330 [on TH£ INDIAN, &C. 



been at its greatest approximation to the pole, littfe 

 more than four degrees from it, about 1236 years before 

 Christ. It must liave been distant, between seven and 

 eight degrees of a great circle, when Eudoxls wrote. 

 Possibly the great star in the Dragon ( Draconis), 

 which is situated very near to the circle dcsciibcd by 

 the north pole round the pole of the ecliptick, had 

 been previously designated as the polar star. It was 

 within one degree of the north pole about 2836 years 

 before Christ. As we know, that the idea could not 

 be taken, from the star in the tail of Ursa minor, we 

 are forced to choose between Bailly's cpnjecture or 

 the supposition of a still greater antiquity. I should, 

 therefore, be inclined to extend to the Indian sphcr?, 

 his conjecture respecting that of Eudoxus, 



I SHALL now proceed to compare the NafshatraSf 

 tvith the Manzils of the nioon, or lunar mansions. 



I. j4/wm^ now the first Nacshiira^ but anciently 

 the last but one, probably obtained its present situation 

 at the head of the Indian asterisms, when the beginning 

 of the Zodiack was referred to the first degree of 

 Meshdy or the Ram, on the Hindu sphere. As mea- 

 suring a portion of the Zodiack, it occupies the first 

 13*^ 20' of Mesha : and its beginning follows immedi- 

 ately after the principal star in the last Nacshatra {R^- 

 n^af'ij, reckoned, by some exactly, by others nearly, 

 opposite to the very conspicuous one, which forms the; 

 fourteenth asterism. Considered as a constellation, 

 yl/ixjini compresses three stars figured as a horse'5 

 head ; and the principal, which is also the northern 

 one, is stated by all ancient authorities, in IOp N. and 

 f>o E. from the beginning of Mesna^ 



The first ManzU, or lunar mansion according tQ 

 the Arabs, is entitled iShcrut'atj (by th^ Persians coy- 



