* 
HINDOOSTAN. 
1 % 
Hence, the mean places of the planets, &c. may be com¬ 
puted, from the above data, for any inftant required. 
This is the third and lalt fyltem to which the Hindoos 
have transferred their hiftory; and for which purpofe, in 
imitation of the ancients, they divide it into Manwantaras 
and Yugs, as follow: 
A Satya Yug of 
A Treta of 
A Dwapar of 
A Cali of - 
A Maha Yug 
71 Maha Yugs 
with a Satya of - 
A Manwantara 
14. Manwantaras 
with a Satya at beginning of 
The modern Calpa 
Years. 
1728000 
1296000 
864000 
43 2000 
4320000 
306720000 
1728000 
308448000 
43x8272000 
1728000 
«. _ 4 .^ 2,0000000 
In order to Ihow how the Hindoo hiftory, according to 
#ie two former fyftems, had been transferred to this, Jet 
1972948905, the years now expired, be reduced into Man¬ 
wantaras and Yugs, and we mall have Years. 
A Satya at the beginning - = 1728000 
6 Manwantaras complete - = 1850688000 
27 Maha Yugs of the 7th Manwantara = 116640000 
Satya of the 28th Maha Yug - - 1728000 
Treta of ditto - 1296000 
Dwapar of ditto - 864000 
Expired of the Cali of Ditto - - 4905 
Total years expired - 1972948905 
Hence it is evident, that we are now in the 4906th year 
of the Cali Yug of the twenty-eighth Maha Yug of the 
feventh Manwantara of this new lyx'tem. 
Now, if we transfer the names, &c. in the four ages of 
the firft iyxtem of the Graba Munjari, to the Satya, Treta, 
Dwapar, and Cali, above-mentioned, and thole in the 
Manwantaras of the fecond lyftem, to the Manwantara of 
the fame name in this; then we lhali have the periods of 
Hindoo hiftory, according to modern notions, founded 
on the fyftem of Brahma Gupta. 
In the firft place, by transferring the names, &c. in the 
Dwapar Yug of the firft fyltem, to the period of the lame 
name in the new fyftem, Parafara, Vyas, and others, who 
lived near three thoufand years ago, are thrown back into 
antiquity about five thoufand years; and the fame per- 
fons who lived in the eighth Manwantara of the fecond 
lyftem, by the transfer, will appear as yet to come ; for 
we are now only in the feventh of the new. Secondly, 
Budha, the Ion of Soma, the firft of the Lunar line, who 
began his reign about the beginning of the Treta of the firft 
fyltem, or 2204 years before Chrilt, will, by the transfer, 
be placed at the diltance of 2163x02 years before the 
Chriftian era. Thirdly, in the Treta and Dwapar ot the firft 
fyftem, there were (taken together) 1200 years, during 
which about fifty princes in the Lunar line had reigned in 
fuccelfion; but the Treta and Dwaper of the new fyftem 
contain 2160000 years, which divided among fifty, give 
43200 years to a reign. Fourthly, Budha, the fon of Sonia, 
lived towards the clofe of the fifth Manwantara of the fe¬ 
cond fyftem, which being transferi'ed to the new, his name 
will appear at two diftinft periods of time, immenfely dif- 
tant from each other, viz. in the -fifth Manwantara, and 
again in the Treta Yug of the twenty-eighth Maha Yug of 
the feventh Manwantara, being an interval, at the leaft, 
of 426816000 years. Fifthly, the mothers of the children 
of Yayati (fee page 168) who lived in the fixth Manwan¬ 
tara of the fecond fyftem, by being transferred to the fixth 
Manwantara in the new, are thrown back feveral millions 
of years before their children ; and Daclha and Bhrigu, by 
the fame transfer, are thrown back, from their cotempora¬ 
ries, many millions of years. Laftly, Swayambhuva, the 
Adam of the Hindoos, who, according to the fecond fyf¬ 
tem, lived 3878 years before Chrilt, is.placed, by the tranf- 
fex’, 1972947101 years before that epoch. Theieare a few 
Vol-. X. No. 65a,. 
of the terrible inconfiftencies introduced by the adoption 
of the new fyftem of Brahma Gupta; the reft may be eafily 
conceived. 
