Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 733

COMPUTATION OF TIME
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separated from each
by an immense sea. They
closely resemble Jambu-Dwipa. and are also inhabited by
other
human
beings.
far end of the fourth continent, called Puskara-
varta-Dwipa, is situated Manushy-otraparvata, a very lofty
mountain which is the extreme limit of the habitable world.
No living being has ever gone beyond this mountain. Its
base is washed by an immense ocean, in which are to be
found an infinite number of islands which are inaccessible
to the human race.
At the
The Succession and Division of Time.
Time is divided into six periods, which succeed each other
without interruption throughout eternity. At the termina-
tion of each period there is an entire revolution in nature,
and the world is renewed. The first, called Prathama-kala,
lasted for four kotis of kotis, or forty million millions of years
the second, Divitiya-kala, thirty million millions
the third,
Tretiya-kala, twenty million millions
the fourth, Chaturtha-
kala, ten million millions, minus forty-two thousand years.
The fifth period, called Pa?ickama-kala, the period of incon-
stancy and change, is the age in which we are now living.
It will last twenty-one thousand years.
The present year
(1824) of the Christian era is the year 2469 of the Panchama-
kala of the Jains.
The comparatively recent date of the commencement of
this period seems to me to be worthy of note. I am inclined
to think that it is the date of the schism between the Brah-
mins and the Jains. Such a memorable event may well
have been considered as giving birth to a new era. If this
conjecture were confirmed it would be easier to fix the time
when the principal myths of Hindu theology originated.
There is no doubt that the new ideas introduced by the
Brahmins into their religion occasioned the schism which
exists to this day.
The sixth and last of these periods, the Sashta-kala, will
also last twenty-one thousand years.
The element of fire
will then disappear from off the earth, and mankind will
subsist entirely on reptiles, roots, and tasteless herbage, which
will only grow sparsely here and there.
There will then be
no caste distinction or subordination, no public or private
;
;
;