ASTRONOMT of the BRAHMINS. 189 



ries which may be made with refpect to this fcience, do not in- 

 tereft merely the aflronomer and the mathematician, but every 

 one who delights to mark the progrefs of mankind, or is curious 

 to look back on the ancient inhabitants of the globe. It is 

 through the medium of aftronomy alone that a few rays from 

 thofe diftant objects can be conveyed in fafety to the eye of a 

 modern obferver, fo as to afford him a light, which, though it 

 be fcanty, is pure and unbroken, and free from the falfe co- 

 lourings of vanity and fuperflition. 



III. The bafis of the four fyftems of aflronomical tables 

 which we have examined, is evidently the fame. 



Though thefe tables are fcattered over an extenfive country, 

 they feem to have been all originally adapted, either to the fame 

 meridian, or to meridians at no great diftance, which traverfe 

 what we may call the claflical ground of India, marked by the 

 ruins of Canoge, Palibothra and Benares. * They contain rules 

 that have originated between the tropics ; whatever be their 

 epoch, they are all, by their mean motions, connected with that 

 of the Calyougham ; and they have befides one uniform cha- 

 racter which it is perhaps not eafy to defcribe. Great ingenuity 

 has been exerted to Amplify their rules ; yet, in no inftance al- 

 moft, are they reduced to the utmoft fimplicity ; and when 

 it happens that the operations to which they lead are extreme- 

 ly obvious, thefe are often involved in an artificial obfcu- 

 rity. A Brahmin frequently multiplies by a greater number than 

 is neceffary, where he feems to gain nothing but the trouble of 

 dividing by one that is greater in the fame proportion ; and he 

 calculates the era of Salivaganam with the formality of as 

 many diftindl operations as if he were going to determine the 

 moon's motion fince the beginning of the Calyougham. The fame 

 fpirit of exclufion,the fame fear of communicating his knowledge, 

 feems to direct the calculus which pervades the religion of the 

 Brahmin ; and, in neither of them, is he willing to receive or 

 to impart inftruction. With all thefe circumftances of refem- 



blance. 



