Studies in the Bhagavati Sutra

Author(s): J C Sikdar
Publisher: Research Institute of Prakrit Jainology & Ahimsa Mujjaffarpur

Page 390

Sec. IV]
STUDIES IN THE BHAGAWATI SUTRA
365
That is, this lunar eclipse takes place after six months and forty-two months in the minimum and maximuin respectively and the solar eclipse after forty-eight years in the maximum.
According to Varāhamihira!, Rāhu resembles the shape of a snake, baying its mouth and tail divided, for the head of the demon was cut by Vişņu with his Cukra as a punishment of tasting the nectar by him secretly along with the gods.
He also propounds the theory that the eclipse takes place owing to the covering of the light of a luminous body by the presence of another body.
In the science of Astronomy an eclipse has been defined as the interception of the light of a luminous body (the sun, the moon, etc.) by the intervention of another body between it and the eye or between the luminous body and what illuminates it. This eclipse is annual, partial and total.
So there is an agreement between the theory as embodied in the Bhs and that of the modern Astronomy on the fundamental principle of eclipse that it takes place due to the interception of the light of a luminous body by the intervention of another body between it and the eye or it and the source of its light.
Time (Kāla) According to the Bhs time is one of the six fundamental substances of the Universe which will be discussed later in the chapter on Philosophy".
There are stated to be four kinds of time as explained from the four points of view, viz. Pramāņakāla (standardized time), Yathāyurnirorttika-kāla (time when the binding of ayur. karma takes place), Maranakala (death-time), and Addhākāla (time associated with Nature).
Vol-X-pt. 1)
i Varāhamihira. Rāhucāra (Brhat Samhita
(p. 160-161.)-3. * 16
-1 (p. 116)