SYSTEMS OF ASTRONOMY. 241 



none of the modern Romances, commonly called 

 the PufYoias, at least in the form they now stand, 

 are older than 684 years ; the time when the four- 

 teenth Manwantara of the second system of the 

 Graha JMinijari ended ; but that some of them are 

 the compilations of still later times. 



We may, perhaps, be told by some person who 

 has suffered his imagination to get the better of 

 his judgment, that the Hindus firmly believe in 

 the prophecies in the Punmas, and that we have 

 no right to doubt their authenticity, or what uni- 

 versal opinion sanctions as true. 



With respect to the firm belief or universal opi- 

 nion of the Hindus, we know too well the fallacy 

 of it, and that it is not in the smallest degree to be 

 relied on. We know that it is the universal opi- 

 nion of the Hindus, that Para's ara, Vya's, Garg/ , 

 and others, lived near 5000 3'ears ago. But we 

 know, to a certainty, from the positions of the co- 

 lures in the time of Para'sara, &c. tliat such 

 opinicfn is totally false, and that it arose from the 

 transfer of the names of men living in the D.vapar 

 Yug of the first system of the Graha jMuf/Jari, to 

 the period of the same name in the modern system 

 of Brahma' Gupta ; and that a similar transfer of 

 the names in the eighth, ninth, tenth, &:c. AIa?i- 

 wantaras of the second system, to the periods of 

 the same name in the new, gave rise to the pre- 

 tended prophetic effusion in the modern Pw7'«/z^5,&c. 

 ^ — Moreover, W'Q know, tliat it is the general opi- 

 nion of the Hindus, that Vara'ha Mihira not 

 only lived about the year A. 1). 499, but also at 

 the era of Vicrama'ditya, or fifty-six years be- 

 fore Christ; which opinion we know to be incon- 

 sistent with truth, and contrary to the course of 

 nature. Vara'ha AIihira, in his rule for calcula- 

 ting the precession of the equinoxes, given in his 

 work, entitled the Jatacdrnava, says, — 



Vot. VIII. R 



