JOGUES, or Yugs, certain ages, eras, or periods of extraordinary length in the fabulous chronology of the Hindus. They are (see Halhed’s Preface to the Code of Gentoo Laws, p. xxxvi.) four in number, viz.

1. The Suttee Yug, or age of purity, which is said to have lasted three millions two hundred thousand years; and they hold that the life of man was extended in that age to one hundred thousand years, and that his stature was twenty-one cubits.

2. The Tirtah Yug, in which one third of mankind was corrupted, they suppose to have consisted of two millions four hundred thousand years, during which men lived to the age of ten thousand years.

3. The Dwapaar Yug, in which half of the human race became depraved, endured one million six hundred thousand years, during which the life of man was reduced to a thousand years.

4. The Collee Yug, in which all mankind were corrupted, or rather lessened (for that is the true meaning of the word Colled), is the present era, which they suppose ordained to subsist four hundred thousand years, and of which nearly five thousand are already past. The life of man in this period is limited to one hundred years.

Some account has already been given of the Indian chronology (see articles Chronology and Hindustan), and it is therefore unnecessary to recur to the subject in this place. But we may nevertheless subjoin Dr Robertson’s observations on the above periods, from the Notes to his Historical Disquisition concerning India. “If,” says he, “we suppose the computation of time in the Indian chronology to be made by solar, or even by lunar years, nothing can be more extravagant in itself, or more repugnant to our mode of calculating the duration of the world, founded on sacred and infallible authority. From one circumstance, however, which merits attention, we may conclude that the information which we have hitherto received concerning the chronology of the Blindas is very incorrect. We have, as far as I know, only five original accounts of the different Jogues or eras of the Hindus. The first is given by Μ. Rogers, who received it from the Brahmins on the Coromandel coast. According to it, the Suttee Jogue is a period of one million seven hundred and twenty-eight thousand years; the Tirtah Jogue is one million two hundred and ninety-six thousand years; theDwapaar Jogue is eight hundred and sixty-four thousand. The duration of the Collee Jogue he does not specify (Porte Ouverte, p. 179). The next is that of Μ. Bernier, who received it from the Brahmins of Benares. According to him, the duration of the Suttee Jogue was two millions five hundred thousand years; that of the T'ir-tah Jogue, one million two hundred thousand years; that of the Dwapaar Jogue is eight hundred and sixty-four thousand years. Concerning the period of the Codec Jogue he is likewise silent (Voyages, tom. ii. p. 160). The third is that of Colonel Dow; according to which the Sutrae Jogue is a period of fourteen millions of years, the Tirtah Jogue one million and eighty thousand, the Dwapaar Jogue [7:12:589]seventy-two thousand, and the Collee Jogue thirty-six thousand years (Hist, of fīindost. vol. i. p. 2). The fourth account is that of M. le Gentil, who received it from the Brahmins of the Coromandel coast; and as his information was acquired in the same part of India, and derived from the same source, with that of Μ. Rogers, it agrees with his in every particular (Mem. de l’ Académie des Sciences pour 1772, tom. ii. part i. p. 176). The fifth is the account of Mr Halhed, which has been already given. From this discrepancy, not only of the total numbers, but of many of the articles in the different accounts, it is manifest that our information concerning Indian chronology is hitherto as uncertain as the whole system of it is wild and fabulous. To me it appears highly probable, that when we understand more thoroughly the principles upon which the factitious eras or jogues of the Hindus have been formed, that we may be more able to reconcile their chronology to the true mode of computing time, founded on the authority of the Old Testament; and may likewise find reason to conclude, that the account given by their astronomers, of the situation of the heavenly bodies at the beginning of the Collee Jogue, is not established by actual observation, but the result of a retrospective calculation.”