THE SURYA' SIDDHA'NTA, Scc. 54l 



Other nations. M. Bailly, in the year 1787, pub- 

 lished at Paris, a whole quarto volume on the subject 

 of the Indian astronomy; and Mr. Playfair, in 

 the year 1789 : published a paper on the same sub- 

 ject in the Edinburgh transactions. The principles, 

 however, of the Hindu systems of astronomy, being 

 unknown to these gentlemen, and differing widely 

 in many respects from that of the Europeans, the 

 conclusions drawn by them respecting the antiquity 

 of the several astronomical tables mentioned by 

 Mr. Bailly, appear now to be altogether unfound- 

 ed. Indeed, the materials which Mr. Bailly had 

 collected *, we're insufficient to enable him to form a 

 just idea of the principles of the Hindu systems, 

 which being mostly artificial, his method of investiga- 

 tion (from the quantity of the mean annual motions, 

 &c. of the planets, though otherwise perfectly just) 

 became altogether inapplicable ; so much so, that the 

 tables of Trivalore, which he had supposed were as 

 old as the commencement of the present Cali yug^ 

 at least, were actually written and dated about the 

 year 4383 of the Cali yug, or 516 years ago; and 

 the mean annual motions of the planets given in that 

 work, were on the primiples of the Hindu astronomy^ 

 calculated to give the positions of the planets in the 

 heavens at that time, as near at least, as the author 

 could determine by observation. However, in order 

 to do away these delusions, I shall, before I proceed 

 to the investigation of the antiquity of the Suryd. 

 Siddhdnta, explain, in as simple a manner as possible, 

 the principles upon which the Hindu systems are 

 founded, and the manner in which they are formed. 



4. In the first place it is necessary to observe, that 

 in most of the Hindu systems^ certain points of time 



* 1. Tables from Trivalore, dated in 1413 Saka. 2. Tables 

 from Chrhnaboram. 3. Tables from Narsi^oor, dated 1491 Saka. 

 4. Tables from S'lafu. 



2 M 3 back. 



