﻿23O ON THE ASTRONOMICAL COMPUTATIONS 



" Time, of the denomination Murta *, is 



" estimated by respirations ; six respirations make a 

 " Vicala, sixty Vicalas a Danda, sixty Dandas a Nac- 

 " shatra day, and thirty Nacshalra days a Nacshatra 

 " month- The Savan month is that contained be- 

 H tween thirty successive risings oiSurya, and varies in 

 " its length according to the Lagna Bhtija. Thirty 

 " Tifhis compose the Chandra month. The Saura 

 " month is that in which the sun describes one sign 

 " of the Zodiac, and his passage through the twelve 

 " signs is one year, and one of those years is a Deva 

 " day, or day of the Gods. When it is day at Asura-f- 

 " it is night with the Gods, and when it is day with the 

 ({ Gods it is night at Asura. Sixty of the Deva days 

 " multiplied by six give the Deva year, and twelve 

 " hundred of the Deva years form the aggregate of 

 " the four Yugas. To determine the Saura years 

 " contained in this aggregate, write down the following 

 " numbers, 4, 3, 2, which multiply by 10,000 ; the 

 " product 4,320,000 is the aggregate or Maha Yuga, 

 " including the Sandhi and Sandhyansa \. This is 

 " divided into four Yugas, by reason of the diffe- 

 " rent proportions of Virtue prevailing on earth, in 



" the following manner : Divide the aggregate 



" 4,320,000 by 1 o, and multiply the quotient by four 

 " for the Satya Yug, by three for the Treta, by two 



* This is mean sydereal time :— A Nacsbatra, or syderal day, b 

 the time in which the earth makes a turn upon Us axis, or, accord- 

 ing to the Hindus, in which the stars make one complete revolution. 

 This is shorter than the Savan, or solar day, which varies in its 

 length according to the Lagna Bbuja, or right ascension, and also 

 from the sun's unequal motion in the ecliptic ; for both which' 

 circumstances the Hindus have their equation of time, as will ap- 

 pear in the calculation of the eclipse. 



■\ Asura, th.e south pole, the habitation of the Asura Loca, or 

 demons, with whom the Dcvas, who reside at Sumeru, the north 

 pole, wage eternal war. 



X Sandhi and Sandhyansa, the morning and evening twilight. 

 The proper words, I heliev?, are Sund'oya and Sandhyansa. 



