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 c6.9

c6.9

Perhaps you would like to know the practical difference between a tropical and an anomalistic year. A tropical year is that which brings the seasons round at the same time of the year, whereas an anomalistic year is that which brings back the sun's anomaly, *i.e.*, the rate at which he moves round the earth. This rate varies according as the sun is near to, or removed from, his perigee, *i.e.*, the point when he is nearest the earth, and once a year the sun returns, as it were, to his old pace. Now this varying pace of the sun is very important for calculating the moment of new moon, as well as for calculating the moment of sunrise, and this is probably why the Hindu astronomers reckon the course of the sun by the anomalistic, instead of by the tropical, year.