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that could in the smallest degree affect or contradict the new order of things, should be either destroyed new modelled, or the obnoxious passages expunged; and, secondly, that others should be written or com- posed having the appearance of antiquity, by being fathered on ancient writers to support, as it were by their evidence, the existence in ancient times, and through all ages, of .the new system of years thus introduced. Thus, it is put into the moudi of Menu to say : " When ten thousand and ten years of the Satya Yuga were past (i. e. 3881091 B.C.) on the night of the full moon in the month of Bhadra, I Munnoo, at the command of Brahma, finished this shasttVy that speaks of men's duty, of justice, and of religion, ever instructive."* By such means the system was introduced, though I believe not without a struggle; for there is still a tradition that the Maharastras or Maharattas^ destroyed all the an- cient works, — that people hid their books in wells, tanks, and other places, but to no purpose, for hardly any escaped ; and those that did then escape, were afterwards picked up by degrees, so that not one was allowed to be in circulation. This will ac- count, not only for the books that now exist being either entirely modem, or else new modelled to cor- respond with the new order of things, but also for the paucity of ancient facts and observations that have reached our time. Indeed the few scattered and insulated fragments that have reached our time. .* Mr. Halhed, in his Geotoo laws, gives this passage, and from what he says, seems to believe the truth of it ; but his argnment will not hold good, because it does not follow that Menu ever wrote a line of it : in fact he could not, Menu being only a fictitious personage introduced for the purpose.' Digitized by Google 108 THE MODERN ASTRONOMY would not have been allowed to pass, had they been supposed to be of any consequence, or could convey any idea or knowledge of former times. And we may rely on it, that the moment they become known, the books in which they are contained will either be destroyed, or the facts themselves expunged; for the Brahmins of this day, are fully as eager in sup- port of this monstrous system as those that first in- vented it, and watch every opportunity of destroying such facts against it as may appear to have escaped the vigilance of former Brahmins. But to wait for the gradual development of facts, would be a great loss of time : they therefore artfully endeavour, as if by accident, to encourage a controversy on the sub- ject, with the sole view of knowing from the oppo- nent, the points on which he rests his arguments, and the books from whence he draws them, in order that such books may be destroyed entirely, or the facts expunged by degrees, as the nature of the case will admit. It is but too well known, that many books that were in circulation not more than fifty years ago, have now altogether disappeared, probably from this cause alone. To some it would doubtless appear, as a thing im- possible, that a set of Brahmins in 27;Ww, could im- pose such a system on the rest of India. Those, however, who are acquainted with the Brahminical character, know too well that every thing was in their power: they were in possession of all the learning in the country, and their influence was so great, that even the princes of the country were ob- liged to bow submission to their will. Therefore, when they assembled together in convocation, to consult on the general interest of the whole body, whatever resolutions they came to on that head, DJgitized by Google OF THE HINDUS. 109 would be universally adopted by the brethren : and woe to the man that should dare oppose them ; for their power and influence far exceeded those of the Popes in Europe, so that wherever they sent their secret orders, they would be sure to be obeyed. The introduction of the modem system was doubt- less intended as a blow on Christianity, which, at the time, was making some progress in India; for by making the Christians appear but as people of yes- terday, in comparison to themselves, the natives would not only be less disposed to listen to them, but would look upon them with the same degree of contempt as the Brahmins did. But the grandest blow of all, which was levelled by the Brahmins against Christianity, and the neplus ultra of their schemes, was the invention of the Avatars, or descents of the Deity, in various shapes, .^ and under various names, particularly that of Krisna; for as the Christians acknowledged that Christ was an incarnation of the Deity, and that God the Father had sent him down on earth to show his special fa- vour to them, and redeem them from sin; so the Brahmins, in return, invented not one, but several incarnations and descents of the Deity amongst them at various times ; thereby, to make it appear by such frequent descents, that they exceeded the Christians and all other nations by far, in point of favour with the Deity. My attention was first drawn to this subject, by finding that a great many of the Hindu festivals marked in their calendar, had every appearance of being modem; for they agreed with the modem astronomy only, and not with the ancient. I observed also several passages in the Geeta, having a reference to the new order of things I Digitized by Google 110 THE MODERN ASTRONOMY was therefore induced to make particular enquiries respecting the time of Krishna, who, I was satisfied, was not near so ancient as pretended. In these en- quiries I was told the usual story, that Krishna lived a great many ages ago ; that he was contem- porary with Yudhishthira ; that Garga, the astrono- mer, was his priest ; and that Garga was present at his birth, and determined the positions of the planets at that moment; which positions were still pre- served in some books, to be found among the astro- nomers : besides which, there was mention made of his birth in the Harivama and other Puranas. These I examined, but found they were insufficient to point out the time. I therefore directed my attention to- wards obtaining the Janampatra of Krishna, con- taining the positions of the planets at his birth, which at length I was fortunate enough to meet with, and which in the originsfl^idnscrit runs in the words fol- lowing;:^-^ t: y From which its appears that Krishna was born on the 23d day of the moon of Sravanu, in the Lunar Mansion Rohinl, at midni^t; at which instant the moon. Mars, Mercury, and Saturn, were in their respective houses of exaltation ; the moon in Taurus, Mars in Aries, Mercuiy m Virgo, and Saturn in Libra : that the sign Taurus was then rising : Ju- piter in Pisces, the sun in Leo, Venus and the moon's ascending node in Libra. Digitized by Google OF THE HINDUS. Ill The positions of the planets thus given us at the birth of Krishna^ place the time of the fiction to the year A.D. 600, on the 7th of August, on which day, at noon^ on the meridian of Paris, the following were their respective positions^ as computed from Euro- pean Tables : — SoDioLeo, ..••••• ••... 4 \6^ 4/Or Moon in Taurus, 1 18 S3 MooD*f node aso. in libra, •••••• • 6 11 17 Hercifj in Virgo, geoc. long. •...••••••••••• • 6 0 20 Venu in libra,, • • • • • do. •••••••••.••...••••••••• 6 1 21 Mars in Arief , • do 0 16 46 Jopitor in Tanras,*... do* ••••••••••• 1 !• S Satan in Libia,. do. •••• • 6 26 51 Subtracting the sun's longitude, 4* 16^40', from the moon's, P 18° 32', we get 9* T 52', which being divided by 12, the difference in longitude between the sun and moon in a lunar day, we have 22 lunar days, 29 dandas, and 20', and therefore only 20 dan* das 40' to the commencement of the next lunar day, or about 8*^ and 24 minutes, making the commence- ment of the 23d at 24"^ past 8 in the evenings To diis add difference of meridians, 4 hours, 54 minutes, makes at Ujein, 18°* past one in the morning, at which time the moon was a little past the middle of Rohihi. Krishna, as a portion of Vishnu, means time, or the year ; for Vishnu being a personification of time, any portion whatever of him must be considered as time also.