The first yuga of each Caturyuga (mahayuga cycle) is the Satya or Krutha Yuga. This is followed by the Tretha, Dwapara and Kali Yugas, again and again cyclically. (For detailed explanation See : How many kinds of Yugas are there?))
Srimad Bhagavatham tells us that
- Only the Pranava Omkara was the Veda in the Satya Yuga.
- There was only one Deva (Luminary), that was Narayana.
- There was only one Varna. (See Also : Indian Caste System: Then and Now: Jati, Varna, Kula)
- There was only one Agni .
Reference Srimad Bhagavatham : “SB 9.14.48:
- pura — formerly; ekah — only one; eva — indeed; vedah, pranavah omkara, sarva-vak-mayah— consisting of the essence of all the words.
- (ekah — only one; eva — indeed;) devah, only one luminary of worship, narayanah, Narayana na anyah– (and) no other.
- ekah agnih — one division only for agni; (not all the different kinds of agnis.. for eg Naciketas etc)
- (ekah — only one) varnah — order of life; eva ca — and certainly.”
Further The Bhagavatham makes it clear that the Veda Mantras and Vedic Yajnas are of the Tretha Yuga. The first Yajna was performed by the king Pururavas in the beginning of the Tretha Yuga.
- treta-mukhe – in the beginning of the Treta-yuga, pururavasah — from King Pururava; trayi — the Vedic principles of karma, jnana and upasana; eva — only; asit — there was;
- agnina — by Agni; prajaya — by his son; raja — King Pururava; lokam gandharvam — world of the Gandharvas; eyivan — went to.
- nrpa – O King (Pariksit )
Furthermore all the major Rishis of the Rg Veda such as Atri, Vasishtha, Viswamitra, Kanva, Bharadwaja, Parasara, Gauthama, were Sri Rama’s seniors and most of them advised, taught, guided or interacted with him.
Sri Aurobindo tells us that the divine Veda Mantras came to them in meditation and were revealed to us through them.
The Bhagavad Gita was revealed by Sri Krishna to Arjuna about 30 years before the close of the Dwapara Yuga, and the beginning of the kaliyuga. It summarises the 18 major philosophies of the Dwapara Yuga. It has been poetically described as the milk of the Upanishads, where the Upanishads are the cows and Sri Krishna is the milkman.
- Nachiketas of the Katha Upanishad was a great grandson of Gauthama Maharshi. The development of the Upanishads and other texts created to understand the Vedas, started close on the heels of the Vedic Age (Tretha Yuga) and was completed well before the Bhagavad Gita (end of Dwapara Yuga).
- So we can confidently state that Tretha Yuga was the Vedic Age and assume that Dwapara was the Upanishadic age.
- In the Ramayanam, Valmiki tells us that Sri Rama and Sita Devi were married along with Vedic Rites and with Triragnim and Panigrahanam. He tells us that Ravana performed some Vedic rites prior to the Ramayana war.
- Sri Rama and Lakshmana were sent by Dasaratha to protect Viswamitra’s Yajna.
We also notice that Valmiki never discusses Varnas in the Ramayanam only dynasties (Ikshwaku) and jathis (rakshasas, nagas, vanaras, devas etc). So clearly Varnas are not a popular Tretha Yuga Concept.
- We have Sri Krishna saying “Catur Varnam Maya Srishtam” in the Bhagavad Gita, which was an effort to reduce the 4000 jathis and inter-jathis into 4 social orders based on karma (work) and guna (nature), with certain advantages and certain restrictions on each varna.
- The Varnas are clearly a Dwapara Yuga Concept.
In my previous articles I have shared many instances of free inter-marriages among jathis in the tretha yuga and varnas in the dwapara yuga. The varna rigidity is Kaliyuga feature.
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