Vol. 4 · pages 316–320

305 RIDDLE NO. 23 a time. The second reform he is said to have carried out was to lay down conditions for regulating Niyog. The following were the most important of these conditions. (i) The father or brother of the widow (or of the widow’s husband) shall assemble the Gurus who taught or sacrificed for the deceased husband and his relatives and shall appoint her to raise issue for the deceased husband 1. (ii) (1) The husband, whether living or dead, must have no sons; (2) The Gurus in a family council should decide to appoint the widow to raise issue for her husband; (3) The person appointed must be either the husband’s brother or a sapinda, or sagotra of the husband or (according to Gautama) a sapravara or a person of the same caste. (4) The person appointed and the widow must be actuated by no lust but only by a sense of duty; (5) The person appointed must be anointed with ghee or oil (Narada Stripumsa, 82) must not speak with or kiss her or engage in the sportive dalliance with the women; (6) This relationship was to last till one son was born (or two according to some); (7) The widow must be comparatively young, she should not be old or sterile, or past child-bearing or sickly or unwilling or pregnant (Baud. Dh. S. II. 2.70, Narad, Stripumsa 83.84); (8) After the birth of a son they were to regard themselves as father-in-law and daughterin-law (Manu IX, 62). It is further made clear by the texts that if a brother-in-law has intercourse with his sister-in-law without appointment by elders or if he does so even when appointed by elders but the other circumstances do not exist (e.g., if the husband has a son), he would be guilty of the sin of incest.” There are other reforms carried out by the ancient Aryan Society necessary to improve its morals. One was to establish the rule of prohibited degrees for purposes of marriage to prevent recurrence of father-daughter, brother-sister, mother-son, grandfather-grand daughter marriages. The other was to declare sexual intercourse between the wife of the Guru and the pupil a heinous sin. Equally clear is the evidence in support of an attempt to control gambling. Every treatise in the series called Dharma Sutras contain references to laws made throwing on the King the duty and urgency of controlling gambling by State authorities under stringent laws. All these reforms had taken effect long before the Kali Yuga started and it is natural to hold that from the point of view of morality the Kali Yuga was a better age. To call it an age in which morals were declining is not only without foundation but is an utter perversion. 1 Kane Vol. II part 1 p. 601.

306 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES This discussion about the Kali Yuga raised many riddles in the first place. How and when did the idea of mahayuga arise? It is true that all over the world the idea of a golden age lying in the past has been prevalent. But the idea of a Mahayuga is quite satisfied with the idea of a golden past prevelent elsewhere in India. Elsewhere the golden past is deemed to return. It is gone for ever. But in the idea of the Mahayuga the golden past is not gone for ever. It is to return after the cycle is complete. The second riddle is why was the Kali Yuga not closed in 165 B.C. When according to the astronomer it was due to end why was it continued. Third riddle is the addition of Sandhya and Sandhyamsa periods to the Kali Yuga. It is quite obvious that these were later additions. For the Vishnu Purana states them separately. If they were original parts of Kali Yuga they would not have been stated separately why were these additions made. A fourth riddle is the change in the counting of the period. Originally the period of the Kali Yuga was said to be human years. Subsequently it was said to be a period of divine years with the result of the Kali Yuga being confined to 1200 years became extended to 4,32,000 years. That this was an innovation is quite obvious. For the Mahabharata knows nothing about this calculation in term of divine years. Why was this innovation made? What was the object of the Vedic Brahmins in thus indefinitely extending the period of the Kali Yuga? Was it to blackmail some Shudra Kings that the theory of Kali Yuga was invented and made unending so as to destroy his subjects from having any faith in his rule? zz

RIDDLE NO. 24 THE RIDDLE OF THE KALI YUGA The Units into which time is broken up for the purposes of reckoning it which are prevalent among the Hindus have not deserved the attention which their extraordinary character call for. This is a matter which forms one of the principal subject matter of the Puranas. There are according to the Puranas five measures of time (1) Varsha, (2) Yuga, (3) Maha Yuga, (4) Manwantara and (5) Kalpa. I will draw upon the Vishnu Purana to show what these units are. To begin with the Varsha. This is how the Vishnu Purana explains it 1 : “Oh best of sages, fifteen twinklings of the eye make a Kashtha; thirty Kalas, one Muhurtta; thirty Muhurttas constitute a day and night of mortals : thirty such days make a month, divided into two half-months : six months form an Ayana (the period of the Sun’s progress north or south of the ecliptic): and two Ayanas compose a year.” The same is explained in greater details at another place in the Vishnu Purana2. “Fifteen twinklings of the eye (Nimedhas) make a Kashtha; thirty Kashthas, a Kala; Thirty Kalas, a Muhurtta (forty-eighty minutes); and thirty Muhurttas, a day and night; the portions of the day are longer or shorter, as has been explained; but the Sandhya is always the same in increase or decrease, being only one Muhurtta. From the period that a line may be drawn across the Sun (or that half his orb is visible) to the expiration of three Muhurttas (two hours and twenty-four minutes), that interval is called Pratar (morning), This is another version entitled ‘The Riddle of the Kali Yuga’. The copy available with us is a carbon copy having no corrections or modifications by the author. This chapter contains 40 pages.—Ed. 1 Wilson’s Vishnu Purana pp. 22-23. 2 Ibid.

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 terms1 : “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 terms4 : “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.

309 RIDDLE NO. 24 What is Kalpa is stated by the Vishnu Purana in the following brief text : “Kalpa (or the day) of Brahma.” These are the periods in which time is divided. The time included in these periods may next be noted. The Varsha is simple enough. It is the same as the year or a period of 365 days. The Yuga, Maha Yuga, Manwantara and Kalpa are not so simple for calculating the periods. It would be easier to treat Yuga, Maha Yuga etc., as sub-divisions of a Kalpa rather than treat the Kalpa as a multiple of Yuga. Proceeding along that line the relation between a Kalpa and a Maha Yuga is that in one Kalpa there are 71 Maha Yugas while one Maha Yuga consists of four Yugas and a Manwantara is equal to 71 Maha Yugas with some additional years. In computing the periods covered by these units we cannot take Yuga as our base for computation. For the Yuga is a fixed but not uniform period. The basis of computation is the Maha Yuga which consists of a fixed period. A Maha Yuga consists of a period of four Yugas called (1) Krita, (2) Treta, (3) Dwapara and (4) Kali. Each Yuga has its period fixed. Each Yuga in addition to its period has a dawn and a twilight which have fixed-duration. Actual period as well as the period of the dawn and the twilight are different for the different Yugas. Yug Period Dawn Twilight Total Krita .. 4000 400 400 4800 Treta .. 3000 300 300 3600 Dwapara .. 2000 200 200 2400 Kali .. 1000 100 100 1200 Maha Yuga ..... ... ... 12000 This computation of the Maha Yuga is in terms of divine years i.e. 12000 divine years or years of Brahma make up one Maha Yuga at the rate of one year of men being equal to one divine day the Maha Yuga in terms of human or mortal years comes to (360 × 12000) 43,20,000 years. Seventy-one Maha Yugas make one Kalpa. This means that a Kalpa is equal to (43,20,000 × 71) 3,06,72,000. Coming to Manwantaras one Manvantara is equal to 71 Maha Yugas plus something more. The period of a manvantara is equal to