THE SURYA SIDDHA'ntA, &C. 579 



multiply the mean motions, &c. given in the ,/«/<? ^* 

 Arnob by 1080000 (the least cycle of years in which 

 the Sun, Moon, and planets are assumed to return 

 to a line of mean conjunction by the Siirya Siddhdn- 

 ta) we shall have (rejecting the fractions and taking 

 the nearest whole number) the same revolutions pre- 

 cisely as are given in the Surya Siddhdnta (§ 22). 

 This much may serve to shew who the real author 

 of the Surya Siddhdnta was : but, if any farther do- 

 cuments should be deemed requisite, a reference to 

 almost any of the principal astronomical works, 

 written since the time of Vara'ha, must be sufii- 

 cient. For, in the Brohma Siddhdntay Vishnu Sidd- 

 hdnta^ Siddhdnta Munjeri, and many others, that 

 system or Calpa which is contained in the Surya 

 Siddhdnta, isexpressly called the Calpa of Vara'ha; 

 or, as some express it, " the Calpa of Vara'ha the 

 fair." Therefore, any Hindu work in which the 

 name of Vara'ha or his system is mentioned, must 

 evidently be modern ; and. this circumstance alone 

 totally destroys the pretended antiquity of many of 

 the Purans and other books, which through the 

 artifices of the Brahminical tribe, have been hitherto 

 deemed the most ancient in existence. 



74. From what has been said above, it appears 

 extremely probable, that the name of Vara'ha, 

 must have been to the Surya Siddhdnta when it was 

 first written, and the author well known ; but that 

 after his death, priestcraft found means to alter it, 

 and to introduce the ridiculous story of MEYA'or 

 MoYA, having received it through divine revelation 

 at the close of the Satya yug : upon which petty 

 fiction its present pretended antiquity is founded. 

 But this it seems was not the only pious fraud com- 

 mitted by the crafty sons of Brahma; for it appears 

 that a number of other astronomical works were then 

 framed, calculated also for the purpose of deception 



among 



