0N THE equinoxes; us ■ 



flourifh'ed, by wh m the fciencc was cultivated and promoted, but 

 whofe works onhappily are loft, oratleafl have not been _ yet recoi 

 vered, and are at pre-fent known; to us - only • by quotation. No left- 

 than ten intermedial writers are cited by Brahmegupta ; of whom- 

 five at the lead are noticed by Va-'ra'hamihira.* 



Thit -proficiency of * the 1 Tavanas in" a (Iron amy 'wis known to- 

 Va'rakamihira. He has mentioned it with applaufe f, and has more- 

 than once referred to the authority of their writers. The name of 

 Yav an ach a'rt-a, which occurs" frequently in the compilations of Hindu 

 aftronomers, J has apparently reference to an author oi that, nation ; 

 which is characlerifed by Varahamihira as a. people of Mtedihas. or 

 barbarians. The title of ' Romaca Sidd"kant(f given by S'p.isHftfA to hii 

 aflronomical treatife, which is quoted under this title by Vara'ha- 

 mihira and 'Brahmegupta, may be pre famed' alfo'to carry fome al- 

 kilionto .the fyftem of the aftronomers of the Weft. ■ 



.* 



If thefe circumftances, joined to k a reiembiaincc hardly ' to/'be fup- 

 pofed cafual, which; the Hindu aftronomy with its apparatus of ec« 

 centricks and epicycles' bears in many refpeck to that of the Greeks, be 

 thought to authorize a belief, that the Hindus received from the 

 Creeks, that knowledge which enabled them to correct and improve 



* See before p. 221 223, and 24.3. 



" For die Ykv/inas are barbarians ; but this fc euce is we'l eflab'.ilbd among th:rn; and. the/ are le« 

 Tered-Hke holy fa»es : much more ftiall aprielt who is learned in h be-vcB.iat.d,' 1 



t As. Rcc. vol. 9^ p. 376, . 



O-3 •, 



