English
In one of the examples he states the suns mean longitude in the Hindu sideral sphere, that is, from the beginning of ^Mww, at . IP 2*" 9' 6* He then adds the precession or dif- ference of the spheres, . 0 16 10 59 The sum he calls Mina (Pisces), 18 20 5 Cccn any thing be more clear and decisive than this example, to show that the names of the signs are reserved alone for the tropical sphere? The sun's longitude in the Hindu sphere is simply ex- pressed by figures, without the name of any sign being mentioned ; whereas in the tropical sphere it is particularly marked with the name of the sign, the degrees, minutes, and seconds, being put down in figures. To say that the sun's mean longitude at one and the same moment of time was 1 1* 2° 9' 6' and IP 18° 20' 5* would appear inconsistent; and to say that it was in Pisces 2° 9' 6' and Pisces 18*^ 20' 5" at the same time„ would be equally so : there was, therefore, no better way of distinguishing the spheres than by affixing the name of the sign to that to which it properly and originally belonged. The sun's longitude being thus expressed, serves as the foundation for computing the right ascension and declination for that point, as also the time of sun rising and setting, length of the day and night, with other particulars that may be required, all depending on the tropical sphere. 1 shall give one example more from another Digitized by Google $06 THE MOPERJ^ ASTRONOMY modem writer, uader the name of Bhattotpala, whom I have already mentioiaed, and who appears to have lived in the last century, but thrown back, by the imposition of Dr. Hunter's pundit while at l^^in, and no other authority, to the year A.D. 968. The passage relates to the method of determining the times of the solsticesi and is thus : — ^ '* The ob- servations of the solstices^ or sun's motion between the solstices, is to be made at sunrise by the inter- section of a distant mark i, for the sun having reached the beginning of Cfljpricorw, moves daily towards the north, and being arrived at the beginning of Cancer, moves daily towards the south. Therefore, marking the sun's place at sunrise or sunset by some distant object, as a tree, &c. examine the sun's place again next day, to ascertain whether the sun's motion or declination has stopped or not; and the observa- tions may be continued for seven days after the sun's arrival at the beginning of the sign, by com- putation, to determine whether the computed true place agree, precede or recede. Or in a large arch having delineated on smooth ground a circle marked relatively to the quarters, erect in its centre a gnomon, then at the equinox at sunrise and sunset the shadow falls on the lines east and west. As long as the sun advances towards the end of Gemini, the s^iade at sunrise continues to move south of the line east and we$t, and the same at sunset : it then maves south until it r^tch the end of Virgo, and the beginning of Libra the i^hadow falls on the line, east and west. From that time the shadow advances daily north till it reaches Captkorn^ and then re- cedes daily south to the end cf PiscesJ' This passage is as clear as possibly can be, in ^wing that th^ si^ns named belong to the tropical Digitized by Google OF THE HINDUS. 207 ^>tere and not to the Hindu. Indeed there is not an instance that I know where the names of the signs, as Aries, Taurus, &c. have been applied to the signs of the Hindu sphere : if such, however, has occurred, it must arise either from inadvertence, ignorance, or for the purpose of imposition, as in the interlopation mentioned in the last section^ (p. 191), where the commentator is made to say, that the greatest decrease and increase of night and day do not appear now^ when the sun's place is at the end of Atithuna (Gemini), because the interpo- lator would wish to support the ideas that the names of the si^s belong to the Hindu sphere; but which, by the facts we have shovim above, is completely refuted : and therefore Mr. Colebrooke's other strong point, founded on the assumption that the names of the signs are those of the Hindu sphere, beginning from Aswini, completely fells to the ground, as totally contrary to the Hindu astronomy and to facts. Indeed Mr. Colebrooke had ample means of cor^ recting his ideas, if it was his wish so to do ; for in fact the above passage from Bhattotpala is an actual translation by Mr. Colebrooke, and written in his own hand on the margin of the original, which was borrowed for me, ftnd from which I copied it. Will it not, therefore, appear very singular that he should bring forward such an interpolation to support his opinion, while at the same time he kept back this passage in Bhattotpala, which he himself trtoslatedt But this is not all : he has a copy of the Tatwa^ chintamani, made from the one in my possession, from which the example of the sun's longitude above given was taken. He might also have seen the tables of the sun's right ascensions, declinations, &c. for Digitized by Google 208 THE.MODBTRN. ASTRONOMY each sign in different Hindu books of astronomy, and must have seen the table given by Mr. Davies already alluded to. No excuse can, therefore, exist in holding an opinion. so entirely contrary to fac^s and to the Hindu astronomy, which carefully assigns, in every instance, the names Aries, Taurus, &c. to the signs of the tropical sphere only. Mr. Colebrooke takes notice of the sun's longitude being within 7° of Virgo at the time of the heliacal rising of Canqpus at lljein, according to the testi- mony of Varaha Mihira*, which, had he determined the time to which it corresponded, he would not only have seen that Varaha Mihira was a modem, but that his works, interpolations, and assertions on which he so much relied, were mere impositions, of very modern date. The trick was first played off on the emperor Akber, and ever since continued and supported by all the ingenuity that Brahminical cunning and imposition could suggest or invent. Mr. Colebrooke notices the rules given in the Bkas- vattBnd the Grahalaghuva for the rising of Canopusf ; ' but he does not tell us to what time or times they refer; but, what is still more singular, he seems to understand them as rules for the visible rising of Canopus. J Now, according to my own ideas of astronomy, this is impossible, because the sun's longitudes, by the rules, come out less' than in the time of Varaha Mihira ; whereas they should have been greater, in proportion to the times posterior to him. The rules, in fact, give the.cosmical risings of Canopus, and not the heliacal, as, is evident also from the authors themselves, who only state, that • As. Res. Vol, IX. p. 355 and 356. t As. Res. VoL IX. p. 356. X As. lUs. V^l. IX. p. 357. Digitized by Google OF THE HINDUS. 209 when the sun is in the longitude given by the rule, then the star Canopus rises with the sun, and not a syllable about its being visible : but even if they had said so, it would be of no use, as it would appear from the statement of Varaha Mihira, which must be our guide, to be an imposition* Mr. Colebrooke also notices the heliacal rising of Canopus in the time of Parasara.^ This was when the sun's longitude was in the beginning of the Lunar Asterism Hasta, and at the same period it set heliacally when the sun was in the beginning of Rohinl; from which Mn Colebrooke concludes, that '^ the right ascension of Canopus must have been in his time not less than 100^ reckoned from the be- ginning oi Mtsha (Aries), and the star rising cosmi- cally, became visible in the oblique sphere at the distance of 60*^ from the sun, and disappeared, set- ting achronically when within that distance/' Mr. Colebrooke has here evidently misapplied the name of the sign Mesha (Aries), as he has done in many other instances ; for it is not the name of the first sign of the Hindu sideral sphere, but the first reckoned from the vernal equinoctial point, as has been fully proved. In the fifth section of the first part, I have shown the real time of Parasara to have been 575 B.C., in which year Canopus rose heliacally, when the sun was in the beginning of the Lunar Asterism Hasta, and at the same time distant from the vernal equinox 4* 26° 10' 5' in the latitude of Delhi. In that year the right ascension of Canopus from the vernal equinoc- tial point, was found to be 81*^ 43' 25", and its longi- tude 2' 8° 47'.