English
The most ancient part of the Hindu Astronomy, without doubt, is the formation of the Lunar Man- sions ; for, without a division of the heavens of some sort, or some fixed points to refer to, no observa- tions on the positions of the Colures, or heavenly B Digitized by Google 2 THE ANCIENT ASTRONOMY bodies, could be recorded with any degi'ee of accu- racy. History, and the poets, are perfectly silent a^ to the names of the first Astronomers, or the king in whose reign the science first began. All that we are informed is, that in the first part (quarter) of the Treta Yuga; the daughters of Daksha were bom, and that of these he gave twenty-seven to the Moon — that is to say, laying aside all allegory and poetic language, the twenty-seven Lunar Asterisms were formed in the first part of the Treta Yuga. The Treta Yuga began in the year 1528 B.C. and lasted about 627 years, the fourth part of which is 156f years; therefore the Lunar Asterisms must have been formed between the years 1528 and 1371 B.C. which might be considered as sufficiently near the truth. But as we have other means to approximate still nearer, it is proper we should notice them here. It appears, that at the time of forming the Lunar Mansions, one of them, " Yisakha^' received its name from the equinoxial Colure cutting it in the middle, and thereby bisecting it, or dividing it into two equal sections, or branches; whence the name Vtsakha. The observation here alluded to is men- tioned in the Veda, and other books, and by which the positions of the Colures were as follows : — The vernal equinoxial point was in the beginning of Kritika. The summer solstice in 10° of Aslesha. The autumnal equinox in the middle of Radha, thence called Visakha. And the winter solstice in 3° 20' of Dhanisht'ha. — See Plate L Now, in order to ascertain the time when this ob- servation was made, we must find the precession from the position of some of the fixed stars at the Digitized by Google OF THE HINDUS. d time. Thus the longitude of Cor Leonis in the Lunai* Mansion Magha is always 9°. The vernal equinoxial point was found by the observation to be in the beginning of Kfitika ; and from the beginning of Kritika to the beginning of Magha is seven Lunar Mansions of 13° 20' each, and therefore equal to . . . 93° 20' Add longitude of Cor Leonis in Magha 9 0 Their sum is the longitude of Cor Leonis from Aries . . . . . 102 20 Longitude of Cor Leonis in A.D. 1750, was 146 21 Difference is the precession . . . 44 1 or, the quantity by which the equinoxes fell back in respect of the fixed stars since the time of the ob- servation. Now to find the number of years cor- responding to this precession, it must be observed, that as we go back into antiquity, the rate of pre- cession diminishes about 2\ 27 for every century. If we assume that the observation was made 1450 B.C. then liiodnrso^ieoo . f^^^^ which subtracting 1450, we get A.D. 150 for the middle point. Now in the first century of the Christian era, the preces- sion was r 23' 6" 4, to which if we add 2\ 27, we get 1° 23' 8" 67 for the mean precession; that is to say, the precession that corresponds to the second century of the Christian era, in which the middle pomt is found. Therefore, as T 23' 8" 65 is to 100 years, so 44° 1' to 3176 years, from which subtract- ing 1750, we get 1426 B.C. for the time of the observation, -and the formation of the Lunar Man- sions, which sufficiently corroborates what is stated in the Kdlika Purana. If this, however, should not be deemed sufficient for determining the time of the formation of the Lunar Mansions, we have other observations to men- Digitized by Google 4 THE ANCIENT ASTRONOMY tion that will be found to be still more accurate, as they can be depended on to the very year; and these are of the planets. From the union of the daughters of Daksha with the Moon, the ancient Astronomers feigned the birth of four of