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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
SEPTEMBER, 1910.
we give on page 253, comparative state. however, are somewhat lengthy and intricate. ment of the elements of the two calendars for But Mr. Irwin has kindly consented to supplement the twenty years A.D. 1759 to 1778, which cover bia book by giving us in this Journal the necessary one of the nineteen-year cycles by which the elements, in tabular form, extending back to A.D. Burmese and Arakanese intercalation of months is 638. When that has been done, his supplemenregulated; the twentieth year being added in order tary table will enable us to handle with ease any to show how, in both calendars, the intercalations Burmese and Arakanese date from that time during nineteen years bring back the initial day of onwards. But his book will be needed along the lunar year to the same, or almost the same date. with the extended table: and it should be in the We take the details for Burma from Tablo I of hands of everyone who is interested in either tho Mr. Irwin's book, and the details for India from critical treatment of Burmese inscriptions or the Sewell and Dikebit's Indian Calendar. It will be broader line of research which we have indicated. Been that Tagu waxing 1 and Chaitra sukla 1 fell The Burmese and Arakanese astronomy, on the same day only in A.D. 1759 and 1767; while by which the calendars are regulated, was derived in A.D. 1761, 1764, 1769, 1772, and 1777, Chaitra from India: this is shown, if in no other way, by sukla 1 came one month later than Tagu waxing the obvious Sanskrit origin of so many of the terms 1: in the other years, Tagu waxing 1 was always used in the local astronomy and calendar. The one day earlier than Ohaitra sukla 1. A.D. 1766 text book now in use in Burma is one wbich is and 1774 were the only years in which there was
known by the name Thandeikt. (see $$ 13, 14 of an intercalated month according to both calen- Mr. Irwin's book), and was written according to dars, Burmese aud Hindū. And A.D. 1771 was one account about A.D. 1738, according to another the only year in which intercalation happened to account a century later. It is based on the Present affect in the Hindū calendar the month which is Surya-Siddhānta, and applies the length for the always intercalated in Burms. It may be added solar year of that work from A.D. 1739. Before it, that Mr. Irwin's Table IV shows that in the Ara- the authority in Burma was the Original Süryakancse calendar Tagu waxing I came one day | Siddhanta as represented in a work or in certain earlier than the Burmese Tagu waxing 1 in A.D. I processes known by the name Makaranta 1759, 1760, 1761, 1770, 1771, and 1772: in all (99 11,12): and this is still the authority in Arakan. other respects, the Arakanese elements are the In this name we recognize a Saneksit Mekaranda : same as the Burmese for these twenty years; but the only Hindu Makaranda known to us in the except, of course, that Tagu was intercalated astronomical department is one who wrote a work, instead of Wazo, and so, in the second division of with A.D. 1478-79 as its epoch or year for calculacolumn 3 "second Tagu" has to be read in the place tive purposes, which is used by makers of almanaca of " Kason", and the lunar day is one day more in at Bonares and in Tirhut and those parts. We the six years, A.D. 1759, etc., mentioned just above. strould be glad of further light both on the
It is thus plain that Burmese and Arakanese Makaranta of Burma and on the Thandeikta. dates cannot be calculated as Hindū dates with And another work, the recovery of which would any approach to certainty : and without certainty be highly interesting, is the book attributed to we may as well leave them alone. This is where "Raja Mathan, a Hindu astronomer", menMr. Irwin's book has come in so opportune tioned by Mr. Irwin (14) as propounding in ly and usefully. A full explanation of the its tenth chapter the use of the Metonic cycle of calendar is given on pages 1 to 14. Tables I, II, 19 solar years, as equal (not very closely) to 235 and IV give us the English equivalent of Tagu lunar months, on the general lines of which the waxing 1, and the other necessary elements, intercalation of months is regulated in Burma and for both the Burmese calendar and the Araka- Arakan. Any formal recognition of this cycle in nese, from A.D. 1739 onwards. Those tables India is, so far, not known, except to the extent and the subsidiary ones enable us now to deter- to which it figures as a factor in the number of mine easily and accurately the equivalent of any years, 19 x 150 = 2850, which constituted the Burmese and Arakanese date falling in that period. I calculative cycle of the Original Romaka-SidAnd processes explained on pages 15 to 25 put us dhanta, and seems to have been a reason for in the way of calculating any date back to A.D. which the year Saka-samvat 427 expired, = 638, when there commenced the ers which now A. D. 505-6, was laid down as the epoch for prevails in Burma and Arakan. These processes, making calculations according to that work.'
" See Mabamahopadhyaya Sudhakar Drivedi's Ganaka-Tarang ini or "Lives of Hindu Astronomers," p. 52.
• The Burmese and Arakanese first nineteen-years cycle began in A. D. 638 : which is probably a reason why that year was selected for starting a reckoning which has grown into an era. Counting back from that year, wo find that a similar cycle began in A. D. 505.
