COMPUTATION OF TIME. 



291 



west of that meridian a proportional allowance is made for 

 the difference of longitude on the earth's surface. The 

 positions of the apsides and nodes are computed in the 

 same manner, and the mean places being found, the true 

 places were determined by applying an equation on pruir 

 ciples which are also explained. 



It does not appear from the Surya Siddha.nta that the 

 di^-isio^ of the malm yug into the satya, treta, dicapar, and 

 cali a<Tes serves anv practical purpose in astronomy. Their 

 oriauThas, however, been ascribed to the precession of the 

 equinoxes. In every point of view, the latter is anoma- 



listical. . . , ,, . ,- 



The time called murfa (that is, mean sidereal) is esti- 

 mated by respiratio7is : six respirations make a vicala; sixty 

 vicalas a danda ; sixty dandas a nacshaira day ; and thirty 

 nacshatra days a nacshatra month. The savan montH is 

 the time contained between thirty successive risings ot 

 Surva (the smi), and varies in its length accordmg to tho 

 la^na bhuja (right ascension); thirty Ufhs compose the 

 chindra (lunar) month. The saura month is that in wliich 

 the sun describes a sign of the zodiac, and his passage 

 through the twelve signs forms a year, and one of these 

 vears^is a dcva day, ov a day of the gods ; 60 deva days 

 Multiplied by 6 give a deva year, and ICOO of the deva 

 years form the aggregate of the four yugas. To determine 

 the saura years contained in this aggregate, write the num- 

 ber 4,320,000; this is the vmha yuga, comprehending the 

 sandhi and sandhjo.Tisa (the morning and evenmg twihght). 

 Divide the ealpa bv 10, and multiply the quotient by 4 for 

 the satya yug, by 3 for the treta, by 2 for the dicapar, m,d 

 bv 1 for the call yug. Divide either of the yitgs by 6 lor 

 their twihghts ; seventy-one yugs make a manwantara_: a 

 twilidit is equal to the satya yug, during which there is a 

 universal deluge ; fourteen manwantaras, mcluding the twi- 

 Ughts, compose a calpa ; and at the commencement of each 

 cklva there is a sandhi equal to the satya yug, or 1,728,000 

 saira years. One calpa is a day with Brama ; and his 

 ni<Tht is of the same length ; and the period of his 1 fe is 

 100 of his vears, of which one half is expired, and ot the 

 remainder the first calpa is begun, and six maim a, it ar as, 

 includin<x the sandliis, are expired. The seventh, m whicti 

 we are now advanced, is named taicasicaia. 01 this twenty- 



