________________
APRIL, 1873.]
Months.
1.
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
NAMES.
Ahmedy احمدي
Behary بهاري
Ja'fury جعفري .... Daray داراي
Hashemy ها شمي
Wasay واسعي
Taluy طنوني
Tedy او سای
CALENDAR OF
Izedy ايزدي ..Byaszy بياضي
Days in each
TABLE A.
Corresponding Signs of the Zodiac.
Hindú months.
TIPU
29 Chaitra. Mesha.......al Ahmedy.
30 Vaisakh
30 Jaishthu
29 Ashâḍha
Kataka
29 Sravana
Simha...
30 Bhadrapada... Kanyâ
Dzuburjudy 29 Aswuynja Tâlâ Hydery... 30 Kartika Vrishika... 29 Mârgasîrsha.. Dhanûssû.
30 Pushya
29 Magha.. 30 Phâlgûn
Colonel Kirkpatrick says:-"! -"Though the foregoing names are not absolutely unmeaning, yet they would not appear to have had any appropriate signification attached to them, with the exception of the first, called by one of the names of Muhammad, and of the eighth or Hydery, which might possibly have been so denominated in honour of the Sultan's father, as Tuluy might likewise have been in allusion to its being the month in which the Sultan himself was born."
SULTAN.
With respect to the last column in the table, Colonel Kirkpatrick says that the first arrangement was after some time superseded by another; the Sultan having, as there is reason to believe, made a second reform of the calendar in A.D. 1787-88. The latter alteration would not appear to have extended further than to the substitution of new names for the months and years in the place of those first assigned to them.
I have said that the principle according to which the number of days is determined is peculiar. If the table be examined, it will be seen that while the last seven months consist of twenty-nine and thirty days alternately, according to the Muhammadan system, in the first five months that rule is not observed. It differs also from the Hindû year, because the months of that always consist of thirty days, or rather tithis (fafer) as they call them.
The point of interest in the names of the months is that the initial letter of each denotes its place in the calendar, according to the well
Names of the months according to "the subsequent revision."
Vrishabha
Mithuna...
Kumbha... Mina
Makara, Rehmany.
.Behary بهاري .Taqy تقي .Sumry ثمري .Ja'fury جعفري
.Hydery حيدري
.Khusrowy خسروي
Deen ديلي .Dzakiry ذاكري
20 10
known notation called
Ubjud, which assigns a certain numerical power to every letter in the alphabet. There being no single letter to express either eleven or twelve, the first two
ی
Rady رادي .Mahany رباني
Baszy added بياضي Izedy and ايزدي letters of
together denote the place of each respectively. in the order of months. Thus
113
(Alif)+(yé)=1+ 10 = 11, and (BE)+(yé) = 2 + 10 = 12.
The verse after the first word of which the notation is named, as well as the numerical power assigned severally to the letters composing it, is thus given in Richardson's Dictionary under the word Ubjud. 0+15 3 J 50
s
597
ba
4
10 00
ا بجد
1234
vai e
រី ខខខ
Richardson's explanation of the word Ubjud is as follows:-"The name of an arithmetical verse the letters of which have different powers from one to a thousand. This was probably the ancient order of the alphabet."
The verse itself is formed by just writing together the letters, in order of the Arabic alphabet, in groups of three or four or more, as in the first instance pleased the whim of the contriver. Each letter has a numerical signification attached to it, as is the case in the Roman system of notation. This Ubjud notation applies only to the series of names first given by Tipu Sultan to the months. The
