English
THE MODERN ASTRONOMY OF THE HINDUS. SECTION I. CotiuHineement qf iki eighth Astr^mmietU PerM, th§ beguming o/ thi Modem Astromoimf — The Brahmins introdwe new and enormoue periods into their Jftitory — The metme adopted on the oeetmon — The newpericde expimned — Jhed by AetronomictU cotnpntation$y the nature qf which i$ explained at length — The revolutions qf the Planets determined^ and a4justed to the system qf years so tntrodueed — Method of detenmning the antiqmty qf the system^ nip-. posing the same unknown — The same by a Table qf Errors continually decreas-, ing down to the Epoch — The positions qf the Stars given in Hinda Tables- Explained with a Diagram — Table uf the Lunar Asterisms^-The names of the Signs ArieSy Taurus^ tfc, introduced from the Westy and stiXl used to repre' sent the signs as beginning from the vernal equinoctial point — Some of the impositions qfmisdem Commentators and others noticed — The system intended as a blow against the Christians — The Aratars imcentedfor the samepurpose — Krishna the Avatar noticed — His nativity computed from the posUions of thePkmets at his birth. In the preceding pages, I have endeavoured to give a clear and concise view of the ancient astro- nomy of the Hindus^ so far as the same was found to be connected with history, from the earliest dawn of its commencement, down to A. D. 538, which was the beginning of the eighth astronomical period. This epoch is one of the greatest importance, pot only in Hindu history, but also in astronomy, as it was now that means were adopted by the Brahmins for completely doing away their ancient history, and introducing the periods now in use ; by which Digitized by Google 84 THE^MODERN ASTRONOMY they threw back the creation to the immense distance of 1972947101 years before the Christian era ; with a view, no doubt, to arrogate to themselves that they were the most ancient people on the face of the earth. The various means or contrivances that were adopted for this purpose will now be explained. — In the first place, they made choice of a period of 4320000000 years, which they called the Kalpa.* This period they divided and subdivided into lesser periods, which, the better to answer their purpose, they called by the same names as the periods of the two former divisions of the Hindu history were designated, in order that they might be conceived to be the same. The Kalpa, or 4320000000 years was divided into 14 Manwantaras,-]^ each consisting of 308448000 years, with the addition of 1728000 years to make up the Kalpa. The Manwantara they divided into 71 Maha Yugas, or great ages of 4320000 years each with the addition of 1728000 to make up the Manwantara. The Maha Vuga, or great age, they divided into four others, viz. the Kali of 432000 * KaJpa implies form. t The diTisioD of their history into 3£anwantaras, as formerly given, only consisted of witut, the fint of which began in the year 4225 B. C. at the aatonmal eqniDox, and the last terminated in the year A. D. 31 ; whereas they made their modern K<^^ as above, to consist of fourteen Jifanwantaras, and therefore not the same number : tiMt objection they foresaw, and, to obviate the force of it, added five aomiaid, or spiiriotta we$ to the former nine, to, make their number the same with the modem ones, and, to give them a better appearance, inserted their pretended dates in the oalendar and other books, as in the following Table : The sparions M^mwantar^a added, \0m Date, 15th of the moon of Ashddfha, 11. . . 15th of the moon of Kdrtika, 12. .. 15tb of the mooB of P^hol^Miia, 13. . . 15tb of the moon of ChaUra, 14. . . 15ih of the moon of Jyesfha. Digitized by Google OF TU£ HINDUS. $5 years, the Dwapar of 864000 years, th6 7Vd5 of 1296000 years, and the Krita of 1728000 years ; the four making up the number of years in the Maha Vuga, or great age=;4320000 years : thus giving to these periods, for the sake of imposition, the same names they had done in the former divisions ol their history. The Kalpa, being divided and subdivided into the periods above given, the next step was to fix the commencement of the Kalpa itself, and consequently the creation, which was assumed to have then taken place. For this purpose, it was resolved to frame an as- tronomical system, in which the planetar}^ motions were to commence with the Kalpa^ and to make the computation of eclipses, and the positions of the planets, at all times, to depend on that circum- stance ; by which means an air of truth and reality would be given to the whole, in the same manner as if actual observations had been made at the beginning of the Kalpa, or creation. In framing such a sys- tem, they resolved to adopt the sideral sphere and year, in place of the tropical, which till then had been in use ; so that the beginnings of the months and years would always, for the future, remain fixed to the same points, in respect of the fixed stars, in which they then stood ; and be also the same at the beginning of the Kalpa, or creation. Matters being thus far settled, the next step was to ascertain, by computation, a point of time from which the calcu- lation of the length of the year and the mean motions of the planets should proceed, in order to determine the number of revolutions of each in the Kalpa, pre- paratory to their application to astronomical pur* poses.. The only point of time they could find to Digitized by Google 86 THE MODERN ASTRONOMy answer this purpose was the 18th of February, in the year 1612 of the Julian period ; and this point they made the commencement of the Kali Yuga of the twenty-eighth Maha Yuga, of the seventh Man- wantara : from which we are now enabled to shew the number of years then elapsed of the Kalpa^ or in other words, from the creation, according to this new system, as follow : — Period of years at the begianing, called a Sandhi, = •••••• 1,728000 Six Mamoantaras complete, or 308448000 x 6 1,850,688,000 Twenty-seven Mdha Yugaa of the 7th ManwaiUara, or 4320000 x27=r 116,640,000 Krita of the 28th Maha Yuga, . 1,728,000 Treta of the same, 1,296,000 JhocL'par of the same, •.••••.....• • . . • • 864,000 To the beginning of the KaU Yuga, (or 18th Febroary, 1612J.P.)= 1,972,944,000 The point of time thus fixed on, was found by computation made backwards, which showed that the planets were then approximating to a mean con- junction in the beginning of the sideral sphere, com- mencing with the Lunar Asterism Aswini ; on which account it was made choice of as the point to pro- ceed from : for, had the approximation of the planets been id any other part of the heavens, it would not have answered their purpose; because their object was to assume the sun, moon, and all the planets, to be then in a line of mean conjunction in the begin- ning of Aswini, or the sideral sphere, in order that from that assumption, as if it had been an actual observation, they might determine the length of the yeJEir, and mean motions of the planets, suflSciently near the truth to answer their purpose : for, what- ever errors there might be in such an assumption, the same being divided among the years elapsed Digitized by Google OF THE HINDUS. 87 when the system was framed, would appear so small as not to be worth notice. For the better miderstanding of this, it will be proper to give here the positions of the planets at the point fixed on, yiz. on the 18th February, in the year 1612 of the Julian period, at sunrise, on the meridian of Lanka, or, more properly speaking, the meridian of IJ^ein, where this system was invented, and which is about 75® 50' E. of Greenwich. MEAN PLACES OF THE PLANETS AT THE GIVEN TIME. European Sphere. Hindu Sphere, Smi, 10 V 16' 48" > V 28<> 44' 12^ 0* 0^ C 0" Moon, 10 42486 4- 12844 12 0 S 8 48 Mercury,.... 8 28 S6 49 4- 1 28 44 12 10 27 21 1 Venni, 11 4 8 S9 + 1 28 44 12 1 2 62 61 Mmn, 9 10 S 11 + 1 28 44 12 11 17 47 2S Jopiter, .... 10 18 6 9 + 1 28 44 12 0 16 49 21 Satan, 9 10 2 28 + 1 28 44 12 = 11 8 46 40 Moon's apogee, 2 1 14 7 + 1 28 44 12 S 29 68 19 Node inpt. 7 622 16— 128 44 12.