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Book of Indian Eras, with Tables for Calculating Indian Dates c31: XXVI.—Saura-Māna

Book of Indian Eras, with Tables for Calculating Indian Dates c31

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XXVI.—Saura-Māna

c31.1

SOLAR RECKONING.

c31.2

THEORETICALLY the Hindu solar year should begin with the sun's entrance into Aries; but owing to the greater length of the Hindu year, the 1st of Vaisâkh has gradually receded, so that the first day of the solar year now falls on the 12th or 13th of April. The Indian computations were all made from the beginning of the Mahâ-Yuga, and owing to the difference in the length of the solar year as laid down by Aryabhatta and Varâha Mihira, there is often a discrepancy of one day in the beginning of the Hindu year in the places which make use of their different tables. The actual difference is, however, not so much, being only about one-third of a day in 4000 years. According to Warren the number of days assigned by Aryabhatta to a Mahâ-Yuga of 4,320,000 years is 1,577.917,500 in the south of India, and 42 more in the MSS. preserved in Bengal. The former gives a year of 365.2586805 days, and the latter of 365.258692 days.* But the Surya Siddhânta of Varâha Mihira gives 1,577.917,823 days to the Mahâ-Yuga, which makes the year somewhat longer, or 365.2587564 days.

c31.3

As the number of revolutions was complete at the beginning of the Kâli-Yuga, it is not necessary to go back, as the Hindu astronomers do, to the beginning of the Mahâ-Yuga. It will be sufficient to begin the computation from the commencement of the Kâli-Yuga itself. In the accompanying Tables, Nos. XI, XII, and XIII, I have given the number of days elapsed from the beginning of the Kâli-Yuga down to K. Y. 5100, according to both computations now in use, that of the Surya Siddhânta in Northern India and that of Aryabhatta in Southern India. The fractions of days are given in the convenient form of decimals instead of the troublesome gharis, palas, and vipalas of the native astronomers.

c31.4

As an example of the working of the Tables I will take the year A.D. 1857, to find on what day the 1st Vaisâkh fell. According to the Surya Siddhânta reckoning, the Kâli-Yuga year 4958 (or 3101+1857) began on the 11th of April, while Warren's Tables also give the same date. The process in both reckonings is as follows:—

c31.5

∗ Bentley, p. 139, makes the Bengali year slightly different as 365.258690 days.

c31.6

| | *Surya Siddhânta.* | *Arya Siddhânta.* |
| Years. | Days. | Days. |
| 4900 | contain | 1.789,767·9067 | 1.789,767·5346 |
| 58 | ” | 21,185·0078 | 21,184·9934 |
| 4958 | contain | 1.810,952·9145 | 1.810,952·5280 |
| Deduct constant | — 2·1475 | — 2·1475 |
| | 1.810,950·7670 | 1.810,950·3805 |

c31.7

After striking out the weeks by dividing both by 7, there remains 1·7 days over, and 1·3 days over.

c31.8

As the week days are counted from Friday, the first day following was Saturday, which in the year 1851 A.D. was the 11th of April. Should the large fraction of ·767 of a day be reckoned as a whole day, then the initial day of the solar year in Northern India would be Sunday, 12th April 1857, and this I find is the actual date given for Bengal in the Calcutta Gazetteer of that year.

c31.9

The initial day of the year having been fixed, it is a very simple process to find any particular day of a given month, by an inspection of the Table of solar months, with the collective number of days for the whole year. The months themselves are of varying lengths with broken periods; but for the calendar they are made to consist of whole numbers. Then suppose it be required to find the day of the Christian year corresponding with the 10th of Kartika of the solar year 4958, Kâli-Yuga, a reference to the Table will show that the day required is the 197th day of the year, which is to be reckoned from the 12th of April as the first day. A reference to the Christian Table of days shows that the 12th of April is the 71st day, to which adding 196, we get the 267th day of the Christian year, or the 22nd of November 1857.

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