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 c32.2

c32.2

231. The vâra or week-day is almost invariably quoted in Indian dates. The fact that week-days are the same in European and Indian reckoning (e.g., a Monday in a date a thousand years ago corresponded, as it does to-day, to an Indian Soma-vâra, Tamil Tingal) is a striking proof of the common origin of the Indo-European mode of reckoning the week. This identity becomes all the more striking when we consider that everything else in the two reckonings (year, month, day of month, hour of day, etc.) is different. The week-day is, therefore, an important link between the two systems and it is well that we have an easy and at the same time a thoroughly accurate and reliable mode of identifying the week-day of any date, however remote, in the past. The ordinary rule laid down in Indian works on astronomical computation is to count the days from the beginning of Kaliyuga (18 Feb., 3102 B.C.) and cast off sevens—a truly formidable operation which few of our readers will venture upon.