the planets; tliat is to say. Mercury from Rohini; hence he is called Rohineya, after his mother. Magkd brought forth the beautiful planet Venus ; hence one of the names of that planet is Maghabhu. The Lunar Mansion Ashad'ha brought forth the martial planet Mars, who was thence called Ashad'habhava; and Purvaphalguni brought forth Jupiter, the largest of all the planets,, and the tutor of the gods : hence he is called Purvaphalgumbhava ; the Moon, the father, being present at the birth of each. The observa- tions here alluded to are supposed to have been occultations of the planets by the Moon, in the respective Lunar Mansions from which they are named* : they refer us to the year 1424-5 B.C. and therefore corroborating the result of the observation on the Colures. See Plate I. The planet Mercury and the Moon in Rohini, 17th AprU, 1424 B. C. ; The planet Jupiter and the Moon in P. Phalgum, 23d April, 1424; The planet Mars and the Moon in P. Ashad'ha, 19th August, 1424; The planet Venus and the Moon in Magha, 19th August, 1425; all within the space of about sixteen months : and * The; are supposed to be occaltations, because they are not made in the time of a single reToIation of the Moon, bat take in the space of about sixteen months, from Idth Angnst, 1425, to the 10th April, 1424, B.C. ; and this idea of the observa- tions being confined to occultations is supported by Saturn not being included, be- cause that planet was then out of the Moon's conrie. Digitized by Google OF THE HINDUS. 5 there is no other year, either before that period or since, in which they were so placed or situated. Saturn is not mentioned among these births, proba- bly from his being situated out of the Moon*s course; but was feigned to have been bom afterwards from the shadow of the Earth, at the time of churning the ocean, or the war between the gods and the giants, which will be noticed in its proper place. It appears, that at first the number of Lunar Mansions was twenty-eight of 12° 51' 3-7ths each; but that number being found probably inconvenient in practice, on account of the fraction, they were reduced to twenty-seven of 13° 20' each. The first Lunar Asterism in the division of twenty-eight was called Mulu ; that is to say, the root, or origin. In the division of twenty-seven, the first Lunar Aste- rism was called JyesMkd ; that is to say, the eldest, or first) and consequently of the same import as the former. They both began from the same fixed point in the heavens, which was reckoned 2° 25', or there- abouts, short of Antares. The following are the Lunai- Asterisms in their order, as exhibited in Plate I. Division of 28 Mansions. Division of 27 Mansions. 1 Mula, 15 migiuiroM, 1 Jgesht'ki, 15 M¥iga$ira$, 2 P.. A8Ud!U, 16 Irdra, 2 NiM, 16 Ardrd, 5 U.Ashadha, 17 Punarvasu, 3 P.Athadfha, 17 PWMTWUU, 4 Abh^xt* 18 Puskfa, 4 U.Ashad^ka, 18 Pushyd, 5 Sravana, 19 AiUshd, 5 Sravana, 19 AiUsha, 6 Dkamshfhd, 20 Maghd, 6 Dhamski^hd, 20 MagU, 21 P.Phalgum, 7 Saittbhiika, 21 P.PkaigwUy 22 U.Phalgunl, 8 P. Bhddrapadd, 22 U. Phatgum, 9 U,Bhadrapada, 23 Hasta, 23 Hastd, 10 Rwotx, 24 Chitrd, 10 Rwafx, 24 Chitra, yV Aswini, 25 SwdH, 11 AtrntAf 25 SwdH, 12 Bharani^ 26 Radha, 12 Bharam, 26 Rddhd, 13 Kritika, 27 Anuradhd, 13 KHUka, 27 Anmrddhd. 14 Rohim, 28 Indrd. 14 Rohmi, * Abhijit, in the division of 28, is thrown oat in the division of 27. Digitized by Google 6 THE ANCIENT ASTRONOMY The next observations we meet with on record, bring us down to the winter solstice in the year 1181 B.C. when the sun and moon were in conjunction, and the Hindu Astronomers found that the Colures had fallen back 3° 20' from their positions at the first obsei-vation : that is to say, the summer solstice was found in the middle of the Lunar Asterism Aslesha; the autumnal equinox in 3' 20" of Visakha; the winter solstice in the beginning oiSravisht'ha; and the vernal equinox in 10° of Bharani. — See Plate II.