200 



Dr. G. Thibaut — On the Sh'ynprajnapti. 



[No. 4, 



equals 31 + 3, the number of the third parvan. The fourth parvan termi- 

 nates 59 — days after the beginning of the yuga ; 4 without any addition 



98 



is the number of the parvan. The fifth parvan again terminates 73 — — 



124! 



days after the beginning of the yuga ; 98 is equal to 93 + 5, the number 

 of the parvan. And so on through the whole yuga. 



The above examples fairly represent the more important rules contain- 

 ed in the Suryaprajiiapti. Now it will be apparent to every one who is to 

 some extent familiar with the Jyotisha-vedanga* that the rules contained 

 in the, as yet partly unexplained, verses of the latter refer to calculations 

 exactly analogous to those contained in the Siiryaprajnapti and the old 

 gathas quoted by the commentator. 



From this it might be concluded that it is now easy for us to explain 

 whatever has up to the present remained unexplained in the Vedauga, 

 possessing as we doubtless do a clear insight into the general nature of the 

 calculations for which it furnishes rules. But close as the connexion be- 

 tween the contents of the two treatises manifestly is, there are two reasons 

 which preclude the direct application of the rules of the Suryaprajnapti to 

 the elucidation of the Vedaiiga. In the first place the Vedaiiga divides the 

 sphere into twenty-seven nakshatras only and, as far as has been ascertain- 

 ed up to the present, these twenty-seven nakshatras are considered to be 

 of equal extent ; while as we have seen above the Suryaprajiiapti through- 

 out employs the division of the sphere into twenty-eight nakshatras of 

 •unequal extent. In the second place the starting point for all calculations 

 (viz., the places of the winter and summer solstice) is not the same in the 

 two works. The consequence of these two fundamental discrepancies is 

 that although the questions treated of are essentially the same and although 

 the modes of calculation are strictly analogous the results arrived at in the 

 two treatises necessarily differ in all cases, that for instance the place of a 

 certain full or new moon during the quinquennial yuga can never be the 

 same according to the Surj^aprajiiapti as it is according to the Vedafiga, etc. 

 Nevertheless it is highly probable that somebody who should apply himself 

 to the study of the obscure portions of the Vedaiiga after having made him- 

 self thoroughly conversant with the contents and methods of the Suryapra- 



* Since tlie publication of the paper on the Jyotisha-vedanga in the 46th volume 

 of this Journal, the writer has received some very important contributions to the ex- 

 planation of the Vedanga from Dr. H. Oldenberg, the well-known editor of the Vinaya. 

 pitakam, who working altogether independently had succeeded in explaining a number 

 of hitherto obscure rules. The writer intends to revert to the Vedanga before long 

 and will then avail himself of the new results most kindly placed at his disposal by Dr. 

 Oldenberg. 



