Indian Chronology (Solar, Lunar and Planetary): A Practical Guide to the Interpretation and Verification of Tithis, Nakshatras, Horoscopes and other Indian Time-records, B.C. 1 to A.D. 2000 c25.4

c25.4

130. Indian time is kept in *ghatikas* (Tam. *naligais*) or sixtieth parts of a day, each *ghatika* being equivalent to 24 minutes of English time (⅖ of an hour), and in *palas* (Tam. *vinadis*) or sixtieth parts of a *ghatika*, each *pala* being equivalent to 24 seconds of English time. The *ghatikas* and *palas* are reckoned, not from midnight to midnight as in English time, but from sunrise to sunrise. Now, as the moment of sunrise depends on the latitude and longitude of each place, there should, strictly speaking, be as many *panchângams* as there are places in India. Indian astronomers get over this difficulty by calculating time in the first place according to one central latitude and longitude, and then applying the necessary corrections in order to deduce the time for other places. The central latitude is the Equator and the central longitude is that of Ujjain (75° 46' 6" East of Greenwich) where there was an ancient observatory. To combine the central latitude and the central longitude, they imagined an island called Lankâ in the Indian Ocean, situated on the equator and having the same longitude as Ujjain. This Lankâ is, of course, not Ceylon.