English
Commencement of the eighth astronomical period, the beginning of the modern astronomy — The Brahmins introduce new and enormous periods into their history — The means adopted on the occasion — The new periods expliuned — -Fixed by astronomical computa- tions, the nature of which is explained at length — The revolutions of the planets^ determined, and adjusted to the system of years so - introduced — Method of determining the antiquity of the system,' supposing the same unknown — The same by a table of errors continually decreasing down to the epoch — The positions of the stars given in the Hindu tables explained with a diagram — Table of the Lunar Asterisms — The names of the signs Aries, Taurus, Sec. introduced from the West, and still used to represent the signs as beginning from the vernal equinoctial point — Some of the impositions of modern commentators and others noticed — ^. The system intended as a blow against the Christians — The Avaiars invented for the same purpose — Krishna the Avatar noticed •*- His nativity computed from the positions of the planets at his birth, 89 SECTION II. System of Varaha — Framed in the ninth century — The object of it — ' Works in which it is given — Observation on Canopus referring to A. D. 928 — Revolutions of the planets. Sec. in the system — Years elapsed to the beginning of the Kali Fifg-a -^ Formation of the system, with remarks — Compared with the system of Brahma — Age of the system determined — Lunar Asterisms — The places of some stars not agreeing with the names of the mansions — The cause explained, and shown in a table — Precession of the equi- noxes — The method employed artificial, by assuming the motion- in an epicycle — Explained by a diagram — The terms libration or Digitized by Google TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page osciHation inconsistent witli tlie anUior's meaning, whicli is fnrtlier explained by the commentator, &c. Sec 115 SECTION III. The Itya StddhtMia^ by AryabhatU— Its date A.D. 1S22 — The otject of it — The system it contains — Its fonnation — Precession of the equinoxes — Mode of computing it — The Riikis — The object of introducing them, and the manner of computing their pl^ce — The Para$ara SiddkatUa, and the object of the author in exhibiting it — The system of the Parasara Siddhtmia — The com- putation of the Rishis by this system — Age of the Arya Siddhanta, confirmed by computation from astronomical data ^ Age of the system of Parasara determined — Found to be of the same age with tiiat of Aryabhatta — Latitudes and longitudes of the stars — Geometry of Aryabhatta same as Bhaskara's — His rules for show- ing the proportion of the diameter of a circle to its circumference, &C&C U8 SECTION IV. Varaha Mihira, like Xryabhatta, endeavours to support the new order of things — Perverts the meaning of a passage relating to the epoch of Yudishtlura, whom he places 2448 before Christ — Varaha Mihira mentions the Surya SiddJumUt and Aryabhatta — States the heliacal rising of Canopus at Ujein, when the sun was 7^ short of Virgo — Gives the positions of the aphelia of the planets in the Jatakdmava for the year 1450 Saca, or A. D. 1628 — The heliacal rising of Canopus at Ujein computed for that year, the result agrees with that which Varaha stated, being 7^ short of Virgo — The point of heliacal rising of Canopus at UjHn, in the fUndu sphere, shown, 167 SECTION V. The cause of Varaha Mihira being thrown back into antiquity by the modems expluned — The reason of two Varaha Mihiras and two Bhaskaras explained by the imposition on Akber— Bhaskara thrown back to A. D. 1160 — A number of forgeries to support the imposition — Spurious^ Arya Siddhtmta — Two BhamDatia — Pre- tended ancient commentaries — Interpolations — The Paneha Sidd- ktmiika — False positions of the colures — Artificial rules for the cosmical rising of Canopus by the BkisvoH — By the Paneha SiddhanHki — By Kesava — By the Crraka LagJuma — The time to which they refer appears to be about the middle of last century — ' The heliacal ri^ng of Canopus by the Brahma Vaivarta, and Bhavitya PvraiUM, when the sun was S° short of