1834.] in the work of Native Education. 509* 



with a virulence and boldness which shew their utter ignorance of 

 their proper profession, which had its existence only on the refutation 

 and abandonment of the Puranic system. The Jains and all the fol- 

 lowers of the Purans of whatever caste you will find, on the other hand, 

 betraying equal inconsistency in daily appealing to the panchangs of 

 the jyotishi, and confidently maintaining the infallibility of their con- 

 tents, though founded on a system with which the truth of their own 

 is utterly inconsistent. 



Of the sincerity of the ignorance of both parties there can be little 

 doubt, from the profound veneration with which they, but especially the 

 joshis, regard all the Siddhantas. The Surya Siddhanta they firmly 

 believe to have been communicated to men by the sun himself, the 

 authors of all they believe to have been divinely inspired. These 

 works are now thought to be, like the Vedas, wonderful displays of Divine 

 wisdom, but totally beyond ordinary human comprehension. That man 

 who has mastered their contents, they regard, and even fear as one 

 possessed with superhuman powers. 



10th. With this blind veneration and strong prejudice in favor of the 

 Siddhantas, prevailing particularly amongst the joshis scattered all 

 over India (and the latter are by no means an inconsiderable part of 

 the learned of India), and in some degree, now also amongst the Jain 

 and followers of the Puranas, can we for a moment hesitate in admitting 

 the vast benefits to which the proper employment of these prevailing 

 prejudices will lead ? How readily may a knowledge of the science, as 

 taught in the Siddhantas, be recommunicated, especially to the joshis, 

 whose lives are now idly spent in wading through unintelligible calcu- 

 lations deduced from the Siddhantas ? With what exultation will every 

 man of ingenuous mind amongst them receive explanations making plain 

 and clear what is now all unintelligible and dark ! They will not stop 

 in simply admitting what is taught in the Siddhantas. Grateful to their 

 European Instructors for bringing them back to a knowledge of the 

 works of their own neglected, but still revered, masters, they will in the 

 fulness of their gratitude, and from the exercise of their now improved 

 powers of understanding, also readily receive the additions made dur- 

 ing the last few hundred years in the science. 



1 lth. From the extract now forwarded it will be at once seen, that 

 there can be little or nothing which we have to teach in Geometry, 

 Surveying, and Trigonometry generally, in Geography or Astronomy, of 

 which Bhaskar A'cha'rya has not already given us the first principles, 

 and for enabling us to explain which, he will not afford us many new 

 and also the most appropriate arguments, in as much as they will be 



