296 HINDOO ASTRONOMY. 



well as thev could propositions which disagree with the 

 principles of their science, observing that certain things in- 

 dicated in the Sastras may have been so formerly, and may 

 be so still, but for astronomical purposes astronomical rules 

 must be followed. Others, with a bolder spirit, have at- 

 tacked and refuted unphilosophical opinions. Their as- 

 tronomer and mathematician Bhascara argues, that it is 

 more reasonable to suppose the earth to be self-balanced in 

 infinite space, than to be supported by a series of animals 

 with nothing assignable for the last to rest upon ; and 

 another commentator says, that by rahii and ceiu, the head 

 and tail of the monster, the position of the moon's nodes 

 and her latitude are meant, on which eclipses certainly de- 

 pend ; but he does not therefore deny the reality of rahn 

 and cctu, the existence of which, he says, may be maintained 

 as an article of faith without prejudice to astronomy. Tliis 

 appears to us very absurd ; but it is not more so than the 

 subterfuges to which Copernicus and Gahleo were forced 

 to have recourse to shelter the true doctrines of astronomy 

 against the denunciations of the Church of Rome. 



°The Hindoos consider the earth as spherical, and sup- 

 pose its diameter divided into 1600 equal parts or yojans. 

 The Surya Siddhanta states the circumference in round 

 numbers to be 5059 yojans; but in the Puranas the cir- 

 cumference is declared to be 500,000,000 ijojans,— and to 

 account for this difference, a commentator says that the 

 yojaji of the Surya Siddhanta contained 100,000 of those of 

 the Puranas. Some say that the earth was really of that 

 size in some former calpa, and others believe that from the 

 equator, southward, the earth increases in bulk ; but for 

 astronomical purposes the dimensions given in the Surya. 

 must be assumed. 



To find the latitude of a place the Hindoos observe the 

 length of the shadow of a perpendicular gnomon when the 

 sun is in the equator, and compute by their geometry the 

 angle which the gnomon makes with the line drawn from 

 its top to the extremity of the shadow. — This is the lati- 

 tude. 



The longitude is directed to be found by observations of 

 lunar eclipses, calculated for the meridian of Ltt?ica, which 

 passes through Ougein, a place in the Mahratta dominions. 



