330 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [{June, 1908. 
In the first place, what is ay of srfwa? Mallinadtha ex- 
plains, saying 7q means wei Even then wre of srfas. 
“purity of the diametrically opposite place,” is unintelligible, 
because Astrology defines sitfw4 with reference to the wy and 
not tothe fafy as the context has it here. Mallinatha’s defence, 
that what attaches to the @y may be attributed to the fafa 
also, does not seem satisfactory. This leads me to suspect that 
aifaa is not here used in the sense Mallinatha takes it. 
My suspicion is strengthened from another consideration. 
I am told—I speak under correction—that, at marriages, the 
purity of fara (the two positions 90° either way from the 
wa) has to be considered, while the purity of the wy itself is at 
least as important as that of the sif#ai It is imperative to 
avoid sifawiy and qa#y—impurities of the ww and the op- 
posite place. Why then is the poet silent about impurities at — 
faera and the wg. It will not do to say thatif the srfwa i 
pure, impurities elsewhere do not matter. For ya%w is as bad 
as wrfaaay. sides, who are the parties involved? The 
parents of the Universe are to be united ; on the issue of the 
union depends the welfare of the whole host of gods and men. 
Such an occasion hasto be accompanied by a combination of all 
auspicious circumstances, and must not be burdened with such 
shortcomings of the wy as an ordinary Bengali father of an 
a@eqrt has to put up with. 
I therefore take sitfwa here in the sense I have already 
TRS The sloka then means that—Himalaya performed the 
ceremony for his daughter’s marriage at a phase of 
the moon that was calculated to ward off evil influences from 
her married life. 
Hence Jamitra offers no corroboration :— 
(1) Because Jamitra in the sense Diametron does not suit 
the context, therefore it is a different word derived 
from Sanskrit. 
(2) Because even if Jamitra has the sense of Diametron, the 
supposition that the two come from a common 
primitive is possible. That Diametron has a Greek 
derivation does not bar the supposition ; for faa, ata, 
afee, etc., have Sanskrit derivations. 
(3) Because, if borrowed, there is nothing to exclude the 
hypothesis that it came to India with Seleucus. 

