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JULY, 1878.]
CORRESPONDENCE AND MISCELLANEA.
3. What rules fix the day on which the Samvat and Saka years respectively should begin ?
4. Does a year Saka comprise the same number of days as a year Samvat? and what is the exact length of a Samvat year? V. A. SMITH.
Hamirpur, N.W.P., 22nd April 1878.
The Hindu Saka year is properly sidereal, commencing with the sun's entry into the sign Mêsha or Aries, and, as its length is 365 days 6 hours 126 minutes, its commencement moves very slowly forward on the European solar year. Thus the epoch of the Saka era was 14th March 78 A.D., but the sun's entrance into Mêsha now falls on the 11th or 12th April, so that the Saka year 1800 began on Thursday, 11th April 1878,-the sidereal year having gained 28 days on the solar one in 1800 years.
From this it will be seen that, for the approximate conversion of a date,-if it fall within the first three months of the Christian year, we find the Saka year by subtracting 79; if in the last nine months, by subtracting 78. The first nine months of the Saka year correspond to the last nine in the Christian, and the last three in the former to the first three in the succeeding year of the latter reckoning, making the approximate equation to the Saka era + 784 to bring it to the
Christian date.
The Samvat year is reckoned exclusively by the Chandra-mâna or luni-solar system, and over Northern India begins with the new-moon which immediately precedes the sun's entrance into Mêsha. But, as twelve lunar months (354 days 8 hours 48 minutes) fall about 11 days short of the sidereal year, an intercalary or 'lound' month is supplied, on a particular principle, about thrice in eight years-making such years consist of 383 days 21 hours 32 minutes. The epoch of this era was the new-moon of March 57 B.C., whence its equation is 56; or we subtract 56 from the Samvat date during the first nine or ten months of the year, but 57 during the last two, to obtain the year A.D.
In Gujarât and south of the Narmada, however, the year commences with the new-moon of Kârttika (Oct.-Nov.), whence we have an equation of -564; or we subtract 57 from Samvat dates falling in the months of Kârttika, Mârgasîrsha, and part of Pausha (to 31st Dec.), but 56 for dates falling within all other Hindu months, in order to obtain the Christian year, and vice verad. For fuller information on details Warren's Kála-Sankalita, Jervis's Weights and Measures of India, &c., Prinsep's Useful Tables, and Cowasjee Patell's Chronology may be consulted.-ED.
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ASSYRIAN DRESS ILLUSTRATED BY THAT OF THE HINDUS.
In reading lately Rawlinson's Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient World I came across a passage describing the dress of the Assyrian foot archers (vol. I. p. 430), part of which is as follows:
"Their only garment is a tunic of the scantiest dimensions, beginning at the waist, round which it is fastened by a broad belt or girdle descending little more than half-way down the thigh. In its make it sometimes closely resembles the tunic of the first period, but more often it has the peculiar pendent ornament which has been compared to the Scotch phillibeg (Layard's Nineveh and its Remains, vol. II. p. 336), and which will here be given
that name."
On this passage I would observe, firstly, that tunic' is a misnomer as applied to the garment in question, as the word is more properly used of a garment covering the body, whereas the article of dress in the illustration is fastened round the waist and falls over the thighs. Secondly, I think that any resident of India, looking at the illustration given on the page from which the quotation is taken, would at once remark the similarity of the archer's solitary garment to the Indian dhoti. For those readers who have not been in this country, I may explain that the dhoti consists of a strip of cotton cloth wound round the waist, the outer extremity being gathered into a thick fold or pleat, of which one end is tucked into the cloth that has been passed round the waist, while the rest of the fold hangs down in front or at the side, looking exactly like the so-called ornament' which is supposed to resemble a Scotch phillibeg. The same pendent fold is to be seen in the illustrations on pp. 436 and 477 of the same volume.-E. W. W.
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ARCHEOLOGY IN JAPAN.
Japan has an active archæological society. bearing the title of Kobutzu Kai (Society of Old Things). Its members, numbering 200, are scattered throughout the land, but meet once a month in Yeddo. They consist chiefly of wealthy Japanese gentlemen, learned men, and priests; the latter especially have been the means of bringing before public attention a vast number of ancient objects which have been hidden in the treasures of the temples, or preserved in private families. H. von Siebold, Attaché of the Austrian Embassy at Yeddo, and a member of the society, has lately published a brochure which will serve as a guide for the systematic archeological study of the land. Von Siebold has lately made a most interesting discovery of a prehistoric mound at Omuri, near Yeddo, containing over 5,000 different articles in stone, bronze, &c. In a recent communication
