Indian Antiquary Vol 20

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 44

36
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
sent day as an authority, and in many respects deservedly so, it will probably not be thought out of place if I point out some of the more important errors in it. Not only is the rectifica. tion of them really needed from a general point of view; but also it will render it still possible, for any one who wishes to do so, to use Warren's Tables, and yet to obtain correct results from them.
The chief object of the Kalasankalita was (Preface, p. ii) "to abridge the tedious process of converting dates proposed according to European style into the corresponding Tamil, Telinga and Muhammadan time, and vice versa," for which respectively the first, second, and fourth Memoirs in the Kalasankalita were written, while
a separate Memoir, the third, treats solely of the Cycles of Jupiter. I do not propose saying anything, of the fourth Memoir, which relates entirely to the Mahammadan reckoning. I confine myself to the information given in this work in connection with the Hindu astronomy.
The Tamil and Telugu reckonings are. chiefly solar (saura) and lunar (chandra) respectively. The chief object of the book, i. e. the conversion of Hindu into European dates and vice versa, is accomplished through the medium of the Tamil solar reckoning; and therefore the method used is not of particular interest to those who, like me, are not in the habit of using that reckoning. But for Europeans, for whom the book is chiefly written, it is as useful as any other method, if not more so.
The calculation of a tithi is given in the second Memoir; and the method of finding the apparent places of the sun and moon being fully explained and illustrated with examples there, the nakshatra, yoga and karana of a given day can be easily calculated, though Warren has not distinctly given methods for them. The method, however, of calculating the tithi, given there, is a little cumbrous, notwithstanding the fact that the process is shortened by the use of the Tables. It can be calculated far more easily by the method in the Appendix to the second Memoir. This Appendix, which was written by Andrew Scott in A. D. 1797, with the aid, it seems, of the information communicated to him by a native astronomer, an inhabitant of a village near Chicacole, is "a commentary on Vavilala Cuchinna's Rules and Tables for computing the Telugu Calendar," and though Warren inserts it "rather as a Tract extremely remarkable, both for the singularity of the topics which
[JANUARY, 1891.
it investigates, and for the ingenuity displayed in expounding them, than as an instrument which is likely to prove serviceable to the main object of these Memoirs," it is, practically viewed, of more importance than the Memoir itself of which it forms an Appendix; because it contains short and easy methods of calculating nakshatras, yogas, and karanas, and the apparent places of planets with regard to their longitude and latitude. Warren has calculated a lunar eclipse in Fragment IV. Of the other astronomical articles treated of in a Karana-work or contained in a Hindu Panchang, the conjunctions of planets, and the mahápáta (the time of equal declination of the sun and moon), can be ealculated from Warren's book, if the computator knows their
definitions. Some other matters, such as heliacal tions of the planets with the stars, and the times risings and settings of the planets, the conjuncwhen the planets become retrogade or stationary, can also be computed with the help of some additional information from other sources. But even with such additional information, it would be found difficult to calculate a solar eclipse from Warren's book. Nevertheless, it may be said generally that it is a good practical work on Hindu astronomy. The most praiseworthy feature of it, is the successful attempt to analyse and demonstrate almost every rule and problem in the subjects treated of. In this direction it goes beyond the scope of a Karana or a practical work, and resembles a Siddbânta-work, on the Hindu astronomy; though it does not boast of treating of all the subjects of a Siddhânta. It is far superior to the scanty information on "Indian Measures of Time" in the "Indian Metrology" by Jervis, who, though his knowledge of the Hindu astronomy scarcely went beyond the Laghu- and Brihat- Tithichintamani, works by which only the week-day, nakshatra, and yoga of a given tithi not earlier than SakaSamvat 1447 expired (A. D. 1525) can be calculated, did not fear to give wrong information and to draw erroneous conclusions on the general subject of Hindu astronomy. A similar tendency to assume a knowledge of the whole area of Hindu astronomy betrays itself once or twice even in Warren's writings. When he wrote (Preface, p. iii.) "the author (Warren) had also in view to familiarize the learned Natives with the use of Tables constructed and disposed in the manner of those of the European Mathematicians; and also to reconcile them to the idea of brevity and expedition in computations, to which they are singularly averse," he seems to
1 The epoch of Vavilala Cuchinna's work, is Saka-Samvat 1220 expired, and it is based on the present
Surya-Siddhanta.