cycles made up of four Yugas: Krita, Treta, Dwapar and Kali. What is the origin of- the term Kali ? The terms Krita, Treta, Dwapar and Kali are known to have been used in the three different connections. The earliest use of the term Kali as well as of other terms is connected with the game of dice.
From the Rig-Veda it appears that the dice piece that was used in the game was made of the brown fruit of the Vibhitaka tree being about the size of a nutmeg, nearly round with five slightly flattened sides. Later on the dice was made of four sides instead of five. Each side was marked with the different numerals 4, 3, 2 and 1. The side marked with 4 was called Krita, with 3 Treta, with 2 Dwapara and with 1 Kali. Shamshastry gives an account of how a game of dice formed part of sacrifice and how it was played. The following is his account [3] :
“Taking a cow belonging to the sacrificer, a number of players used to go along the streets of a town or village, and making the cow the stake, they used to play at dice in different batches with those who deposited grain as their stake. Each player used to throw on the ground a hundred or more Cowries (shells), and when the
1 The Yugas: A question of Hindu Chronology and History p. 19.
2 Drapsa: The Vedic cycle of Eclipses (1938) p. 88.