History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c82.753

v6.c82.753

Let us now turn to the literary evidence. The Āryabhaṭīya (Daśagītikā, verse 3) mentions Thursday.¹⁰⁷¹ In Bṛhatsaṃhitā 1072 occurs this 'when Pitāmaha declared that the weekday Tuesday does not lead to auspicious results or when (I declare) that the day of the son of the earth is inauspicious, what difference is there between (the śāstra) composed by a divine author and that by a human author (like myself)?' It has been seen above (p 468) that the Pañcasiddhāntikā tells us that a five year cycle started according to Pitāmaha in the second year (expired) of the Śaka era Therefore it appears that Pitāmaha who probably wrote about 80 A D mentioned Tuesday. The Pañcasiddhāntikā (in I. 8) mentions Monday in summarising the features of the Romaka siddhānta (vide note 1004). The Bṛhatsaṃhitā in chapter 103 (verses 61-63) sets out what actions are proper to be done on the weekdays from Sunday to Saturday and Utpala quotes eighteen *Anuṣṭubh* verses in all from the ancient astronomer Garga on the same topic.1072a Kern assigns Garga to the 1st Century B. C This would carry the knowledge of weekdays in India to the first century before Christ. Philostratus in his life of Apollonius of Tyana (who died in 98 A D) relates (vide note 900 above) how when Apollonius travelled in India he received from Iarchus, the chief of the brāhmaṇas, seven rings bearing names of seven planets, each one of which Apollonius was to wear on each of the weekdays. As Philostratus wrote in the first quarter of the 3rd century A. D., this would carry the knowledge of the planetary week in India at least to the 1st century of the Christian era. The above references furnish a *terminus ad quem* for India's knowledge of the planetary week days (viz. first century B. C. to first century A D.). The *terminus a quo* cannot be stated with certainty.