Epochs fixed on Astronomical data. 79 



fidence in his ingenious mode of calculating the period at which the 

 various improvements in astronomy were introduced, and the Sid- 

 dhdntas written or revised, hy the time when the positions of the planets, 

 as assigned by their tables, accorded best with the more accurate 

 results of European astronomy. From the minimum errors, and the 

 precession of the equinoxes, (first applied to such a purpose by Sir 

 Isaac Newton,) we have the following epochs substantially ascer- 

 tained : 



Invention of the Nacs7iatras or Hindu Lunar mansions, B. C. 1425 B. 



The Mahabhdrat war, according to Wilford, 1,367 



The Solar Zodiac formed by Parasara, (under Ycdhisthira,) ... 1180 



Era of Parasura'ma commences (see page 26) 7 August 1176 



A Lunar Cycle invented, and precession discovered (Rama?) 945 B. 



Four Yugas, founded on Jupiter's motions, 215 ?B. 



Seven Manwantaras, founded on Saturn's revolutions, A. D. 31 ?B- 



The Iiamdyana, written by Valmi'ki, 29 1 ?B. 



Vara'ha Mihira, nourished, according to Telugu astronomers, (also 

 Sir W. JojJHjs, Colebrooke, &c. from precession of the equinoxes,).. 499 

 Tables of the Brahma Siddhanta, fixation of the sideral Zodiac, and 



new system of Chronology, with extravagant antiquity, compiled, 538 B. 



The Mahdbhdrat written, from Krishna^ s janampatra, 600 ?B. 



The Javanese translation of ditto, according to Raffles, in 1079 



Vishnu Purdna, whence genealogies of Andhra kings, 4955 K. Y. or 954 W. 

 Origin of the Kala Chakra, or Jovian Cycle, (See prec. sect. p. 29,) 965 



Tables of the Surya Siddhanta, by Vara'ha Mihira, 1068-91 B. 



The Varolii Sanhita, supposed by the same author, gives its own date, 1049 



The Lildvati of Bha/skar Acha'rya, bears its own date, 1088 



The Bhdsvatis of Satananda, pupil of Vara'ha, Saca 1021, .... 1109 

 The Bhdgavat, supposed by Colebrooke to be written by a gram- 

 marian in 1200 



The A'rya Siddhanta, compiled by A'rya Bhatta 1 322 



Gangadhar's Comment on Bha'skar A'cha'rya, 1420 



The Works of Kesava, . 1440 



The Grahd Ldghava, by Gonesh, his son , 1520 



Mr. Bentley would rob the seven last of a few centuries upon very 

 insufficient grounds ; he also ventures to place the authorship of the 

 Ramayana in A. D. 291, and that of the Mababharata in A. D. 600, 

 on far too slender astronomical data : but his mania for modernizing 

 renders his testimony of the advanced knowledge of the Hindus in 

 astronomv, at so remote a period as the fifteenth century before 

 Christ, the more valuable ; and we can have little hesitation in 

 giving credit to the lines of princes assigned to this space, and even 

 to further antiquity, although their history has been mixed up with 

 incredible mythos, and a falsified chronology. The more moderate 

 and rational dates preserved by the Bauddha priests would lead to a 

 b 2 