Virgo — A view of the impositions arising from spurious books — Laksmidasa, a commentator on the Siddhanta Siromani, pretended to be a grand- son of Kesava, and to have written in A. D. 1500 — Determines the cosmical rising of Canopus at Benares for that year — The < spurious Arya Siddhanta examined, and shewn to be a modem forgery — The system it contains, how framed — Gives the propor- tion of the diameter of a circle to its circumference the same as BlMskara - Quotes the Brahtna Siddhanta^ Brahma Gupta, and the Digitized by Google TABLE OF CONTENTS. Ptge Surya Siddhanta— The Ptdisa SiddJumta, another forgery, noticed — Forgeries of books innumerable — The Brahma Siddhanta Sphuta, another forgery — The object of the forgery — The spu- rious Brahma Siddhanta quotes the spurious Arya Siddhanta, Pvdisa Siddhanta, and Varaha Mihira, thereby proving it to be a forgery, and, perhaps, by the same individual — Quotation made from it to show the same — Mistake about the positions of the colures, and the meaning of the terms Aries, Taurus, &c. — Interpolations — Vishnu Chandra, &c 164 SECTION VI. Self-defence the object of this section — The notions of Mr. Colebrooke respecting the positions of the stars at the general epoch, as indi- cating the age of the works in which they are found, inconsistent with real facts, being given in books of all ages — Mr. Colebrooke's notions respecting the names Aries, Taurus, &c. being applied to the signs of the Hindu sphere, Incorrect — Proved to belong ex- clusively to the signs of the tropical sphere, by tables and passages in modem Hindu books — Passage from Brahma Gupta to the same effect — Passage from Varaha Mihira to the same effect — Another from the Tatwachintamaniy containing a computation of the sun's place reckoned both from Aswim and Aries, to the same effect — A translation of a passage in Bhattotpala's commentary to the same effect — The translation by Mr. Colehrooke himself, but not published or noticed by him — Nor the other facts stated — Mr. Colebrooke notices the heliacal rising of Canopus at XJjein, when the sun was 7^ short of Virgo, mentioned by Varaha Mihira, but does not tell nt the time to which it refers — Notices other risings, but without reference to time — Mistaken with respect to the time of rising cf Canopus in the time of Para^ara — A passage from Garga explained — Three periods of Canopus's heliacal rising — The 8th and 15th of Aswina, and 8th of Kdrtika, mistranlsated by Mr. Colebrooke — The true meaning given — The time to which they refer explained in a note, •.... ••... 196 APPENDIX, I. — Hindu Tables of Equations, &c. for calculating the true Helio- centric and Geocentric Places of the Planets, &c • • • 217 II. — ^Remarks on the Chinese Astronomy, proving, from their Lunar Mansions, that the Science is much more modem among them than is generally believed. The names of their Constellations are added, with the Stars in each 2S1 in— Translations of certain Heiroglyphics, which hitherto have been called (though erroneously) the Zodiacs of Dendera in Egypt. •• 249 Digitized by Google PART I. THE ANCIENT ASTRONOMY OF THE HINDUS. SECTION L FROM 1425 TO 961 B.C. The early part of the Hindu Astronomy involved in great obacnrity — The Lunar Mansions the most ancient part of the Hindu Astronomy — The time they were formed determined from Astronomical Data— Second epoch m the Hindu Astronomy — Many improvements made — The Solar Months formed, and named, on Astronomical principles — Tropical Lunar Mansions introduced — The Seasons i^the Year marked, and fixed to the Tropical Revohiions of the Sun — AU explained by a Plate, and the time demonstrated — Birth of the Goddess Burga, or the year, with the month Aswina. The early part of Astronomy among the Hindus, like that of all other nations, is involved in great obscurity. We can find no certain trace who the persons were that first began the science, nor the m^ans employed by them for effecting their grand purpose ; we are therefore obliged to pass over these as objects unattainable, and begin firom the earliest known facts that offer themselves to our attention or investigation.