1877.] 
explanation of the JyotisJm-Vedanga. 
433 
kashtha (omitting several intermediate divisions) into eighty nimeshas or 
aksharas. Other values are given to kala, kashtha, etc., in other places. 
Now the Jyotisha begins with the apparently very inconvenient divi¬ 
sion of the nadika into 10 ~ kalas. But this division, besides enabling us 
to express the duration of at least the savana and the nakshatra day in 
whole numbers (603 and 549), allows of our doing the same for the period 
during which the moon remains in one nakshatra, the length of which 
period is, as we have seen above, 610 kalas. This is of course of primary 
importance for a work of the character of the Jyotisha which chiefly treats 
of the moon’s revolution through the circle of the nakshatras. Further we 
have seen that the nature of the quinquennial yuga necessarily led to the 
division of each nakshatra into one hundred and twenty-four parts ; this 
division of space suggested in its turn a new division of time, viz. that of 
the kala into one hundred and twenty-four kashthas. The moon passing 
through one nakshatra in 610 kalas passes through its hundred twenty- 
fourth part in 610 kashthas. At the same time the kashtha helps us to a 
convenient expression for another period which is of first rate importance 
in the system of the Jyotisha, viz. that of the duration of a tithi, 593^ 
kalas being equal to 593 kalas, 34 kashthas. 
Considerations of a similar nature lead us to understand the use of the 
sub-division of the kashtha into five aksharas. After having established 
divisions of space and time convenient for expressing the motion of the moon, 
others were wanted whereby to express the relation of her motion to that 
of the sun. The moon making sixty-seven revolutions while the sun makes 
five, the sun passes through of a nakshatra while the moon passes 
through a whole one. Now, in order to find an easy expression for this 
relation, the simplest method would of course have been to divide each 
nakshatra into sixty-seven parts ; but this was no longer possible, the nak¬ 
shatras being already, for more cogent reasons, divided into one hundred 
and twenty-four parts each. It was therefore necessary to look out for 
a sub-division of the one hundred and twenty-four parts of the nakshatra 
which would make a provision for the above stated want, and the first prac¬ 
ticable sub-division which presented itself was that of each one hundred and 
twenty-fourth part into five parts or of the whole nakshatra into six hun¬ 
dred and twenty parts. For while the moon passes through sixty-seven out 
of the six hundred and twenty parts, the sun passes exactly through five of 
them. This sub-division of space again called for a corresponding sub-division 
of time, and thus the kashtha was divided into five aksharas. The moon re¬ 
mains in a whole nakshatra 610 kalas, in of a nakshatra 610 kashthas, in 
•gAo of a nakshatra 610 aksharas ; 8174 kalas or kashthas or aksharas would 
be the corresponding periods for the sun. Another important advantage of 
the division of a nakshatra in 620 parts was that it allowed of expressing in 
