yuga, VarNa and colour

[wart]

Actually the digits of any number that is a multiple of 9 will have a
sum of 9 as well.  Since all of the numbers mentioned are products of
360, which is 9x40, they will all be multiples of 9.

David Allen
Edmonton, Canada

                                     email: wart at freenet.edmonton.ab.ca


On Sun, 18 May 1997, Patricia Meredith Greer wrote:

> And what can we make of the fact that the sum of the units 
> in each of these numbers = 9? eg. 1 728 000 = 
> 1+7+2+8=18=1+8=9?  This is true of so many of the "indic" 
> numbers we come across -- the japa mala of 108 beads,etc. 
> Are there any specific references to this number in the 
> ancient literature? Or should we look to the 3?  
> 
> On Sat, 17 May 1997 22:28:07 BST Luis Gonzalez-Reimann 
> <reimann at uclink.berkeley.edu> wrote:
> 
> 
> > I apologize for mistakenly mailing an incomplete version of this posting
> > earlier.  This is the complete one.
> > 
> > Luis
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > At 03:25 PM 5/17/97 BST, Dominique THILLAUD wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > >	I know kRta the better and kali the worst, but what about treta and
> > >dvApara ?
> > >	Regards,
> > >Dominique
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > The names of the dice throws, K.rta TretA, DvApara, and Kali, are associated
> > with the descending numerical sequence 4-3-2-1 (like the Pythagorean
> > tetraktys).  TretA comes from tri (3), and DvApara from dva (2).  They are
> > obvious cognates of other IE names for the same numbers.  K.rta is the past
> > passive participle of the root k.r, "to do" (Pisani has a different
> > etymology for K.rta that connects it with 4, see Mayrhofer).  It means
> > "done" and, by extension, "well done" or "good."  So K.rta is the winning
> > throw, TretA is the next one down, then comes DvApara, and the worst (and
> > losing) throw is Kali.  Kali means conflict, bad luck; but whether this
> > meaning is derived from the dice throw or it informed it, is no perfectly clear.
> > These names were used to rate things from good to bad on a descending scale.
> > They were so used to name the four yugas, so K.rta became the best one, and
> > so on.  The 4-3-2-1 sequence became fundamental to the yugas, as they were
> > said to last for 4 000, 3 000, 2 000, and 1 000 years respectively; with
> > sandhis of 400, 300, 200, and 100 years.  The cow of dharma was said to
> > stand on 4 feet in K.rta, 3 in TretA, and so on.
> > 
> > If you apply the 4-3-2-1 sequence to the circumference, with its 360
> > degrees, you will get 4 arcs of 144, 108, 72, and 36 degrees respectively.
> > This is how the "divine years" of the yugas were turned into "human years,"
> > as a divine year was said to equal 360 human years.
> > So, for example,
> > 
> > K.rta is 4 000 divine yrs.  x  360 = 1 440 000 + (144 000 x 2) = 1 728 000
> > human yrs.
> > 
> > 144 000 is one sandhi in human years (400 x 360).
> > 
> > By this procedure the total number of human years in the four yugas is 4 320
> > 000.  Take away a few zeros and you have 432 000, which is the duration of
> > the Kali yuga.  But add zeroes and you get the duration of the kalpa: 4 320
> > 000 000.
> > 
> > 432 000 is a very important number, as it is the result of 120 x 3 600.
> > According to the Satapatha BrAhmaNa the Rg Veda has 12 000 verses of 36
> > syllables = 432 000 total.
> > 
> > I hope this helps.
> > 
> > Luis Gonzalez-Reimann
> > University of California, Berkeley
> > 
> > 
> 
> ________________________________
> Patricia M. Greer
> Department of Religious Studies
> Cocke Hall
> University of Virginia
> Charlottesville, VA 22901
> 
> 
>