Adhyaya 73 — The Uttama Manvantara: Classes of Devas, Indra Sushanti, and the Royal Lineage
तृतीयमेतत्कथितं तव मन्वन्तरं मया ।
तामसस्य चतुर्थन्तु मनोरन्तरमुच्यते ॥
tṛtīyam etat kathitaṃ tava manvantaraṃ mayā | tāmasasya caturthaṃ tu manor antaram ucyate ||
Manvantara yang ketiga ini telah aku ceritakan kepadamu; namun sela yang keempat bagi Manu dikatakan sebagai milik Tāmasa.
Purāṇic narration teaches by ordered sequence: understanding dharma and history requires seeing where one stands in a larger, staged unfolding of time.
Manvantara: it explicitly counts and transitions between Manu-eras.
The shift to ‘Tāmasa’ signals a qualitative modulation of cosmic conditions—purāṇic time is not only quantitative (counts) but also qualitative (guṇa-colored epochs).