SYSTEMS OF ASTRONOMY. 229 



Hence, from the beginning of the third Man- 

 ivantara, down to that of the ninth, includes nearly 

 the same time as the Satya, Trtta^ and Dwapar of 

 the first system ; and consequently, that the events 

 of history recorded in these periods, if transferred 

 to the former, should be found under those parti- 

 cular Mamvantaras which corresponded with the 

 actual times in which they happened, unless pur- 

 posely destroyed or perverted, in modern times, 

 to prevent a disco \'ery of the change that has 

 been made in the systems. 



Therefore, without entering minutely into the 

 Hindu history, let us see how far the periods of 

 the two ancient systems agree, with respect to the 

 same events, which will be the most certain mode 

 of proving the truth of these systems. 



The Hindus place the flood in the Satya, or 

 golden age : — on referring to the Mamvantaras we 

 find, according to the Mdrcandtya purana, that 

 the flood took place in the fourth Manwantara ; 

 and that the fourth Menu derived his name, 

 Ta'masa, from the universal darkness which then 

 overspread the earth — therefore the two systems 

 agree in this point. 



The next period is the Treta, or silver age, at 

 or about the commencement of which the Hindu 

 empire began under the Solar and Lunar dynas- 

 ties, BuDHA, the son of S6ma, the son of Atri, 

 was the first of the Lunar line, and from him 

 down to the end of the Dwdpar, or brazen age, 

 (being 1200 years) there were about fifty reigns. 

 Now by referring to the table, we see that the be^ 

 ginning of the Tretdo^ the first system, corresponds 

 to the latter part of the fifth Mamvantara of the 

 second ; we therefore naturally look into the Pm- 

 7'dnas under that period, and there find, among 



Q3 't 



