English
THE GRAHA LAGHAVA Gives the following rule : — Multiply the equinoctial shadow by 8, to the product add 98, the sum will be the sun's longitude when the star Canopus rises cosmically, or in the morning with the sun: and subtracting the product from 78, shows the sun's longitude at the heliacal setting. Example : —The equinoctial shadow at Ujein 5 Multiply by 8, the product is ' . . 40* * Add to the product . .... 98 The sum is 138 Or 4* 18° the sun's longitude when Canopus rose at Sunrise, and 78°— 40° = 38°, the sun's longitude, when that star set heliacally at TJfjein. The artificial rules for the cosmical rising of Ca- nopus by the different books being now explained, we shall next show the time to which they refer. In A.D. 1750, the cosmical rising of Canopus at TJjtin was when the sun's longitude was 4* 13° 34', which is less than any of the Hindu books make it. The cause of this is owing to their method of esti- mating it from the sun's longitude, at the time of heliacal rising of Canopus^ by allowing a deduction of about 10 degrees. Thus the sun's longitude at * The degrees added id these operations do not arise ftrom anj scientific principles ; they are onlj the differenoes to make up the son's longitude to what it is required to be at the cosmical rising. Thus, ^oppose I know that the son's longitude at the cosmical rising of Canopus is 4' 17° at Ujein, then I may moltiply the length of the eqoinoctial shadow by 5, 6, 8, 10, or any other nomber, at pleasore, and add the difference to make up 4" 17° 3 for the roles are entirely artificial. Digitized by Google OF THE HINDUS. 173 the time of heliacal rising ofCanopus in A.D. 1750, was about 4* 25'' 40'; deduct from this 10° or 10i^ the remainder is 4' 15° 10' : the Pancha Siddhantika and Kesava make it 4' 15°; therefore, making every possible allowance for error, they cannot be older than the middle, or at farthest the beginning of last century. And the differences between the sup- posed dates of the books mentioned above, were doubtless made on purpose as a deception, to give, as it were, the appearance of different degrees of antiquity to the authors, while, in fact, they are all of the same period, or at least nearly so ; the whole, with many others, being probably the contrivance of a junta of Brahmins during the last centuiy. Here, I think, we have a complete proof of the imposition of the Brahmins of lljein, in telling the late Dr. Hunter that Bhattotpala, who cites the Pancha Siddhantika, lived near 800 years ago. Cer- tainly Ujein is not the place to obtain any true in- formation on matters of this kind, it being the very focus or point from which the whole of the im- positions appear to have originally sprung ; though at present, I believe, the fabrication of spurious books, commentaries, &c. is not confined to U/ein, but to be found all over India, wherever the influence of the Brahmins prevails. THE BRAHMA VAIVARTA AND BHAVISYA PURANAS. These books state the heliacal rising of Canopus when the sun is 3° short of Virgo, or 4 27° of Leo : they are therefore the productions of the same period ; and thus we may see that the Puranas are not so Digitized by Google 174 THE MODERN ASTRONOMY ancient as generally supposed, or the Hindus and others would wish us to believe. The epoch of the two Bhaswatis is the year 1021 Saca, or A,D. 1099. Bhattotpala, according to the information received by Dr. Hunter when at IJjein, was said to have lived about the year 890 of Saca, or A. D. 968 ; Kesava about 1382 Saca, or A. D. 1440 ; and the epoch of the Grahaiaghava, feigned to be yrritten by Ganesa, the son of Kesava, 1442 Saca, or A.D. 1620. And yet none of them, from what has been shown above, can be referred further back than the middle or beginning of last century. Hence we can depend on neither names, dates, nor epochs in Hindu books. One Gungadhur is said to have writ- ten a commentary on the work of Bhaskara Acharya in the year 1342 Saca, or A. D. 1420, which we know, from the time of Varaha Mihira, A.D. 1528, already determined, to be impossible, in respect of date. Laksmidas, the feigned grandson of Kesava, wrote a commentary on the Siddhanta Siromam of Bhaskara, in which all the calculations of the places of the planets, and the cosmical and heliacal risings of two of the stars, are made for the end of the year 4601 of the Kali Yuga, or A. D. 1500. This, no doubt, was done with a view to make it believed that he lived and wrote at the very epoch for which he made his calculation : but how could this be, if his supposed grandfather, Kesava, lived only about the middle of last century, or ay, even in the be^ning of it, at farthest? In fact, names, dates, and astronomical epochs, are given to books, at the will and pleasure of the writers, and §eldom have any reference to the names, dates, and epochs of the reaJ authors. * The * I mentioned this oireamstance to a Hiais astronomer, who aokoowledged the fact, and, in defence of it, said : ** Some men make the commencement of the Kaipa, Digitized by Google OF THE HINDUS. 175 object here, as well as in all the rest was to support the pretended antiquity of Varaha Mihira, and of Bhaskara Acharya, the latter of whom the author states for that purpose, as having been bom in the year 1036 of Saca (A.D. 1114), and of his having written the SiddharUa Siromani in the year 1072 of SacGy at the age of 36. The work, however, though intended to support an imposition, is useful in other respects : it gives the different operations for deter- mining the mean and the true places of the planets, both heliocentric and geocentric; the calculations of lunar and solai' eclipses ; the rising and setting of the planets, &c. together with the cosmical and heliacal rising of a Delphini and CanopuSy by which it is shown, that the sun's longitude at the times of the cosmical and heliacal rising of the stars is reckoned from the vernal equinoctial point, and not from the beginning of Aswim, or the Hindu sphere. Thus, in calculating the cosmical and heliacal rising the epoch from which thej direct the calcilatioiis of the places of the planets to be made for aDj time required. Others make choice of the begimiing of the Kali Yuga for the same porpose. Have we act, therefore, a right to make choice of any other epoch, such as 2> 3, 4, or 6 hundred years or more, back from our own times, for the like purpose V To which I replied, that certainly they had ; but that, in conse* qoence ef the epoch's being brovght down to Biodem times, and within the scale of probability, others were deceived by it, and sopposed the anthor must have lived at the epoch for which he gave the positions of the planets. To which he replied, that that was not their fanlt ; for that there was no absolute connection whatever between the epochs and the times of the authors: that they might be the same or not, as they found it best to answer the purpose : that in astronomical books, the principal object was to give rules for determining the places of the planets for any time re- quired, from the motions and positions given at some oertain epoch, -without any regard to the time of the author. I asked him, if he framed an astronomical work, and placed the epoch from which the calculation should proceed 1000 years back, if he would put his name to it, and own the work. He rq>lied, he could do so, on the principle already explained ; but, in such cases, it was usual to put the name of some ancient sage to it, or that of some fictitious astronomer, with an account of his birth, parentage, eemieoticiis, and country, in order to give it the plausible ap- pearance of being ancient and real, which, according to modem notions, would much enhance its value. Digitized by Google 176 THE MODERN ASTRONOMY of Caru^us for the 4602d year of the Kali Vuga, or A.D. 1500, he takes tabular longitude, or the dis- tance between the beginning of Aswini and the point of the ecliptic cut by the circle of declination of the star, which is . . • . . 87° He takes the tabular latitude, or distance between the same point and the star, counted on the circle of declination, which is . . . • . 77 From these, he determines, by approximations, the true longitude, latitude, and deolination.