﻿112 ON THE CHRONOLOGY 



One of the most curious books in Sanscrit, and 

 one of the oldest after the Pedas, is a tract on reli- 

 gions and civil duties, taken, as it is believed, from 

 the oral instructions of Menu, son of Brahma, to the 

 first inhabitants of the earth. An exceeding well- 

 collated copy of this most interesting law-tract is 

 now before me; and I begin my dissertation with a 

 few couplets from the first chapter of it : tf The sun 

 * c causes the division of day and night, which are 

 *' of two sorts, those of men and those of the 

 cf Gods ; the day, for the labour of all creatures in 

 « c their several employments ; the night for their 

 " slumber. A month is a day and night of the' 

 «< patriarchs ; and it is divided into two parts ; the 

 ce bright half is their day for laborious exertions ; the 

 * f dark, half, their night for sleep. A year is a day 

 <f and night of the Gods ; and that is also divided 

 < c into two halves ; the day is, when the sun moves 

 ** toward the north ; the night, when it moves to- 

 <£ ward the south. Learn now the duration of a 

 " night and day of Brahma with that of the ages 

 « c respectively and in order. Four thousand years 

 " of the Gods they call the Crita (or Satya) age ; 

 «« and its limits at the beginning and at the end are, 

 6i in like manner, as many hundreds. In the three 

 " successive ages, together with their limits at the 

 " beginning and end of them, are thousands and 

 « c hundreds diminished by one. This aggregate of 

 " four ages, amounting to twelve thousand divine 

 «« years, is called an age of the Gods ; and a thou- 

 « sand such divine ages added together must be con- 

 " sidered as a day of Brahma : his night has also the 

 u same duration. The before mentioned age of the 

 ,f Gods, or twelve thousand of their years, multi- 

 " plied by seventy-one, form what is named here 

 " below a Manwantara. There are alternate crea- 

 " tions and destructions of worlds through innumer- 

 " able Manwantaras: the Being supremely desir- 

 w able performs all this again and again." 



