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OCTOBER, 1896.]
BOOK NOTICE.
287
and elders. Under any circumstances the bride, the same manner to his forehead. This correwho indeed is always young, never makes choicesponds to the plighting of troth, first engagement, of a husband, nor has any voice in the manner of or betrothal amongst nations of European origin her wedding.
or following European customs, and is called After investigation of the claims of each side
kuikatild. as to purity of descent, etc., a party of the bride
The late B. V. SHASTRI in P. N. and Q. 1883. groom's relations and friends of both sexes take duriki(turmeric powder moistened with lemon juice
A TELUGU SUPERSTITION. to give it a bright red colour) to the bride's house, 1
It is very unlucky for a dog to rub its buttocks where the ladies accompanying the procession along the ground in a house. It portends ruin apply it to the bride's forehead. On the same, or
to the inhabitants. any other convenient day, the bride's party in The belief in this omen is in no way affected by return take saffron-powder, slightly liquefied with its necessarily frequent falsification. water, to the bridegroom's house, and apply it in
M. N. VENKETSWAMI.
BOOK-NOTICE. THE INDIAN CAT.XNDAR, By ROBERT SEWELL AND For the first, the approximate calculation, two
BANKARA BALKRISHNA Dixsurt. London: 1898. methods are given; the one the system introSwan Sonneschein & Co. (xii. 106, CXLIV. 6% pages).
duced by Mr. W. S. Krishnavimi Naidu of This book is designed, as Mr. Sewell says in Madras into his South Indian Chronological the preface, not only for the use of those engaged
Tables) necessitates only a simple addition with in the decipherment of Indian inscriptions and
the aid of Tables III. and IX., whilst the other the compilation of Indian history, but also for
method avoids even this and permits the finding Judicial Courts and Government Offices in India."
of any solar or luni-solar date by simple inspec The authors have, therefore, tried to render the tion of an eye-table (Table XIV. and Y. conversion of Hindu dates into dates of our era
invented and prepared by Mr. Laksbmia Naidu and vice versd as easy as possible, and have in
of Madras) combined with the data of Table I. their Table I. calculated for every year between 300 A. D. and 1900 A. D. the exact beginninge
Of course, the results of such an eye-table can. of the solar and luni-solar years. For the solar not give absolute accuracy, but as the fault never year they give the instant of the Mesha sankranti exceeds two days, the result so found can be in ghatikus and palas as well as in hours and easily corrected when the week-day is known. It minutes, calculated both by the Arya Siddhanta is, therefore, to be presumed that this method, and by the Sürya Siddhanta, whilst for the luni- which is indeed a very simple and easy one, will solar year the Table contains the moment of the | much be used in common practice. first tithi of the year or Chaitra sukla pratipadd,
The exact calculation of the end of the tithis together with the indication if the year has an
with the aid of Tables III. to XIII., in combinaadded or expunged month, and in the latter case
tion with the arguments a, b, c given by Table I., the name of this month and the time of the preced
is entirely based on Prof. Jacobi's Tables in ing and the succeeding sankrantis both by true!
the Indian Antiquary, Vol. XVII. pp. 147-181. and mean intercalation. There are, moreover,
The calculation seems, perhaps, a little compli. three arguments a, b, c, which serve for the exact
cated, when absolute accuracy is wished for. calculation of tithis and which represent the mean
But as the method itself is an indirect one which longitudinal distance of sun and moon, the
necessitates repeated approximations, this could moon's mean anomaly, and the sun's mean
not easily be avoided. anomaly, all calculated for the beginning of the luni-solar year. Finally, the table contains the
Table VIII. serves for finding the beginning or number and name of the concurrent samvatsara
end of nakshatras and yogas. The rule for find. of the sixty-year cycle both by southern and
ing the nakshatra index (n) and the yoga index northern reckoning, as well as the concurrent years
(y), given on pages 97 and 98 could, perhaps, be in six principal eras. It must be remarked and
somewhat abridged and the calculation simpliborne in mind that the years given in this table
fied by the addition of a Table VII.A, giving the
value of () with the argument (c), the only one are always to be taken as current years. Table I. which occupies a hundred pages, forms
on which (8) depends. the principal part of the book, and the data given The (n) would be equal to (0) + (®), and (y) by it can be utilized both for approximate and would be equal to (t) + 2(a) or to (n) + (). for exact calculation of dates.
Such a Table would run thus: - [See Mookerjee's Magazine, November 1872. Orientalist, July, 1883.- ED.)
