08
Jan

The Yugas Came Later

Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist
The four yugas of Hindu mythology (Krita, Treta, Dvapara, Kali) are based on the numbers on traditional four-sided dice: four, three, two, one. They refer to the four legs of the bull of dharma. In the ideal age, the bull stands on four legs, in the age of Ram it has only three, in the age of Krishna it has only two, and currently we are in one before the flood of doom. Or they may refer to the decreasing duration of the four yugas, 4321, giving us hope that Kali Yuga is the shortest.
In some books, the four yugas constitute one day of Brahma (kalpa). In other books, the four yugas constitute one period of Manu (manvantara) and several such periods of Manu make up a day of Brahma. Different texts all give different durations for the yugas and kalpas and it makes for great social media fodder. What is not clarified is that this is a new idea, one that became popular only after 500 AD, with the advent of Puranic literature, which located the two great epics of Hinduism — the Ramayana and the Mahabharata — in two separate yugas.
The Ramayana and the Mahabharata were written effectively by 100 AD, in a Sanskrit form very different from the Vedic Sanskrit. They told the biographies of great kings who valued the Vedic way, who lived long before kings were distracted by Buddhism and Jainism. The storytellers were witnesses, participating in the stories they narrated. Valmiki saw the reign of Ram. Vyasa saw the war at Kurukshetra. This is what made them valid memories (itihasa).
Both the Ramayana and the Mahabharata were first presented to kings during Vedic ceremonies. When Ram performs the Ashwamedha ritual, he heard his own story, the Ramayana, presented as poetry by two boys, who turn out to be his sons, born and raised in the forest by their mother Sita, and educated by Valmiki. When Janamejaya performed the Sarpa-satra ritual, he heard the story of his ancestors, the Mahabharata, presented by Vaisampayana, keeper of the Yajur Veda, and student of Vyasa, who had organised the Veda, and had also composed the Mahabharata to help everyone understand dharma. Vyasa, also happened to be the biological ancestor of Janamejaya, the grandfather of his greatgrandfather, Arjuna.