58o ON THE ANTIQUITY OF 



among these, some were pretended to be delivered 

 from the mouth of oiie or other of their deities, as 

 the Brofujia Sidd/idnta, Vislinu Siddhdnta, and the 

 works of Siva, commonly called Tontros. Others, 

 were pretended to have been received through reve- 

 lation, as the Soma Siddhdnta, while others were 

 fathered on sages, who were supposed to have lived 

 in the remotest periods of antiquity, as the VasisJita 

 Siddhanta, Pardsar SiddhaHta, Rudra Siddhaiita, 

 Gorgd Siddhanta, Bhargob Siddhdnf.a, 8cc. to the 

 number of about eighteen altogether, including the 

 Siirya Siddluinfa. These eighteen are now called 

 by way of pre-eminence, the eighteen original Shas- 

 ^tTj- of astronomy, though amongst the whole I am in- 

 formed, there are not above three or four real origi- 

 nal works ; the rest being compiled for one or other 

 of these, with the diction or style a little altered, to 

 answer the purposes of priestcraft i but the revolu- 

 tions, motions, &c. of the planets, remaining the 

 same as in the original. 



75. These books, are however, become now 

 very scarce ; at least in this part oi India ; so much 

 so, that it was with a great deal of difficulty I pro- 

 cured the following out of the number, viz. \\-\q Soma 

 Siddhdnta, Brolima Siddhdnla, Vishnu Siddhdnta^ 

 Vasishta Siddhdnta^ and the GroJio Jamul^ one of 

 the works pretended to have been written by Siva: 

 but even from these few, a general idea may be 

 formed of the antiquity of the rest. 



Th e S6ma Siddhdnla, Vasishta Siddhdn/ayZnd Gro- 

 ho Jamuly adopt the system given in the Surya Sidd- 

 hdnta by Var a'ha. The Brohma Siddhdnta appears to 

 have been deduced from the Bhasvo/i, by calculating 

 from that work the positions of the Sun, Moon and pla- 

 nets, at the commencement of the Calpa oi Brohma, 

 and making the calculations to commence from that 



epoch 



