﻿114 ON THE CHRONOLOGY 



whole number, the sum of the figures in the diffe- 

 rent products remain always nine, as the Deity, who 

 appears in many forms, continues One immutable 

 essence. The important period of twenty-jive thou- 

 sand nine hundred and twenty years is well known to 

 arise from the multiplication of three hundred and 

 sixty into seventy-two, the number of years in which 

 a fixed star seeais to move through a degree of a 

 great circle; and, "although M. Le Gentil assures us, 

 that the modern Hindus believe a complete revolution 

 of the stars to be made in twenty-four thousand years, 

 or fifty-four seconds of a degree to be passed in one 

 year, yet we may have reason to think that the old 

 Indian astronomers had made a more accurate calcu- 

 lation, but concealed their knowledge from the peo- 

 ple under the veil of fourteen Manwantaras, seventy- 

 one divine ages, compound cycles, and years of dif- 

 ferent sorts, from those of Brahma to those of Patala, 

 or the infernal regions. If we follow the analogy 

 suggested by Menu, and suppose only a day and 

 night to be called a year, we may divide the number 

 of years in a divine age by three hundred and sixty, 

 and the quotient will be twelve thousand, or the num- 

 ber of his divine years in one age : but, conjecture 

 apart, we need only compare the two periods 4320000 

 and 25920, and we shall find, that among their com-' 

 mon divisors, are 6, 9, 12 &c. 18, 36, 72, 144, 

 &c. ; which numbers with their several multiples, 

 especially in a decuple progression, constitute some 

 of the most celebrated periods of the Chaldeans, 

 Creeks, Tartars i and even of the Indians. We can- 

 not fail to observe, that the number 432, which ap- 

 pears to be the basis of the Indian system, is a 60th 

 part of 25920, and, by continuing the comparison 

 we might probably solve the whole enigma. In the 

 preface to a Varancs Almanac I find the following 

 wild stanza : " A thousand Great Ages are a day of 

 '■ Brahma ; a thousand such days are an Indian hour 



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