English
In the third section, I have given the system of Aryabhatta, .together with that of Parasara, \^lHch was framed by him for the purpose of imposition, the nature of which I have fully explained. The date is given by Aryabhatta himself, which is also coiToborated by computation 'made from his system* d Digitized by Google XXXll PREFACE. I have also noticed his geometry, &c. which appears to have been the same, nearly, with what is given in the Lildvati by Bhaskara, who wrote a commentary on Aryabhatta's work, which probably was the foundation or origin of the Lilavati, with a few more modem improvements added. In the fourth section, I have noticed Varaha Mi- hira, and computed his time from the heliacal rising of Canopus, as given by himself, in his Sanhita, which was when the sun was 7° short of Virgo, or 23° of Leo ; which computation makes his time the same as given by himself in the JatakarnavUf in which he gives the positions of the aphelia of the planets for the year Saca 1450, or A,D. 1528, which, there- fore, makes him contemporary nearly with the em- peror Akber. He was one of those who endeavoured to assist in the modem impositions; for he attempted to pervert the meaning of the epoch of Yudhishtliira, which was the year 2526 of the modern Kali Yuga, by saying, that the meaning was, that he lived that number of years before Saca. He also supportedi for the same purpose, the idle notion first introduced by Aryabhatta, about the motions of the Rishis being one lunar Mansion in one hundred years — a thing in itself too absurd to be noticed by an astro- nomer, unless for the purpose of imposition. Thus, from the above date, 2526, he makes the Rishis to be in Magha in the year of Kali Yuga 653 Lalla, who follows him, gives . . ,. 614 Digitized by Google PREFACE. XXXUl Muniswara gives • . . • 600 Aryabhatta, the first impostor, . . 663 System of Parasara by Aryabhatta, . 666 And upon one or other of these fictitious eras of Yudhishtliira, the modem histories of Cashmere, and other parts of India, are now erected, and given to the world as true : the whole of which, however, is shown to be false, from the positions of the planets in the time of Grarga, 548 B.C. ; the epoch of Rama, 961 B.C. ; the epoch of the formation of the months, &c. &c, which overthrow the whole imposition. In the fifth section, I have shown the cause oi Varaha Mihira and Bhaskara Acharya being throvm back into antiquity, to have arisen from a trick played on Akber. I have shown the various means that were adopted to support the imposition, by interpolations and forgeries of every description; which system of forgeries and impositions has con- tinued down to the present day unabated, nay, rather with many new additions and improvements. In the sixth section, I have been obliged to come forward in my own defence, against an extraordinary mode that has been adopted by Mr, Colebfooke, for opposing my computation on the antiquity of the Suri/a Siddhanta, and for throwing back into anti- quity Varaha Mihira, and all others who state the solstices to be in the beginning of Cancer and Capri- corn. The first he endeavours to effeict by means of the tables of Lunar Mansions, imagining thereby that Digitized by Google XXXIV PREFACE. the book must be as old as the time to which the positions of the stars refer. But this is not the case : the tables are found in books of all ages, and are inserted in them merely as tables of reference, havmg no connection whatever with the age of the book in which they are mserted, as folly proved by the books themselves. The second he endeavours to effect, by giving the names Aries, Taurus, Ge- mini, &c. to the signs or divisions of the Hindu sphere, beginning fi-om the lunar asterism Aswinl, which is completely proved by all Hindu books ex- tant, as well as by a translation of his own from Bhattotpala, to be not only erroneous, but incon- sistent with the Hindu astronomy, which assigns these names to the signs of the ecliptic, beginning from the vernal equinoctial point, and to no other signs whatever. As nothing more seems to me to be necessary to- wards understanding what I have written on the Hindu astronomy, I shall now close this preface, with recommending and consigning my labours in the investigation of truth, to the friendly protection, care, and attention of all liberal and unprejudiced inenof science, as this will in all probability be the last effort I shall make : and I fear that there are but few inclined to follow it up, as they would re- ceive no thanks for their pains, but, on the contrary, opposition . and ill will, the only rewards which I hav6 met with for my labours Digitized by Google TABLE OF CONTENTS. PART I. SECTION I. The early pmrt of the Hinda astronomy ioTolved in great obscority — - The Lonar Mansions the most ancient part of the Hindu astronomy — The time they were formed determined from astronomical data — Second epoch in the Hindu astronomy — Many improvements made — The solar months formed, and named on astronomical principles — Tropical Lnnar Mansions introduced — The seasons of the year marked, and fixed to the tropical revolutions of the sun — All explained by a plate, and the time demonstntted— Birth of the goddess Durga, or the year, with the month Aswina^ I SECTION II. Rama — Time of his birth determined from astronomical data — Date of the Ramayana determined — Churning of the Ocean, or War between the Gods and the Giants, description of it — Time of it determined from astronomical and other data — Birth of Satam — The month Kdrtika made the commencement of the year — The rate of precession determined — A lunisolar period discovered, on which were founded the changes to take place in the commence- ment of the year — A table of eight periods of the same,, and the year of their respective copunencement, &C. •• • 14 SECTION III. The War between the Gods and the Giants In the West, described by Hesiod in his Theogony — The time of it determined from various data — Its duration ten years and Aye months — The zodiacal con- stellations and others then formed — The original idea of some of them appears to have been derived from the Hindus — The tropi- cal signs named after the zodiacal constellations — The months named after the tropical signs with which they then coincided — Their names compared — Homer and Hesiod not so ancient at. generally supposed — The year represented by the ancients under a great variety of names and personificatlona, as Mercury, Hermes, Anubis, Buddha, Sec ••• S6 SECTION IT. Commencement of the third astronomical period — The precession then — The term RisMs in Maghd explained — Parasara and Garga cited — The heliacal rising of Canopns in the time of Pansara — The same computed — Positions of the planets when Garga wrote — The time deduced — The real epoch of Yudish- tliira, 2526 ,of the Kali Yuga, perverted by the moderns — The fourth astronomical period, . • . • • . • • 64 Digitized by Google TABLE OF CONTENTS. SECTION V. Pmge Ck>mmencenient of the fifth astronomical period -- Astronomy farther improved — Moreaccarate tables formed, and equations introduced — The Hindu history divided into four periods, and the commence- ment of each settled astronomically — Tables of the four ages, and their respective years of commencement, with the errors in the tabids then nsed — Commencement of the sixth astronomical period — Christianity preached in India by St. Thomas — The Hindu history divided into new periods, called Manwantaras, and, like the former, settled on astronomical principles — Table of the periods, with the errors in the tables used -^ These occasion no derangement in the Hindu history ; only they carry back the creation to the year 4225 B.C. 25th October^ at the autumnal equinox — The seventh astronomical period commences, tiie end of which terminates the anciient astronomy of the Hindus, A. D. 5S8 74 PART II. SECTION I.