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; but the reigns of the kings for that particular space of time are not distinguished from those that reigned after the period terminated. Digitized by Google 78 THE ANCIENT ASTRONOMY for a reason that will be hereafter explamed. This, however, caimot prevent us from discovering the real period to which the reigns extended, taking them at the average already found ; whibh, taking the two periods Treta and Dwapar together, gives an average of about 12 years to a reign. Now the number of princes in the solar line, that reigned after the cwn- mencement of tlie Kali, before that time became extinct, was 28; and 28 multiplied by 12, gives us 336 years for the period they reigned, which, being reckoned from the year 540 B. C. when the Kali began, will bring them down to the year 204 B.C. the very year at which the astronomical period com- menced, and when tlie periods of the four ages were invented, as above stated : but what is equally re- markable, is, that the solar line of princes, the lunar line of princes, and the line of Jarashanda, should all become then extinct at one and the same time, as if the history after this period, was discontinued from some particular cause. The duration of the Kali from 540 B.C. to 299 B.C. being 241 years, the number of reigns in that period, at 12 years to a reign, would be 20; and from the year 299 B.C. down to 204 B.C. woujd be the eight remaining reigns, when the whole terminated. We may, from these circumstances, plainly perceive, that Vyasa, the son of Parasara, who lived 540 years B.C. was not the author of the ancient Hindu history, much less of its division into the periods above given, though pretended so to have been. Vyasa could have given a history only to his own time, if he gave any ; which, however, is very much to be doubted, as we find many other asserticms of the modem Hindus, not only totally void of truth, but of the slightest foundation. Digitized by Google OF THE HINDUS. 79 We shall now proceed to the next astronomical period, or the sixth, which began on the 23rd January A. D. 44, when the Hindu year commenced with the month Phalguna, on the^ 7th day of the moon, and with the LmiGur Asterism Satabhisha. At the commencement of this period, observations were made, and the positions of the planets for that epoch, together with their mean motions, corrected, where necessary. Early in this period, that is to say, about the year A.D. 51, Christianity was preached in India by St.ThomaLS. This circumstance introduced new light into IndiCy in respect of the history and opinions of the people of the west, concerning the time of the creation^ in which the Hindus found they were far behind in point of antiquity ; their account of the crea- tion going back only to the year 2352 B.C. which was the year of the Mosaic flood, and therefore would be considered as a modem people in respect of the rest of the world. To avoid this imputation, and to make the world believe they were the most ancient people on the face of the earth, they resolved to change the tim§ of the creation, and carry it back to the year 4225 B.C. thereby making it older than the Mosaic ac- count; and making it appear, by means of false history written on purpose, that all men sprang from them. But to give the whole the appearance of reality, they divided anew the Hindu history into other periods, carrying the first of them back to the autumnal equinox in the year 4225 B.C. : these periods they called Manwantaras, or patriarchal periods, and fixed the dates of their respective commencement by the computed conjunctions of Saturn with the sun, in the same manner as those of the four ages already given, were fixed by the conjunctions of Jupiter and the Digitized by Google 80 THE ANCIENT ASTRONOMY mn. This, no doubt, was done with a view of making the world believe, that such conjunctions were noticed by the people who lived in the respec- tive periods ; and therefore, might be considered as the real genuine and indisputable periods of history founded on actual observations. The following table contains these periods, with their respective dates of commencement, &c. Patriarchal Periods or Manwantaras. Dates. Moon's Age. Errors in the Ta- bles Dsed. Ist, 25th Oct 4225 B.C. ^iiiTithioiAinvina, 30O 58' 42"— 2nd, 13th Nov. 3841 .. 12th .. oiKorlika, 28 12 17 — 3rd, Llth April 3358 .. 3rd .. of Chaitra, 24 43 14 — 4th. 29* Ang. . 2877 . . 3rd .. ofBhadra, 21 14 38 — 5th, 25th March 2388 .. 30th .. orPhalguna, 17 42 65 — 6th, 23rd Dec. 2043 .. Uth- .. ofPausha, 15 13 6 — 7th, 2ndJolj 1628 .. loth .. ofAshad'ha, 11 30 8 — 8th, 8th Jan. 1040 .. 7th .. orMagha, 7 58 22 — 9th, 28th Jnlj 555 .. 23rd .. of SravatMy 4 28 28 — Ended, 23rd Jane 31 A. D. 15th .. ofAshad'ha, 0 14 34 — The mean annual motion of Saturn was 0" 22° 14' 2" 48'", and the error in the mean annual motion =26" + ; therefore the year in which there would be no error ill the position of Saturn, would be A.D. 64, shewing the time when this division of the Hindu history was invented. The introduction of this division into the Hindu history, occasioned no derangements in the times of the reigns of the princes of India by the former divi- sion : — for Ikswaku, the first king who began his reign at the commencement of the Treta, 1528 years B.C. was transferred to the beginning of the seventh Manwantara in the above, or 1528 B.C. which, there- fore, is the same time.* • Ikswaka, on being so transferred, was called the son of the seventh Menu, who was feigned to be the offspring of the san, which shows his origin to be fictitious ; and from this fiction arose the appellation of solar line, being applied to his posterity. Tha lunar line, on the other hand, was feigned to have sprung from Buddha, the soo Digitized by Google OF THE HINDUS. 61 This division of the Hindu history was, however, doomed to be superseded by another about the year A.J). 538, in which the creation was thrown back 1972947101 years before the Christtan era, and the real Hindu history entirely changed, as will be no- ticed and explained in the second part, whea tlie subject of the modem astronomy is introduced. The next astronomical period began in the year A D. 291, when the month Chaitra began the yew, with the Lunar Asterism U. Bhadrapada, and the month Sravana (which was the same as the sign of the ecliptic Cancer), began with the Lunar Asterism Pmhya, that is, the beginning of Cancer and the be- ginning of Pushya then coincided. I mention this merely to show that the Ramayana called Valmika's, could not be older than A. D. 292 ; but it might be a century, or even two later, the limit of the period m which it was written being from A.D. 292 to A.D. 538. I have not been able to ascertain with sufficient certainty, the time when the tropical signs were first introduced into India; but they were certainly in use when the author of the Ramayana wrote, though probably not long before : we do not find the slightest mention of them in the genuine works of Parasara or Grarga, nor in fact in any real work of antiquity. There being no observations in this period, at least none on record worth mentioning, we therefore come down to the end of it, in A.D. 538, when the year, of Soma, or the mooo, by the Lunar Aiterum Rokmi, which is, therefore, ahio fioti- tioof . The birth of this Buddha I have ihown, in the first section, to hare been the 17th April 1424 B.C.; conseqnentlj the solar line is older than the lunar bj 104 years. From these circomstanoes, I think it \a^j probable that the Arcadians were a colony from India that settled in a part of Greece in early times, to which they gave their name (which is Sanscrit, implying descendants of the son); for they called themseUref older than the moon. M Digitized by Google 82 THE ANCIENT ASTRONOMY OF THE HINDUS. according to the regular periods above given, began on the tiTSt of Vaisakha, which then coincided with the beginning of Aswim, on the 7th day, or Tithi of the moon. This beginning of the year was desig- nated by the name Jahnu Saptanii in the calendars and other books of the Hindm;?^ one of the names of the sun. This year, A.D. 538, terminates the ancient astronomy of the Hindus, and commences the new, or modem, to which we shall now proceed. Digitized by Google PART II.