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286
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(SEPTEMBER, 1889.
sign at about 31 gh. 7 p. on Saturday, 19th April. north of the equator, on Wednesday, 31st May, And by all three systems the Rohiņi nakshatra at the new-moon of the amdnta Jyêshtha or the was current at sunrise, and up to about 38 purnimanta Ashådha. ghatis. But there was no eclipse of the sun, Thus, in no way can & completely satisvisible or invisible. The preceding new-moon factory solution of this date be obtained. tithi, of the amanta Chaitra or the parnimdnta This result was not needed in order to establish Vaisakha, ended at about 57 gh. 18 p. on Wed- the spurious nature of the grant, which is pernesday, 9th April. At this new-moon, again, fectly clear (1) from the extreme inaccuracy of the there was a total eclipse of the sun, which, owing language and orthography ; (2) from the standard to the difference of longitude, is entered in the of the palæography, which marks at least the Tables for Thursday, 10th April; and which ninth or tenth century A. D. as the period of ite again was not visible in or anywhere near India, composition ; ard (3) from the fact that, accordbut only on the west coast of North America, in ing as we omit or retain the syllable ba as part the Pacific Ocean, and in Australia. In addition, of the date, it gives a day corresponding either to however, to the week-day not being correct, and the 20th April, A.D. 608, or to the 28th April, to this not being the given new-moon tithi of the A.D. 610, as falling in the sixteenth year of record, the sun, as we have seen, did not enter the reign of Vikramaditya I., whereas we know Vpishabha till ten days later; and by all three perfectly well from the unquestionably genuine systems the nakshatra at sunrise was Asvini, No.1, records of this family that his father Pulikesin 80 that Rohini, No. 4, could not occur at all on 11. only commenced to reign in A. D. 608, 609, that day. This eclipse again, therefore, is not or 610, and continued to reign at least up to admissible from any point of view.
A. D. 634-35. But the important point that If it should be held that the Praksit word ba, attracts attention is the analogy between two,' is not acceptable as part of the date, but is this spurious grant and the spurious Uméta, a pure mistake, e. g. for the visarga of the pre- Bagumra, and llad grants of the Gurjara chiefceding word asmábhih, which otherwise was tain Dadda II., dated Saka-Sativat 400, 415, and omitted, then we have to consider the circum. 417. The Umeta date cannot be actually tested; stances for Saka Samvat 531 current (530 expired). and the nature of the record has only to be In this year the new-moon tithi of the amanta decided in accordance with that of the other two. Vaisakha ended, again not on a Sunday, but on As we have seen (page 93 above), the possibility of Saturday, 20th April, A. D. 608, at about 16 gh. obtaining uniform results for the Bagumrk and 42 p. The sun was then in Vrishabha; having Ilfo dates rests entirely upon the use, by the entered that sign at about 15 gh. 46 p. on the person who calculated them for the forger of the preceding day, Friday, 19th April. By the equal. grants, of the amunta arrangement of the lunar space system of the wakshatras, Kittika, No. 3, fortnights, not only for his calculation, but also commenced at about 15 gh. 7 p. ; and Rôhiņi for the purpose of actual record in the civil No. 4, did not commence till the next day, reckoning for a period when it is not at all likely. Sunday; but by both the unequal-space systems that this arrangement was used with the years of there was the Rohiņi nakshatra on the the Saka era, even in Gujarat ; supposing that Saturday, commencing by the Brahma-Siddhanta the era itaelf was then used there, which I do system at about 43 ghatis, and by the Garganot believe to be possible. In the case of the system at about 46 gh. 20 p. And on this day present grant, it is not easy to decide whether the there was a total eclipse of the sun; though it calculator worked out the eclipse of Saturday, was visible only in Australia and towards the 20th April, A. D. 608, with a correct result, except South Pole, and not in or anywhere near India. for the week-day, and except for his improper As we have seen, however, the week-day is not use of the amunta instead of the purnimanta correct; and therefore this eclipse also fails to month in formulating his results for record in give a completely satisfactory solution. In this the charter according to the civil reckoning; year there was no solar eclipse, visible or in or whether he worked out the eclipse of Monday, visible, at the preceding new-moon, of the amunta 30th April, A. D. 610, again with a wrong weekChaitra or the purnimanta Vaisakha. And in day, and also with the mistake of a month either A. D. 607 the only solar eclipse in this period of in the course of his work, or in formulating the the year was a partial eclipse, not visible anywhere results. And perhaps, under all the circum.
• Here, also, the tithi was nominally amanta Chaitra and 23 hrs. 13 min. = 58 gh. 3 p. krishna 14. The fourteenth tithi ended at about 3 gh. This point could be put right by 2.88uming that 45 p. on the same day; and consequently the fifteenth bhikara.dine is mistake for bhaskaraputra.dine, tithi we expunged. With Prof. Jacobi's Tables the Sani, the recent of the planet Saturn, being a son of the ending-times are respectively 1 hr. 55 min. = 4gh. 47 p., Sun.
