43G G. Thibaut— Contributions to the Jyotisha-Vedangct. [No. 4, 
That by “ ayanany risheh” we have to nnclerstand sidereal (nakshatra) 
half months (so called from analogy to the ayanas of the snn) cannot be 
doubted ; but it is impossible to state their number as being either one 
hundred and thirty-five or one hundred and thirty-four, since the yuga 
always contains sixty-seven nakshatra months only. The admission of an 
alternative between the two numbers would in fact be subversive of the 
whole system of the Jyotisha. I am not able myself to give a satisfactory 
explanation of the first pa da, but at any rate the second pada must be 
separated from it and translated: the ayanas of the moon i. e. the sidereal 
half months are one less (viz. than one hundred and thirty-five) i. e. one 
hundred and thirty-four. When we come to read after this something 
about parvans, we naturally expect a statement of their number too, and I 
think that the third pada means nothing else than “ the parvans are a 
tetrad of padas”, i. e. (a pada having been said above to be equal to thirty- 
one) are one hundred and twenty-four in number ; which agrees of course 
with the datas of the Jyotisha. Prof. Weber takes parvan in this passage 
as meaning the holy time at each parvan and pada as meaning the fourth 
part of that time, equal to thirty-one nadikas (in accordance with Soma- 
kara’s explanation of v. 12 ) and translates: the parvans have four quarters, 
i. e. last 124 nadikas ; but this interpretation is certainly less simple than 
the one given above and is not even countenanced by the commentator, 
whose remarks on the passage are : qT^feisiTf | 
wrrfHcqTq: i | i 
I have to add only two short remarks. In v. 5 (of those verses 
which are found in the Rik-recension only), we must read ^ 
instead of The verse contains a statement of the 
dates of the equinoxes during the five years of the yuga, and a calculation 
of these dates according to the elements of the Jyotisha shows the necessity 
of the emendation. Y. 16 contains the words 'qT^r^b which Somakara 
explains by ?lw. There is, however, no authority for taking the 
word “ Paulastya” to be a name of the moon, while Pulastya is mentioned 
as father of Agastya in the Vishnupurana. The star Agastya (Canopus) 
is, as it is well known, frequently mentioned in the earliest Indian astro¬ 
nomical treatises, and, as it is visible in Northern India only during a part 
of the year, the verse of the Jyotisha seems to state that something— 
although it is obscure what—is taking place during that part of the year 
in which Agastya is not visible. 
A great part of the Jyotisha remains unexplained ; vv. 11, 13—17, 
19—23, 25—27, 29, 41 especially are still quite obscure in spite of Soma- 
kara’s attempts at elucidation. It may be expected that, should the cor¬ 
responding parts of the Garga-samhita be recovered, light would fall from 
