________________
MARCH, 1881.]
Then Nirvana is not Impersonal; For these two things are personal.
(14) "Being" and "Not Being," joined in one,
How can this be Nirvana ?
These two things have nothing in common, Can Darkness and Light be joined ? (15) If the opposites of "Being" and "Not Being,"
Is Nirodna,
These opposites
How are they distinguished P
(16) If they are distinguished,
And so, by union, become Nirvana,
1
8
12
13
3
7 2 16
14
11 5
AN AMERICAN PUZZLE.
About seven months ago, the Pioneer, in a letter headed "From All About," proposes a problem, called the "American Puzzle," the attempted solution of which is said to have driven several people nearly mad. The problem is to arrange the sixteen consecutive numbers from 1 to 16, in four rows of four each in such a way that the total of every line and group of four will amount to exactly thirty-four. The puzzle admits of several answers, and one is
10
MISCELLANEA.
15
6
9
4
In the above group every line of four, every possible group of four forming a square, and the sum of the four corner numbers amounts to 34.
The problem is, however, by no means a modern one, dating, as it does, far back into the history of Indian Astrology. To prove what I say, I append the following extract from the Jyotis
tattwa:
MISCELLANEA.
पंचरेखा समुलिरूप तिर्यगूर्दक्रमेण हि । पदानि षोडशापाद्य कमाये मुनौ जयं ॥ नवमे सप्त दद्यात्तु वाणं पंचदशे तथा । द्वितीयेष्टाष्टमे षट् दिशि ही पोडशे श्रुतिः ॥ एकादिना समं ज्ञेयमिच्छांका त्रिकोणके । तदा द्वात्रिंशदादिः स्याच्चतुष्कोष्ठेषु सर्वतः ।।'
The above instructions are briefly as follows:Draw five lines perpendicularly, and five lines crossing them horizontally. These will form a large square enclosing sixteen smaller squares in four rows of four each. In the first of these
The Oriental, October 9, 1875.
Then that which completes the idea of "Being" and "Not Being"
Also completes the idea of the opposite of both.
(17) Tathagata, after his departure,
Says nothing of "Being" and " Not Being." He says not that his "Being" is not, or the opposite of this.
Tathagata says nothing of these things or their opposites. The conclusion of the whole matter is, that Nirvana is identical with the nature of Tathagata, without bound, and without place or time.1
squares write 1, in the seventh 3, in the ninth 7, and in the fifteenth 5. Now, to the right of each of these write whatever number is sufficient to make the total of each of these pairs up to nine. We thus get:
1
7
8
2
89
3
5
6
4
Now take any even number, which we may call A, and fill up the remaining squares by writing the difference between half A, and the number in the next square but one in a diagonal direction from the square to be filled up. Thus, supposing A = 34,-then, under 3 we must write 34
-1 (which is the number in the next square 2 but one in a diagonal direction upwards and to the 34 left from the square below 3); -1-17-1= 16; and we must therefore write 16 under 3. Again, to fill up the vacant square under 2, we first note that the number in the next square but one in a diagonal direction upwards and to the right from the square below 2, is 6... 176 = 11, which number must be written under 2. Or, as another example, to fill up the square immediately above 6, we must subtract, from 17, 2, which is the number in the next square but one in a diagonal direction downwards and to the left from the square to be filled up, we must therefore write 17-2 15. It must be observed that, as there are only four
Raghunandana's Jyotistattwa Prakaranam Garbha dhanam, p. 47, Asiatic Society of Bengal's MS.
