History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.629

v6.c82.629

It should not be supposed that India is singular in this respect. The present European calendar is also very unsatisfactory. Originally it was Julius Caesar who introduced a revised calendar in 46 B C with the provision that every 4th year was to be a leap year. But his calculations were not very accurate and the result was that by 1582 A.D. the spring equinox occurred on 10th March instead of on 21st March. Pope Gregory XIII declared that 4th October 1582 was to be followed by 15th October (i.e. ten days were dropped). He further provided that century years were not to have a leap year unless they could be divided by 400 (so that years 1700, 1800, 1900 of the christian era have no additional day, but 2000 would have one) Even so, there is still a slight error, but only after more than 33 centuries one day would have to be dropped. The Gregorian year is longer by 26 seconds than the correct length of the year arrived at by modern astronomical calculations. Protestant England did not follow Pope Gregory's reform till 1750 A. D. when Acts were passed whereby 2nd of September 1752 was to be followed not by 3rd September but by 14th September (dropping eleven days) Vide 'the Calendar New Style Act' 1750 (24 Geo. 2, chapter 23) and the Calendar Act 1751 (25 Geo. 2, chapter 30), which changed the year beginning from 25th March to 1st January and embodied the reforms made by Pope Gregory XIII. The European calendar is still very inconvenient Under it a month may have from 28 to 31 days, the quarters of a year consist of 90 to 92 days, the two halves of the year (January to June and July to December) contain respectively 181 (or 182) and 184 days, working days per month vary from 24 to 27 days and years and months begin on different week-days Easter, the Queen of feasts, could fall even after 1751 on 35 different dates from 22nd March to 25th April, as Easter is first Sunday after the Full Moon occurring on or after 21st March.