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292 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
explanation is that given by Dr. Shamshastry. According to him there were two Kali Yuga Eras which must be distinguished, one beginning in
3101 B.C. and another beginning in 1260 or 1240. B.C. The first lasted about 1840 or 1860 years and was lost.
III
When is the Kali Yuga going to end ? On this question the view of the great Indian Astronomer Gargacharya in his Siddhanta when speaking of Salisuka Maurya the fourth in succession from Asoka makes the following important observation [1] :
“Then the viciously valiant Greeks, after reducing Saketa, Panchala country to Mathura, will reach Kusumadhwaja (Patna): Pushpapura being taken all provinces will undoubtedly be in disorder. The unconquerable Yavanas will not remain in the middle country. There will be cruel and dreadful war among themselves. Then after the destruction of the Greeks at the end of the Yuga, seven powerful Kings reign in Oudha.”
The important words are “after the destruction of the Greeks at the end of the Yuga”. These words give rise to two questions (1) which Yuga Garga has in mind and (2) when did the defeat and destruction of the Greeks in India take place. Now the answers to these questions are not in doubt. By Yuga he means Kali Yuga and the destruction and defeat of the Greeks took place about 165 B.C. It is not mere matter of inference from facts. There are direct statements in chapters 188 and
190 of the Vanaparva of the Mahabharata that the Barbarian Sakas, Yavanas, Balhikas and many others will devastate Bharatvarsna ‘ at the end of the Kali Yuga ’.
The result which follows when the two statements are put together is that the Kali Yuga ended in 165 B.C. There is also another argument which supports this conclusion. According to the Mahabharata, Kali Yuga was to comprise a period of one thousand years [2] . If we accept the statement that the Kali Yuga began in 1171 B.C. and deduct one thousand years since then we cannot escape the conclusion that Kali Yuga should have ended by about 171 B.C. which is not very far from the historical fact referred to by Garga as happening at the close of the Kali Yuga. There can therefore be no doubt that in the opinion of the chief Astronomer [3], Kali Yuga came to end by about 165 B.C. What is however the position ? The position is that according to the Vaidika Brahman’s Kali Yuga has not ended. It still continues. This is clear
1 Quoted by R. C. Dutt in his ‘Civilization in Ancient India’.
2 Chronology of Ancient India p. 117.
3 Garga’s statement seems to be corroborated by the statement in the Mahabharata that the period of Kali Yuga is 1000 years. For we add 171 to 1000 we get 1171 which is said to be the beginning of Kali.