Page:Wine in Ancient India.pdf/8

 According to the Hindu Shastras there are four ages, and for each age a suitable shastra is given. We find from Kularnava Tantra, in Satya-Yuga (the Golden age of righteousness, free from sin) the scriptures were the Vedas.

The second age was the Treta-Yuga (righteousness decreased by one fourth) the scriptures were the Smrities.

The third age was the Dvapara-Yuga (righteousness decresed by half) the scriptures were the Puranas.

The fourth age is the Kali-Yuga (the iron age, in which we find so much wickedness, and the decline of all that is good) the scriptures are the Tantras.*

We shall deal only with the following :—

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 * 1) Shruti or the Vedas.
 * 2) Smriti or codes of law, the Dharma Shastra proper i. e. religious or secular, and domestic codes.
 * 3) Puranas or mythology proper.
 * 4) The great epics—the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
 * 5) Buddhist precepts, an off-shoot of the Hindu Shastras.
 * 6) Tantras.
 * According to historians the early ages India are divided into five epochs viz.