clxiv Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (X.S., XIII, 



brighter planets, Venus and Jupiter, could have escaped notice. But 

 that the knowledge of this early period extended to the five planets, there 

 is no evidence. To this age, the year was one of 360 davs, i.e. 12 months 

 each containing 30 days. Such a reckoning of time, if uncorrected, would 

 inevitably have wrought confusion among the seasons. That this was 

 corrected by some kind of intercalation seems to be suggested by a pas- 

 sage in the Rig- Veda which runs thus : ■• Varuna knows the month that 

 is born in addition to the twelve." The movement of the sun toward^ 

 the North is said to last 180 days, and the movement to the South an 

 equal number of days. To bring this into harmony with actual expe- 

 rience, the Saraa Veda states that from time to time the Ayana or move- 

 ment to the North lasts 189 days. This is not science ; it is a crude 

 conjecture intended to adjust the solar and lunar reckonings to each 



4 



To this age belongs also the conception of a zodiac consisting of 27, 

 sometimes 28, constellations known as nakshatras. A feature of special 

 interest in this connection is the point from which these nakshatras are 

 reckoned This enables a conclusion to be drawn as to the period to which 



S 6 i ~u helo »8 a - The most reliable conclusion is that which fixes it in 

 the 12th century B.C. 



II. It was only at a much later stage that anything like an astro- 

 nomical system was formulated, viz. in the Sutra period of F3rahmanie 

 literature, the age of the Maha'bharat, the Puranas and the Buddhistic 



«™f mg8 " u- I I ? enod Was aIso free from external influences and the 

 &?/t l0ngS , J° * Was P ure, y Indian a « d national. The Surya 

 nfS, 5£ Tl} ] a - nd the J y° tJ sha. Vedanga are typical treatises 



™j! i 8 The J 1 ** ter IS an astronomical hand-book in metre and so 

 Z te^ *£*•* much of lt is obscure and difficult of interpreta- 

 nlan'p £ C< l? rd,nS *° th J s ?**»» the earth's surface is a huge circular 

 nam!rf M ™ 1° u .u hwh stands a mountain of enormous height 



SoSl a 0n 7 1Ch th ! ?° ds dwelL This di «c insists of successive 

 larln I™ ll Separat u ed h « m <*<* other by seas which are also circu- 

 it inJL™ , ?<»an the seas known as the salt water ocean, the ocean 



Mounf Meru hZ^J I *\ The inner dvi P a or continent adjoining 

 bodies *Z « Bharatyarsha as its southern portion. The heavenly 

 narafltl n h^ 8 & , + u their chariots around the mountain in a plane 



Sn nates out Jl °H **! ^ Sun " Se and «■-* ta ke P^ce -hen the 

 un passes out of and enters the shadow cast by the great central raoun- 



half"of Their cZiTt^I^ th ° heaven, y bodies accomplish only on, 



he existent n ™* n 24 hours and are under the necessity of assuming 



bodies It i! uJr° SUnS and ° f similar] y duplicating all the heavenly 



LT 88 "'? to detail a " the shifts to which these early W- 



tronomftr« KoH .. Q „ - ""««" an uie snnts to which these eany » 



at» 2££»& 3*2* £ £-**-&. 5 . — 



with aUiN Zho^r 1 a " d , clums y ^tem which 1 have brie fly sketched 

 o^f 360 "a s wlsTni C , U,at,0nS held the fie,d <™ centuries' Its year 

 have con inued " ac «° en ough : but. that the five years' cycle should 

 tWs system shouH h ^ ^ "Erected form for centuries and that 

 suffiSte shoJ thT^*™ foll . OW6d ° ver wide ar oas of the country 

 da7d of aceutcv S the f ' entific s Pi"t, which demands a higher stan- 

 in India A ne W ^t°! observati °n and calculation, was not yet awake 



III Tha IS S WaS ne6ded to P r o mot o this awakening. 

 Greece ' The re»"™ ® iT"' aa We shaU see ^m India's contact with 

 tury of our era Z I T^ P6r ° d be 8 an Probably about the fifth cen- 

 over several cen'turii .f n0t earlier than the third century. It extended 

 exposTtLn n " f r wr,V Wn * t fc J e twrffth in * hich » rec eived its fullest 

 TheSury n a BUdhLTfel^ »?^ * India '« mathematicians 



od 



