Indian Antiquary Vol 52

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 321

OCTOBET, 1923)
BOOK-NOTICES
305
SWAMEANNU PILLAI, I.S.O. Publishod under the Authority of the Government of Madras. Superintendent, Government Press, Madras, 1922.
This is an extraordinary publication which bears striking testimony to the knowledge, ingenuity and perseverance of Diwan Bahadur L. D. Swamikannu Pillai. The author's Indian Chro. nology, published in 1911, is already well-known ; and Part I of the first volume of this new work is really an enlarged edition of the former. It contain very full explanation of the principles
1 he has based his Indian calendar. The other six volumes comprise # continuous
nac from A.D. 700 to A.D. 1799, the period fron... 180 to A.D. 2000 being containod in a separate or which has also been taken over by the Maa. Government.
The main object of the Ephemeris, according to the author, is to elucidate the solar month and day of the Tamil and Malayalam calendars, the solar months according to the zodiacal constella tions, the tithi for every day with its onding moment, tho nakshatra with its ending moment, the lunar months and pakshas in use all over India, the Muhammadan months and days, and finally the solar and lunar eclipses, for a period of 1,300 years. Under each of these heads the equivalent English month and date and week-day are given throughout. The choice of the year 700 A.D. as the starting point of the calendar is due to the paucity of verifiable Indian dates before the eighth century A.D.; and although the author, in agree. ment with other authorities, inclines to the view that week-days may have been known to the inhabitants of India for some considerable period before the fifth century A.D., yet the rare occur. rence of actual week-day dates in Indian litera. ture and inscriptions between the fifth and eighth centurios made him decide, no doubt wisely, to choose A.D. 700 as the upper limit of his almanac.
Among the many interesting subjects discussed or referred to in the course of the work are the nature of the adhika and kshaya months, the connexion between the solar and lunar reckoning, the planetary and eclipse chronology, the Pari. padal horoscope, the period of the Tamil Sangam literature, the date of Christ's birth, the common but mistaken belief in the occurrence once in a thousand years of a lunar fortnight with only 13 days, and in the Appendices the exact date of the death of Buddha and the astronomical references in the Mahabharata. The exposition of the EyeTables which the author has prepared for the chief siddhantas of the Indian calendar will repay careful perusal; while as regards the day to day calendar, one can only say that the historian and epigraphist have at last been furnished with a comprehensive work of roference which gives
then the exact English equivalent of any dato occurring in ancient Indian records.
The possibilities of error have been eliminated by a very ingenious use of cycles of recurrence. Apart from its value to the historian and epigra. phist, the work is also of use in the investigation of horoscopes. The author makes no secret of his distrust of astrology, and he only accepts horoscopes in so far as they offer a means of arriv. ing at definite chronological conclusions. Thus by his detailed investigation of the horoscope in the Sangam Tamil work Paripadal, he strives to prove that a horoscope can be chronologically verified, and that if it indicates the position of five or six planets by their råsis or zodiacal constellations, its exact date can be definitely established. He holds the view that the Indian horoscope owes its origin to the Ptolemaic system of astronomy and astrology, which in turn was derived from Babylonian and Chaldæan sources. It is im. possible within the limits of a review to discuss in any detail a work of this magnitude. Let it suffice to say that the Diwan Bahadur's achieve. ment is likely to become a landmark in the science of Indian chronology, and that the infinite care which he has expended on this work fully justifies the official support accorded to his labours by the Government of Madras.
S. M. EDWARDES. SELECTIONS FROM AVESTA AND OLD PERSIAN
(First Series), Fart 1, by IRACH JEHANGIR S. TARAPOREWALA. Calcutta : 1922.
Dr. Irach Jehangir Sorabji Taraporewala has ilono a good service to the Calcutta University in special, and to all students of Avesta and Sanskrit in general, by preparing and publishing his excellent Selections from Avesta and old Persian. The book is a very useful addition to the previous works of this kind one from the pen of Prof. A. V. Williams Jackson of the Columbia University of America and another from that of Prof. Hans Reichelt of Germany. We welcomo this new attempt in the same line from the pen of an Indian Professor and that a Parsee, who, from the very fact of being conversant with the belief and ritual of his people, can do justice to his subject of translations and notes. I had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Taraporowala's lec. tures on Philology in the University of Bombay, some years ago, and I had also the pleasure of having an exchange of views with him on some subjects of his proseat work. So, I am in a posi. tion to speak with some personal knowledge and authority on his work and beg to say that Dr. Taraporowala's work is sound and aims at perfection. On the one hand, by a long stay and study in the centres of learning in England and Germany, he has well acquired the present criti. cal method of the West for learning and toodang