﻿194 A SUPPLEMENT TO THE ESSAY 



" of Sara d from the first of Chiira to the middle of 

 " Jyeshfha ; that of Hemanta from the middle of 

 '* Jyeshfha to the end of Sravana." 



This account of the six Indian seasons, each of 

 which is co-extensive with two signs, or four lunar 

 stations and a half, places the solstitial points, as Va- 

 raha has asserted, in the first degree of Dhanishfka, 

 and the middle, or 6° 40', of Aslesha, while the 

 equinoctial points were in the tenth degree of Hharani 

 and 3 20' of Visafha ; but, in the time ot Varaha y 

 the solstitial colure passed through ihe tenth degree 

 of Punarvasu and 3 20' of Uttarashara, while the 

 equinoctial colure cut the Hindu ecliptic in the first of 

 Aswini and 6° 40' of Chitra, or the Yoga and only- 

 star of that mansion, which, by the way, is indu- 

 bitably the Spike of the Virgin, from the known 

 longitude of which all other points in the Indian 

 Zodiac may be computed. It cannot escape notice, 

 that Parasara does not use in this passage the phrase 

 at present^ which occurs in the text of Varaha ; so 

 that the places of the colures might have been ascer- 

 tained before his time, and a considerable change 

 might have happened in their true position without 

 any change in the phrases by which the seasons were 

 distinguished, as our popular language in astronomy 

 remains unaltered, though the Zodiacal asterisms are 

 now removed a whole sign from the places where they 

 have left their names. It is manisest, nevertheless, 

 that Parasara must have written within twelve centu- 

 ries before the beginning of our era ; and that single 

 fact, as we shall presently show, leads to very* momen- 

 tous consequences in regard to the system of Indian 

 history and literature. 



On the comparison which might easily be made 

 between the colures of Parasar and those ascribed by 



