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308 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
forming a fifth portion of the day. The next portion, or three Muhurttas from morning, is termed Sangava (forenoon): the three next Muhurttas constitute mid-day; the afternoon comprises the next three Muhurttas; the three Muhurttas following are considered as the evening; and the fifteen Muhurttas of the day are thus classed in five portions of three each.”
“Fifteen days of thirty Muhurttas each are called a Paksha (a lunar fortnight); two of these make a month; and two months, a solar season; three seasons a northern or southern declination (Ayana); and those two compose a year.”
The conception of Yuga is explained by the Vishnu Purana in the following terms [1 ] :
“Twelve thousand divine years, each composed of (three hundred and sixty) such days, constitute the period of the four Yugas, or ages. They are thus distributed : the Krita age has four thousand divine years; the Treta three thousand; the Dwapara two thousand; and Kali age one thousand; so those acquainted with antiquity have declared.
“The period that precedes a Yuga is called a Sandhya, and it is of as many hundred years as there are thousand in the Yuga; and the period that follows a Yuga, termed the Sandhyansa, is of similar duration. The interval between the Sandhya and the Sandhyasana is the Yuga, denominated, Krita, Treta, &c.”
The term Yuga is also used by the Vishnu Purana to denote a different measure of time. It says [2 ] :
“Years, made up of four kinds of months, are distinguished into five kinds; and an aggregate of all the varieties of time is termed a Yuga, or cycle. The years are severally, called Samvatsara, Idvatsara, Anuvatsara, Parivatsara, and Vatsara. This is the time called a Yuga.”
The measure of Maha Yuga is an extension of the Yuga. As the Vishnu Purana points out [3 ] :
“The Krita, Treta, Dwapara, and Kali constitute a great age, or aggregate of four ages : a thousand such aggregates are a day of Brahma.”
The Manwantara is explained by the Vishnu Purana in the following terms [4 ] :
“The interval, called a Manwantara, is equal to seventy-one times, the number of years contained in the four Yugas, with some additional years.”
1 Wilson’s Vishnu Purana. p. 23.
2 Wilson’s Vishnu Purana. p. 23.
3 Wilson’s Vishnu Purana. p. 23.
4 Wilson’s Vishnu Purana pp. 24.