MYTHS AND FOSSILS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I
have read with interest the epitaphs on the Ape-man whose fossilized skull was recently discovered at Taungs. In a recent work Professor Keith gives us the following estimates of the periods that have elapsed since the first appearance of mammalian life :- Eocene Age • • • • .. 2,400,000 years Miocene Age • • • • .. 1,200,000 „ Pliocene Age .. 500,000 „ Pleistocene Age .• .. 400,000 „ Total .. .. 4,500,000 „
The Mahabharata describes four successive stages in human evolution—the Satya, Tretya, Dvapara, and Kali Yugas, to which it assigns the following durations Satya Yuga •
• • • • •
.. 1,728,000 years Tretya Yuga
• •
• •
.. 1,296,000 „ Dvapara Yuga .. 864,000 „ Kali Yuga
• •
.. 432,000 „ Total .. 4,320,000 „ The close similarity between the two schemes, especially in the number of ages, the relative durations assigned to them, and the almost identical totals, is manifest. How came Vyasa to anticipate (by 3,000 years) the latest conclusions of our biologists in so recondite a matter ? Can it be true, after all, that there is more to be learnt from the " myths " than from all the fossils in the British and other museums ?
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