To reconcile thefe different abfurdities, it was necelfary 
to new model the whole of the Puranas, and to introduce 
fuch fictions and prophecies, as feemed belt calculated to 
anfwer the end in view ; but which, after all, only ferve 
to Ihow, in a more glaring manner, the folly of the at¬ 
tempt. 
The enormous length of the periods in the new fyftem, 
required that the life of man Ihould be pi'oportionably ex¬ 
tended, which was accordingly affumed. In order to ac¬ 
count for the fame Rilhis being mentioned in different pe¬ 
riods, immenfely diftant from each other, they are afferted 
not only to have exifted at all times, but to be ftill living. 
But as all men were not Rilhis, and as there were tvventy- 
feven Maha Yugs from the beginning of the feventh Man¬ 
wantara to the commencement of the twenty-eighth Maha 
Yug= 116640000 years, during which there is no lhadow 
of hiftory; to account for this, they therefore pretend, 
that at the end of every Maha Yug, or 4320000 years, the 
lame names, perfons, &c. again occur, as in the prece¬ 
ding period; fo that by having the names, See. for one 
Maha Yug, or fet of four ages, we have them for all the 
reft. 
Vyas, and others, as already noticed, lived in the eighth 
Manwantara of the fecond fyftem of the Graha Munjari ; 
but by the transfer of the names in that Manwantara, and 
in the ninth, tenth, &c. to the periods of the fame names 
in the new fyftem, they would appear as yet to come; 
therefore, to reconcile this, all that was necelfary was td 
convert it into a prophecy, which was-accordingly adopted 
in the modem Puranas; lb that thofe men who in reality 
are long fince paft and gone, appear, in thefe books, as if 
yet to come ; and as many millions of ages mult elapfe 3 
by the new lyftem, before the periods of their prophefied 
exiftence can arrive, there is no great danger of detecting 
the fallehood of fuch prophecy. 
It may however be eafily conceived, that fuch a change 
in the hiftory, by the introduction of a new fyltem, though 
highly flattering to the vanity of the Brahmins in gene¬ 
ral, in exalting their country, at leaft nominally, in point 
of antiquity above ail other nations, would naturally be op- 
pol’ed by many, as long as any knowledge remained of the 
ancient fyftems; therefore, the fupprellion of thefe would 
become necelfary, Accoi'dingly we find, by a tradition ftill 
current among the learned Hindoos, that the Maharaftros 
(Mahrattas) deftroyed ail the works of the ancient aftro- 
nomers they could meet with ; which, in fome meafure, 
may account for the deficiency we have obferved in aftro- 
nomical works anterior to the time of Brahma Gupta. 
But, if the Mahrattas did a&ually deftroy the works of the 
ancient aftronomers, it may be juftly infeiTed that other 
works of antiquity, the fubjects of which might contra¬ 
dict the new order of things, have alfo met the fame fate. 
From this view of the artificial fyftems which have pre¬ 
vailed at different times, and of the various changes that 
have been made in the Hindoo hiftory, &c. the reader 
will be able to judge for himielf, and form a juft opinion 
of the antiquity of the books of the Hindoos, their arts,, 
and their fciences. 
In the firft place, it mull be evident, that as the artifi¬ 
cial fyftem of Brahma Gupta, now called the Calpa of Brahma, 
and to which the modern Hindoos have artfully transfelreji 
their hiftory, is not above 1300 years old, no book what¬ 
ever, let its name or title be what it will, in which the 
monftrous periods of that lyftem, or any allufion to them, 
is found, can polfibly be older than the time of its inven¬ 
tion. And lecondly, that none of the Puranas, at leaft in 
the form they now lland, are older than 684 years ; the 
time when the fourteenth Manwantara of the lecond fyf¬ 
tem of the Graha Munjari ended ; but that fome of them 
are the compilations of ftill later times. 
It might here he proper to remark, that all the moft an¬ 
cient remains of aftronomical works in India, the eredion 
of the oblervatory at Benares, the conftrudion of the aftro- 
X x noxnical 
