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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[WAY, 1890.
resemblance to the dootrines promulgated in the Védánga-Jyotisha, and which, therefore, is andoubtedly the oldest of the five. Similarly, that Saka-Samvat 427 expired is a starting-point in the method of caloulating the ahargana according to the Rômaka-Siddhanta in the Pancha. siddhantika, proves nothing. Vardhamihira had to give that method ; and, as it would have been a little superfluous to give it according to all the five Siddhantas, he chose the Rômaka for it; and there is no special reason for his selecting it. It would be foolish to ask why he did not select any other Siddhanta for it. No one can show that he was compelled of necessity to 18e no other. Instead of the Rômaka, he might just as well have given the method according to any other Siddhanta. And in that case, and even if he had given the method acoording to all the five Siddhantas, he would have chosen no other year but Saka-Samvat 427. And SakeSamvat 427 expired, therefore, is not the date of the original Rômaka-Siddhánta, as it is not of any of the other Siddhantas in the Panchasiddhántiká.
Moreover, there is decisive evidence to show that Saka-Samvat 427 expired is not the date of the original Rômaka-Siddhanta. The Yuga of the Rômaka, comprising 2,850 years, was a luni. solar Yuga. The kshépakas, in the Panchasiddhántiká, of the sun and moon for Saka-Samvat 427 expired, according to the Rômaka-Siddhánta, are given in the 5th column of the accompanying Table. Calculating from them, with the mean motions of the sun and moon according to the Rómaka-Siddhanta, I find that the mean amávásyd ended 1 ghati, 16.5 palas, after the time of the kshepakas, i.e. at 31 gh. 16.5 p. after mean sunrise ; and at that time the longitude of the sun and moon was 11 signs, 29 degrees, 35 minutes, 38 seconds. I do not know yet the method of calculating the apparent places of the sun and moon from the mean, according to the original Rômaka-Siddhanta ; but taking their mean places and uchchas from the Rômaka-Siddhanta, and applying the method of other Siddhantas, I find that the apparent amávásyd onded about 36 gh. after the time of the kshépakas, i.e. at 6 gh. after mean sunrise on the next day; and at that time the apparent longitude of the sun and moon was 2 degrees, 16 minutes, 1 second.
It is seen from these calculations that, at the end of either the mean or the apparent emávásya, the sun and the moon were not at the beginning of Mêsha; and that neither the mean nor the apparent amdvdsyd ended either at sunrise, noon, sunset, or midnight. Whatever be the method of caloulating the apparent places of the sun and moon according to the Rômaka-Siddhantas, any one familiar with practical astronomy will be convinced, from their kshépakas, that, when they would be together, i.e. at the end of the apparent amdvdsyd, they would not stand at the beginning of Mêsha, nor would their coming together take place either at sunrise, noon, sunset, or midnight. And consequently the Yuga of the Rômaka cannot have commenced in Saka-Samvat 427 expired. The original Rómaka-Siddhanta was evidently not a Karaņa, but a Siddhanta ; and therefore, its starting point for calculating the ahargana cannot be Sake-Samvat 427 expired, unless that is the year of the commencement of its Yaga, which cannot be the case, as we have just seen. And, therefore, Saka-Samvat 427 expired is not the epoch of the original Romake-Siddhants for calculating the ahargana and other details.
It might still be urged that the author of the Rômaka-Siddhanta may have given the data of its completion specifically, and that this was Saka-Samvat 427. But even if it be so, what influence would that date have had with Vardhamihira P Brahmagupta wrote his BrahmaSiddhanta in Saks-Sauvat 550 ; but the epoch of his own Karana, the Khandakhadya, is SaksSamvat 587 expired (A.D. 665). Bhaskaracharya wrote his Siddhanta-Siromani in Saka-Sarvat 1072 expired (A.D. 1150); but he employed Saks-Samvat 1105 expired (A.D. 1183) ss the epoch for his own Karana, the Karañaleutáhala. It is most unlikely that Varahamibira should have chosen the year of the composition of the Rômaka-Siddhanta for the epoch of his Karaņa, the Parchasiddhantık. The year Baka-Samvat 427 expired, which is the epoch of the Panchasiddhantill, has nothing to do with the date of the composition of the Rómaka-Siddhanta ; and it must be very near to the date of the composition of the Panchasiddhántiká, if it is not the very year of its composition.
