184 On the Principles of 



year of any event. That which is most familiar to the 

 generality of the people is the Saka Warusa, which is the 

 year of some King of the continent of Asia, whose name was 

 Saka, and who was said to be the head of the royal race of 

 Yawana (Grecian.) The present year (A. D. 1855) is the 

 1777th of the Saka Warusa, 78 years later than the 

 Christian sera. 



They use the year of our Lord Jesus Christ in all the 

 public documents at present ; and the inhabitants of the 

 towns and their neighbourhood are more familiar with this, 

 than Saka Warusa, 



For religious purposes they use Buddha Warusa, the 

 year from the death of Gautama Buddha, 621 years before 

 Saka Warusa. Consequently, the present is the 2398th year 

 of Buddha Warusa. 



In most of the Medical, Astronomical, and other scientific 

 works of very ancient dates, which we have in Sanskrit from 

 the Wedas of the Bramins, another sera, called Kaliyuga 

 Warusa, is used. Kaliyuga is the last of the four last yugas or 

 ages of the world, which, the Singhalese say, have passed. 

 The commencement of the Kaliyuga was 3179 years prior to 

 'Saka Warusa. The present year of the Kaliyuga is the 

 4956th. The whole period during which it is to exist is 

 432,000 years, The yuga or age that preceded Kaliyuga 

 w r as called Dwapara, and existed twice as many years as the 

 Kaliyuga, namely 864,000. The one before that was Treta, 

 which existed^l,296,000 years, being three times as many as 

 the years of Kaliyuga. And, the one preceding this was. 

 Kreta, the duration of which was four times that of Kaliyuga, 

 namely 1,728,000 years. Before these four yugas, the 

 present Kalpa or the period of the world, is believed to have 

 existed during 27 divine yugas of an innumerable number 

 of years. 



