Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c10.s3.t2.29

c10.s3.t2.29

Other types of calendrical and astronomical details sometimes added to dates of inscriptions of the Gupta period and later, especially in connection with dates in the Śaka era,⁴² include the *yoga* (period in which the combined longitudinal motion of the sun and moon equals one *nakṣatra* or 13° 20'), *karaṇa* (half-*tithi*), and *lagna* (zodiacal sign rising).⁴³ Sometimes still further data such as the season (*ṛtu*), *rāśi* (sun's zodiacal sign), half-year (*ayana*, i.e., *dakṣiṇāyana* or *uttarāyaṇa /udagayana*), and time of day in *ghaṭikās* ("hours" of forty-eight minutes) are provided. Special astronomical circumstances such as the sun's entry into zodiacal signs (*saṃkrānti/saṃkramaṇa*), especially the *viṣuva(t)-saṃkrānti* or entries into the equinoctial signs and the *dakṣiṇāyana*- and *uttarāyaṇa-saṃkrānti* or entries into the solstitial signs, may also be mentioned. Particularly common are references to solar or lunar eclipses (*grahaṇa*, *uparāga*), since these were considered especially auspicious times for the granting of gifts.⁴⁴ Citations of eclipses are useful for verifying dates, since their occurrences can be readily checked in various standard reference sources such as Th. Ritter von Oppolzer's *Canon der Finsternisse*.⁴⁵