SYSTEMS OF ASTRONOMY. 201 



respect to the antiquity of tlie time in which the 

 system was framed. If, therefore, the time in which 

 any system was framed be known, (either from 

 that of the inventor, or from the positions of the 

 planets or other data, given in such system,) then I 

 say, that any book in which the name of that par- 

 ticular system is mentioned, cannot possibly be 

 older than the time the system was framed and ob- 

 tained its name. 



That system which is contained in the Surya 

 Siddhanta (though originally invented by Vara'ha 

 ]\Iihira), is now most certainly called the Calpa 

 of V^ara'ha, or of the Boar; but whether that sys- 

 tem obtained its present name from the inventor, 

 or whether fancy has had any share in it since, still 

 this can make no difference, as it can neither en- 

 crease nor diminish the antiquity of the system ; 

 which, from computations founded on undeniable 

 principles, I have shewn and demonstrated to be 

 only between seven and eight hundred years old ; 

 and this I maintain to be true, whether Vara'ha 

 MiHiRA was the inventor of the system or not. 



Now since this system, called the Calpa of Va- 

 ra'ha, or of the Boar, has been framed only be- 

 tween seven and eio-ht hundred rears, it follows in- 

 dubitably that any work in which the Calpa is men- 

 tioned, cannot possibly be older than the time of 

 its invention, but may be considerably less. 



It was not necessary that the name of Vara'ha 

 ]\IiHiRA should occur in the Purdnas, to prove 

 them modern ; for, putting Vara'ha and his sys- 

 tem altogether out of the question, yet still the 

 names, not only of the princes in vv^hose reigns he 

 lived, but also of several others, down to the last 

 Mahomcdan conquest, with the years of each reign, 

 are to be found m some of the Purdnas; a most 

 certain proof, that these works are not the genuine 



