182 Dr. G. Tliibaut — On flie l^urynprnjnnpti. [No. 4, 



times approaching it sometimes receding from it. While, however, the period 

 of the sun's progress from and towards Mount Meru comprises one year — 

 the time which the sun employs in arriving again at the same star — the cor- 

 responding period of tlie moon embraces one nakshatra month = 27 days, 

 9 ff muhurtas. From this it is easy to find the number of the circles the 

 moon describes. She performs during one yuga 1,7G8 complete revolutions, 



consequently during one nakshatra month '^'^^ = 26 ^ revolutions, and 



67 67 



13 



during one ayana or sidereal half month 13 ~ revolutions. The moon 



67 



therefore proceeds towards the north during the time which she wants for 

 13 . 



describing 13 — circles, and after that she proceeds towards the south for 



the same length of time. From this it follows that, while the sun has 184 

 diffei'ent circles to describe, the moon has fifteen such circles only. At the 

 beginning of the yuga she leaves the outermost circle and begins her utta- 

 rayana, describes the thirteen circles intermediate between the outermost 

 and the innermost ones and enters into the fifteenth (innermost) circle, 

 13 



through parts of which she passes. After that the sidereal half moon 



has elapsed, and the moon has to retrace her steps towards the south. She 

 therefore leaves the innermost circle unfinished, returns into the next one, 

 passes again through the 13 intermediate circles and enters into the 15th 



13 



(outermost) circle. After she has passed through — parts of the latter, 



the sidereal half moon is again over and the progress towards the north 

 recommences. Thus the moon moves in 15 circles of different diameter, 

 but only 13 she passes through in their entirety while a fractional part 

 only of the two exterior circles are touched by her. We have seen above 

 that the vikampa-kshetra of the sun, i. e., the extent to which the sun 

 moves sideways in his northern and southern progress is estimated at 510 

 48 



yojanas ( = 183 x 2 — ; the latter quantity being the amount of the 

 61 



daily vikamj^a) ; the vikampa-kshetra of the moon is estimated at nearly 



53 



the same amount, viz., 509 — yojanas (it has been already remarked that 



the inclination of the moon's path to the ecliptic is not known to the Surya- 



56 



prajnapti). Tlie diameter of the moon herself is estimated at — yojanas, 



the interval between consecutive circles described by the moon at 



30 4 . , ^ ... 25 



35 H + yoianas : the sum of these two quantities is 36 + — 



bi 7 X 61 61 



