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He destroys serpents, because the serpent is an emblem of the year ; and therefore erery past reTolntion of the jtm is a year lost, or, metaphorically, a ser- pent destroyed ; for time that is past cannot be reco?ered. The EagU of Jupiter may also, perhaps, be considered in the same light. Digitized by Google QZ THE ANCIENT ASTRaNOMY can only be in respect of his qualities ; for Krishnar is a modem invention to serve a particular purpose.. Apollo certainly is time personified, as well as. Krishna, which may be proved by examining into his parentage, his inventions and discoveries. Jupiter and Latona are said to be his parents. Under the name of Orus, he was the offspring of Osiris and Isis in Egj/pt : in both cases, his father was probably the wn under a metaphorical name ; and his mother, no doubt, though under different names, meant time : for Diodorus Siculus says, that Is^s invfinted— the ppnfinA /^f TTiAri^ninA aud taught the art to her son Orus ; whence we must naturally conclude that Isis, and perhaps Latona, meant time taken generally; and tiiat from the union of time with the sun, sprung Apollo, or the year. Hence, like Mercury, Hermes, JSsculapius, and other personifications of the year, he is said to have invented eloquence, music, medi- cine, and poetry, qualifications not applicable to the, sun, but to time, as producing all things, according to the notions of the ancients, as well as of some of the moderns. Latona was the daughter of Saturn^ or of time, and therefore must be considered as time, as well as Isis, who was also considered the same as Ceres, Juno, Luna, Terra, Minerva, Proserpine, Thetis, Cybele, Venus, Diana, Bellona, Hecate, Rhamnusia, and all the goddesses. From the wholes of what is above shown, it is evident, that neither the sun nor moon, by whatever mythological names they may be called, can ever be considered as in- ventors of arts, letters, sciences, &c. except in me- taphorical language; and then it is not the sun ot moon that is to be understood, but their revolutions, or the time in which they are made, as years, lun-^ ations, &c. Digitized by Google pF THE HINDUS. 63 A great deal more might be said in explanation of mythological subjects; but as I have already ex- tended this article far beyond what I originally in- tended, I shall therefore now close it, and proceed to matters of more importance. Digitized by Google 64 THE ANCIENT ASTRONOMY SECTION IV. FROM eOS TO 204 B.C. Comtnencement qf the third Astronomical Period^The Precession then-^The term Rishis in Magha explained — Parasara and Garga cited — The Heliacal rising of Canopus in the time of Parasara — The same computed — Positions qf the Planets when Garga wrote —The time d^duced-^The real epoch qf YadhUthira, 2526 qf the Kaliyuga, perverted by the Modems— The fowrth Astronomical Period, We now come down to the third astronomical period, which, by the table at page 34, began in the year 698 B.C. on the first of the month Margasirsha ; which name was now changed into that oiAgrahaymia, from its commencing the year. At the commencement of this period, the preces- sion amounted to 6° 40 ; for all the months, seasons, Colures, and moveable, or tropical Lunar Mansions, depending thereon, were now found to have receded, or fallen back, in respect of the positions they had in 1192 B.C. by that quantity; and the beginning of the fixed Lunar Asterism Magha was found in the middle of the tropical, or moveable Magha^ making a difference of 6° 40' in 494 years and two months. To say that the beginning of Magha fell into the middle of Maghay would, to those who might be un- acquainted with the real nature of the case, appear an inconsistency, though in fact there was none ; for the same expression, or a similar one, we now use in saying that Aries is got into Taurus: meaning thereby, that the constellation Aries is got into the sign TauruSy which every one understands ; and no Digitized by Google OF THE HINDUS. 65 doubt every one understood the meaning of the other at the time in the same way. But to do away every appearance of inconsistency, the astronomers of that period invented a term to answer the same purpose, and for showing the quantity of the precession. This was by assuming an imaginary line, or great circle, passing through the poles of the ecliptic and the beginning of the fixed Magha; which circle was supposed to cut some of the stars in the Great Bear, which, by calculation, seems to have been the star /3. The seven stars in the Great Bear being called the Rishisy the circle so assumed was called the line of the Rishis ; and being invariably fixed to the begin- ning of the Lunar Asterism Magha, the precession would be noted by statmg the degree, &c. of any moveable Lunar Mansion, cut by that fixed line, or circle, as an index. Thus, in the case above, where the beginning of the Lunar Asterism Magha coin- cided with the middle of the moveable mansion Magha, it would be expressed by saying, that the Rishis got into 6° 40' of Magha, that is, the line of the Rishis cut the moveable mansion Magha in 6° 40', thereby avoiding the supposed inconsistency that would arise in saying that one Lunar Mansion got into another, or that one part of the same mansion by name, got into a different one ; which simple explanation brings us to the following one, respect- ing a passage in Parasara, and which has greatly puzzled, or seemed to puzzle many of the moderns. At the con\mencement of the first astronomical period, the fixed Lunar Asterisms, and the moveable ones of the same name, then coincided, (see Plate IL) and the positions of the Colures were therefore the same in both ; that is to say, the winter solstitial point was in the beginnifig of both the fixed and moveable Digitized by Google 66 THE ANCIENT ASTRONOMY mansions Sravishthciy with which the beginning of the month Magha, and that of the season of iSisira also coincided. The summer solstitial point was in the middle of the fixed and moveable Lunar Mansions A^lesha, with which point the beginning of the Solar month Sravana, and that of the season of Varsha, also coincided. The autumal equinoctial point was in 3° 20' of the fixed and moveable Lunar Mansion Visakha, with which point the beginning of the solar month Kartika, and the middle of the season Sarada, coincided. And the vernal equinoc- tial point was in 10° of the fixed and moveable Lunar Mansions Bharani, with which point the beginning of the solar month Vaisakha, and the middle of the season of Vasanta, coincided. Now, as the moveable Lunar Mansions, depending on the sun's revolution to the tropics, with the Colures, months, and seasons, fell back together, and at the same rate of precession, (3° 20' in 247 years and one month,) it would naturally follow, as a matter of course, that the positions of the Colures in the move- able Lunar Mansions, would still remain invariably the same, and at all times, as they were in the year 1192r B.C. The following expression, therefore, of Parasara, who, it will be shown, flourished about 575 years B. C. was perfectly correct and consistent. He says : '' When the sun having reached the end of Sravana in the northern path, or half of Ashlesha in the southern, he still advances, it is a cause of great fearT And Garga, who was contemporary with Parasara, and wrote his Sanhita in the year 648 B.C. says thus, to the same effect : " When the sun returns, not having reached Dhanishta in the northern solstice, or not having reached Ashlesha in the south- ern, then let a man fed great apprehension of danger ^ Digitized by Google OF THE HINDUS. 67 In these two passages there is nothing inconsistent ; for they are strictly conformable to the positions of the Colures, not only then but at all times, in the moveable Lunar Mansions, which alone are here meant, and not the fixed or sideral ones; there being no other mode in this case to distinguish between them, nor none necessary. The precession was well known in the time of Parasara and Grarga, and for upwards of 500 years before them ; there- fore, they could not be understood as speaking of the fixed Lunar Asterisms. If an European astro- nomer was now to say, " If the sun, having reached the beginning of Cancer, still advances without return^ ing great fear may be entertained,'' no one could possibly misunderstand him — no one could say he meant the constellation Cancer : so it was the same in the time of Parasara.