1880.] 



Dr. G. Tliibaut — On the Suri/aprajnapti, 



189 



later at evening is paschadbhaga ; Ardra which enters into conjunction 

 thirty mulnirtas later, at the time when the stars have come out, is naktam- 

 bhaga ; Punarvasu into which the moon enters on the next morning, being 

 dvyardha, is ubhayabhaga. Pushya comes into conjunction on the evening 

 of the following day and is paschadbhaga ; i^slesha thirty muhiirtas later, 

 when the stars have come out, and is naktambliaga ; Magha and Purva- 

 phalguni into which the moon enters on the mornings of the two following 

 days are piirvabhaga ; Uttara-phalguni which comes into conjunction on 

 the morning after that is ubhayabhaga, because it is dvyardhakshetra. 

 Hasta and Chitra enter into conjunction on the evenings of the two follow- 

 ing days, before night has set in, and are therefore paschadbhaga. Then 

 again follows one naktambhaga nakshatra, viz., Svati which enters into 

 conjunction after nightfall, and upon this a dvyardhakshetra and conse- 

 quently ubhayabhaga nakshatra, viz., Visakha. Then Anuradha paschad- 

 bhaga, after this Jj'eslitha, apardhakshetra and naktambhaga, remaining in 

 conjunction from nightfall to the morning only ; after this two samakshe- 

 tra and purvabhaga nakshatras, viz., Miila and Purvashaclha. And finally 

 Uttarashadha, which enters into conjunction on the morning, is, however, 

 as a dvyardhakshetra, reckoned among the ubhayabhaga. It remains in 

 conjunction for one nycthemeron and the following day, in whose evening 

 the moon arrives at Abhijit whence she had started a (periodical) month 

 ago. 



The difficulties involved in all the preceding statements are increased 

 by an assertion made in another chapter of the Suryaprajuapti, viz., that no 

 nakshatra always enters into conjunction with the moon at the same time of 

 the day. This is indeed true, but it contradicts the preceding statements. 

 It may be that this whole classification of the nakshatras according to the 

 time of the day at which they enter into conjunction with the moon is a 

 remainder of an earlier stage of knowledge, when the periodical month 

 was supposed to last just twenty-seven days without an additional fraction, 

 and when it therefore was possible to assign to each nakshatra one fixed 

 hour at which it entered into conjunction during each periodical revolution 

 of the moon. It is true that actual observation would speedily have shown 

 the error of such an assumption, but this remark would apply to almost all 

 hypotheses of the Indians of that period, and we may therefore suppose 

 that in this point too the desire of systematizing prevailed during a certain 

 period over the testimony of the eyes. Later on when the duration of tlie 

 periodical month had become better known, the old classification lost its 

 foundation entirely and ought to have been dropped ; but through the 

 force of custom it maintained its place and was justified some how, although 

 not with the best success, as we have had occasion to observe above. 



On the places of the nakshatras with regard to the moon we receive 

 A A 



