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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[FEBRUARY, 1885.
instances where the Khandakhádyaka diverges from the later authorities on the subject, it agrees-not only with the Nakshatra-Kalpa (about which see Weber's paper referred to above), but likewise, and even more closely, with another old authority of great weight, the Vriddhagúrgiya-Sashita. The latter work (of which two complete manuscripts are at my disposal, one belonging to the Bombay Government, the other forming part of the Bhau Daji Library) refers to the matter in two different places, in the fourth chapterNakshatrakarmaguna-which treats of the works to be done under the different nakshatras, and mentions in passing how many stars belong to each, and then again in the 80-called Nakshatrakéndrabha-adhyâya (if this reading of the MSS. is the right one) where among other matters the numbers of the Nakshatra stars, are connectedly stated in three slökas. The text of the latter is, in both manuscripte, very corrupt, but may, with the assistance of the information derived from the fourth chapter, be restored with tolerable certainty. They run as follows :एकतारं शतभिषक् पुष्याः त्वाष्ट्रमानिलं । राधा भद्रे सफाल्गुन्यौ द्वितारमौर्वमाश्विनम् ॥ त्रितारामिल्विका याम्यं ज्येष्ठा ब्राहमं सवैष्णवं । agakPOT (??] GOT HHH 11 पञ्चतारं भवेद्धस्त:' प्राजापत्यं तथैव च । षट्तारं कृत्तिका मूलमाश्लेषा पैञ्यमेव च ॥
"One star have Satabhishaj, Pushya, Årdra, Chitra, and Svati. Two stars have Radha (i.e. Visakha), the two Bhadrapadás, the two Phálgani, Panarvasu (Aurva, the constellation of Urvi, the latter being taken as synonymous with Aditi according to Naigh. I. 1) and Asvini.
Three stars have the Ilvikâs, Bharani, Jyeshthâ, Abhijit, Sravana. Four stars have the two Åshadhás, Anuradha, Rêvatt and Sravishtha.
Five stars have Hasta and Rohiņi. Six stars have Krittika, Mûla, Aslesha and MagbA."
The statements made in the fourth chapter
agree with the above in all points; only they do not give any information about Abhijit.
Comparing now the account given by Brahmagupta with that due to Vriddha-Garga, we find that they agree with regard to all Nakshatras excepting Aśvini, Mâla and Sravishtha.
It will moreover be of interest to compare the information furnished by Garga and the Khandakhadyaka with the statements made on the same matter by the other old anthorities. A comparison of the kind was instituted by Professor Weber in the paper referred to, p. 380 ff., the authorities taken into account being the Nakshatra-Kalpa, Albîrûni's account of the Khandakhádyaka, the Súkalya-Sarahita, Sripati, and others. In the following I limit myself to the older and therefore weightier authorities, viz. the Nakshatra-Kalpa which stands on the confines of Vedic literature, the VriddhaGárgiya, which is anterior to the scientific Hindu works on astronomy evincing Greek influence, and the Khandakhadyaka, whose exact date is known, and shows the work to belong to the early period of scientific Hindd astronomy. Comparing these three, we find a general agreement with regard to the number of stars constituting Bharani, Kțittika, Mrigasiras, Årdra, Punarvasú, Pushya, Åslågha, Maghả, the two Phalguni, Hasta, Chitra, Svâti, Visakha, Anuradha, the two Asha dha, Sravana, Satabhishaj, the two Bhadrapadi and Revati, i.e. with regard to twenty-two out of twenty-eight Nakshatras. With regard to Asvini and Sravishtha, the N. and the Kh. agree against the G.; with regard to Rôhiņi, Jyêshtha and Abhijit, the G. and Kh.agree against the N. There is a general disagreement about Müla (and this continues in the case of the later authorities also, Múla being the only Nakshatra about which no two writers agree). If we admit as a fourth term of the comparison the Sákalya-Sarahita, we find that in fifteen cases it confirms the agreement about the twenty-two Nakshatras mentioned above; in the remaining seven cases its statements differ. But, on the other hand, with regard to the six Nakshatras about which the three older writers disagree, it regularly sides
• A. ATA o B. Aho. A. Barrett B. Para T. A.md B. Faltze #1917.
A.FT B. Patia . .A.B. A .
. Mrigasiras. -The reading of the text might also be emendated into Invikda; Ilvakts and Intakes would be paferable forms.
