252 



PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 



[anno 1792. 



ing the months, is still more so. The civil year, as before said, begins at the 

 day after the new moon; also, in the years which have an intercalary month, 

 this month begins at the day after the new moon; but yet the ordinary civil 

 month begins at the day after the full moon. To make their method more in- 

 telligible, Mr. C. calls the time from new moon to new moon, the natural month. 

 The civil month Visnkha begins at the day after the full moon of that natural 

 month which commences at the beginning of the civil year, or, in other words, 

 at the day after the full moon of that natural month during which the sun 

 enters the first Hindoo sign. Jyeshtha begins on the day after the full moon of 

 that natural month during which the sun enters the 2d sign, and so on. The 

 names of the civil months, with the names of the signs which the 

 sun enters during the natural 



month at the full moon of which 

 the civil month begins, are given 

 in the following table, to which is 

 also added the day of our month 

 when the sun entered that sign in 

 the latter part of the year 1784, 

 and beginning of 1785, taken 

 from the Benares almanac, the 

 time of the day being counted 

 from sun-rise, and expressed in 

 the Hindoo manner. 



Civil Month. 



Visiikha 



Jy shtha . . . . 



Ashara 



Sravana 



Bhiidra 



Asweena 



Karteeka 



MSrgaseersha 



Powsha 



Magha 



Phalgoona. 



Sign. 



Mesha 



Vreesha .... 

 Meetoona. . . 

 Karkata .... 

 Seengha .... 



Kanya 



Toola 



Vreescheeka. 

 Dhanoo . . . . 

 Makara . . . . 

 Koomba. . . . 



Day on which the Q 

 enters it. 



day. dan. 

 April, 1784 9 37 



May , 



June , 



July 



August . . . . 

 September 

 October . . . 

 November 

 December 

 Jan. 17S5 

 February . . 

 March . . . , 



10 

 11 

 12 

 13 

 13 

 13 

 12 

 11 

 10 

 8 

 10 



34 







37 



7 



7 



32 



25 



54 



13 



40 



30 



pa. 



7 



8 



S 



58 



11 



36 



55 



33 



IS 



11 



21 



38 



Chitra 'Meena . . . 



It may be observed, that in general. Visakha begins at the day after that full 

 moon which is nearest to the instant at which the sun enters Mesha, whether 

 before or after; however, is is not always accurately the nearest. The 2 parts 

 of each month are distinguished in these almanacs by the addition of the syllables 

 vadee and soodha to the name; thus the first half of Visakha, or that from the 

 day after the full, to the day after the new moon, is called Visakha-vadee, and 

 the remainder Visakha-sooda*; but Mr. C. believes, the more usual way of dis- 

 tinguishing them is by the words kreeshna paksha, or the dark side, and sookla 

 paksha, the bright side. A consequence of this way of counting the months 

 is, that the first half of Chitra falls in one year, and the latter half in the fol- 

 lowing year. 



Whenever the sun enters no sign during a natural month, this month is inter- 

 calary, and makes an irregularity, which may best be explained by an example. 

 In the year 1779, the sun entered into no sign during the natural month which 

 began at the end of the first fortnight of Sravana; accordingly the whole of 



* Soodlia signifies clear, pure, or complete; but die word Vadee is not to be found in any of Mx. 

 Wiikins"s dictionaries. — Orig. 



