746 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. fANNO 1700. 



measurement of time, Mr. M. proceeds to the comparison of their eras, which 

 he first brings into one general view, and afterwards considers separately. 



Table exhibiting the correspondence of the several Hindoo eras with each other, and -with the Julian pe- 

 riod and Christian era. 



Kalee Yoog, or grand era, . 



Era of Bikramajit 



Christian era 



Era of Salaban 



Present cycle of 60 years . . 



Year 1790 of J. C. (froml 



April) / 



For better understanding the above table, it is necessary to remark, that when 

 the Hindoos quote the year of an era, they do it by the number of the elapsed 

 or complete year; whereas, the common European mode is to date by the number 

 of the current or incomplete year ; therefore what we should term the first year 

 of an era, is with them the year zero, and their year 1 that which follows; ex 

 cepting in the cycle of 6o, of which the year 1 immediately succeeds the last 

 complete year of the former cycle. The difference in years between any '2 eras 

 is expressed by the number appearing at the intersection of the horizontal and 

 perpendicular lines, to which the names of such eras are prefixed ; or it may be 

 found by subtracting the less number from the greater, as they stand in any of 

 the horizontal lines, under their respective names at the top of the perpendicular 

 columns; thus, the years intervening between the eras of Salaban, and that of 

 the Kalee Yoog, are denoted by the number 3179, ^t the intersection of the 2 

 lines, or equally by deducting 17 1'^ from 4891, in the lowest horizontal line. 



In a comparison of the dates of the earlier Hindoo eras with the Christian era, 

 there occurs a difficulty which it is proper to consider apart. This arises from an 

 ambiguity in our manner of reckoning the years before Christ. It is most usual 

 to pass immediately from the year 1 after to the year 1 before Christ, making the 

 interval of time only 1 year; but some of the best chronologists pass 

 from the year 1 after to the year zero, and thqnce to the year 1 before; 

 by which means the interval between any number of years before and 

 after Christ is equal to the sum of those numbers; and as this method is 

 used in almost all astro ijiomical tables, it may, without impropriety, be 

 called the astronomical, and the other the common method. As the Hindoo 

 year begins in our month of April, we must observe, in reducing any 

 Hindoo date to the Christian era, that when it happens between the coin- 



