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Mahāvīra Era
अट्ठासि । एकमन्तं ठितं खो राहुं असुरिन्दं वेयचित्ति असुरिन्दो गाथाय 35#AIFA--
किंतु सन्तरमानोव, राहु सुरियं पमुङचसि । सं विग्गरूपो आगम्म, किन्नु भीतो व तिट्ठसी 'ति ।। सत्तधा मे फले मुद्धा, जीवन्तो न सुखं लभे ।
बुद्धगाथाभि गीतोम्हि, नो चे मुञ्चेय्य सुरियं “ति ॥" Here, the eclipse of the moon was closely followed by an eclipse of the sun, and apparently at a very short interval, as the phrase' 'ma at a fùa' indicates, i. e, the two events happened in the short period of time of the Buddha's stay at Srāvasti.
4. To settle chronology by a reference to a solar eclipse is a very difficult matter. Because eclipses having similar characteristics take place in a cycle and the periods of 223 lunar months and that of 19 eclipse years are also equal . This means that at the end of each saros the sun, the moon and the nodes of the moon's orbit will be in almost identical positions, and that the sequance of eclipses will be repeated with only very small differences. However the positions are not identical between two successive total solar eclipses and an amular eclipse or a solar eclipse caused by the regular crossing of the ecliptic.
When the earth is at perihetion, the apparent diameter of the sun is 32'35"; at aphelion, the value is 31'31”. The apparent diameter of the moon ranges between 33'3" and 29'22”. The moon can, therefore, hide the sun completely when it is near porigee, but it is moving steadily in its orbit, and totality can never last for more than 7 minites or so, while at most eclipses totality is much shorter. Moreover, the track of totality or earth can never be more than 169 miles wide, so that as seen from any one place a total eclipse is a rare event.
Earth's axis tilted by 231° to the perpendicular, the angle between the ecliptic and the calestial equartor is also 231. The ecliptic is the projection of the earth's orbit on to the celestial sphere, and may also be defined as the apparent yearly path of the sun among the stars. It passes through 12 zodiacal constellations, together with a small part of a 13th ophiuchus.
The moon's orbit is also tilted about 50 to the earth's orbit around the sun. For this reason the moon's shadow generally misses the earth and so a solar eclipse does not occur. Likewise, the moon most often escapes being eclipsed by passing above or below the shadow of the earth.
About 21 March each year the sun crosses the celestial equator, moving from the southern to the northern hemisphere of the sky,
