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rule for computing sines, which is certainly very ingenious, 
says, " It has the appearance, like many other things in 
the science of those eastern nations, of being drawn up by 
one who was more deeply versed in the subject than may 
be at first imagined, and who knew much more than he 
thought it necessary to communicate. It is probably a 
compendium formed by some ancient adept in geometry 
for the use of others, who were merely practical calcu- 
lators." 
Though the majority of writers allow the Hindoos credit 
for the originality and advanced state of their mathematics, 
it is very different with their astronomy, which, though 
equally supported by great names, such as those of Bailly 
and Playfair, and acquiesced in by Sir David Brewster, 
has been objected to as being neither ancient nor original; 
their astronomical books on the subject being conceived 
to be modern compilations, to which old names have been 
attached : the matter having been borrowed from the Greeks 
and Arabians. But equal fairness does not appear to me to 
be observed in the statement of the argument : for, allowing 
full force to the ingenuity and truth of the mode of reason- 
ing, and induction from internal evidence, of the principal 
Hindoo astronomical works, as the Brahma, Surya, and 
Arya Siddhantas having been composed respectively in 
the years 538, 1068, and 1322, of the Christian era; yet 
the very same author proves by the same mode of induction, 
that the astronomer Parasara lived as early as 1180 B.C. 
The Hindoos must have paid attention to astronomy at 
even earlier periods, for Mr. Bentley also admits, that the 
Nacshatras, or Hindoo lunar mansions, were determined 
as early as 1425 B.C. ; the solar zodiac not till 1180 B.C. 
by the above-named Parasara; and the lunar cycle in 945B.C. 
Sir David Brewster (Edinb. Encycl. Astronomy, p. 585), 
in introducing this subject, says, " The astronomical tables 
