HISTORY OF JYOTISHA 1

 

 

 

 

 

HINDU CHRONOLOGY

 

 

HINDU CHRONOLOGY. The subject of Hindu chronology divides naturally into three

parts: the calendar, the eras, and other reckonings.

I.        THE CALENDAR -

The Hindus have had from very ancient times the system of lunisolar cycles, made

by the combination of solar years, regulated by the course of the sun, and lunar

years, regulated by the course of the moon, but treated in such a manner as to

keep the beginning of the lunar year near the beginning of the solar year. The

exact manner in which they arranged the details of their earliest calendar is

still a subject of research. We deal here with their calendar as it now stands,

in a form which was developed from about AD. 400 under the influence of the

Greek astronomy which had been introduced into India at no very long time

previously.

The Hindu calendar, then, is determined by years of two kinds, solar and lunar.

For civil purposes, solar years are used in Bengal, including Orissa, and in the

Tamil and Malayal.am districts of Madras, and lunar years throughout the rest of

India. But the lunar year regulates everywhere the general religious rites and

festivals, and the details of private and domestic life, such as the selection

of auspicious occasions for marriages and for starting on journeys, the choice

of lucky moments for shaving, and so on. Consequently, the details of the lunar

year are shown even in the almanacs which follow the solar year. On the other

hand, certain details of the solar year, such as the course of the sun through

the signs and other divisions of the zodiac, are shown in the almanacs which

follow the lunar year. We will treat the solar year first, because it governs

the lunisolar system, and the explanation of it will greatly simplify the

orocess of exolainine the lunar calendar.

The civil solar year is determined by the astronomical solar year. The latter

professes to begin at the vernal equinox, The a~fro- but the actual position is

as follows. In our Western nomical astronomy the signs of the zodiac have, in

consequence solar of the precession of the equinoxes, drawn away to Y a large

extent from the constellations from which they derived their names; with the

result that the sun now conies to the vernal equinox, at the first point of the

sign Aries, not in the constellation Aries, but at a point in Pisces, about 28

degrees before the beginning of Aries. The Hindus, however, have disregarded

piecession in connection with their calendar from the time (A.D. 499, 522, or

527, according to different schools) when, by their system, the signs coincided

with the constellations; and their sign Aries, called Msha by them, is still

their constellation Aries, beginning, according to them, at or near the star ~

Piscium. Their astronomical solar year is, in fact, not the tropical year, in

the course of which the sun really passes from one vernal equinox to the next,

but a sidereal year, the period during which the earth makes one revolution in

its orbit round the sun with reference to the first point of M~sha; its

beginning is the moment of the Mesha-sartikranti, the entrance of the sun into

the sidereal sign Mesha, instead of the tropical sign Aries; and it begins, not

with the true equinox, but with an artificial or nominal equinox.

The length of this sidereal solar year was determined in the following manner.

The astronomer selected what the Greeks termed an exeligmos, the Romans an annus

nia gnus or mundanus, a period in the course of which a given order of things is

completed by the sun, moon, and planets returning to a state of conjunction from

which they have started. The usual Hindu exeligmos has been the Great Age of

4.320,000 sidereal solar years, the aggregate of the Kfita or golden age, the

Tret or silver age, the Dvapara or brazen age, and the Kali or iron age, in

which we now are; but it has sometimes been the Kalpa or aeon, consisting

according to one view of 1000, according to another view of IaoS, Great Ages. He

then laid down the number of revolutions, in the period of his exeligmos, of the

naks/iatras, certain stars and groups of stars which will be noticed more

definitely in our account of the lunar year; that is, the number of rotations of

the earth on its axis, or, in other words, the number of sidereal (lays. A

deduction of the number of the years from the number of the sidereal days gave,

as remainder, the number of civil days in the exeliginos. An(l, this remainder

being divided by the number of the years, the quotient gave the length of the

sidereal solar year : refinements, suggested by experience, inference, or

extraneous information, were made by increasing or decreasing the number of

sidereal days assigned to the cxelig~nos. The Hindus now recognize three

standard sidereal solar years determined in that manner. (1) A year of 365 days

6 hrs. 12 mm. 30 sec. according to the Aryabhatiya, otherwise called the First

Arya-Siddhdnta, which was written by the astronomer Aryabha~a (b. AD. 476): this

year is used in the Tarnil and Malayalam districts, and, we may add, in Ceylon.

(2) A year of 365 days 6 hrs. 12 mm. 3o915 see. according to the Rajam~iga ka, a

treatise based on the BrhmaSiddlidnia of Brahmagupta (h. AD. 598) and attributed

to king BhOja, of which the epoch, the point of time used in it for

calculations, falls in A.D. 1042: this year is used in parts of Gujarat (Bombay)

and in Rajputana and other western parts of Northern India. (3) A year of 365

days 6 hrs. 12 mm. 3656 sec. according to the present Surya-Siddlianta, a work

of unknown authorship which dates from probably about A.D. 1000: this year is

used in almost all the other parts of India. It may be remarked that, according

to modern science, the true mean sidereal solar year measures 365 days 6 hrs. 9

mm. 9-6 sec., and the mean tropical year measures 365 days 5 hrs.

48 mm. 46o 54440 sec.

The result of the use of this sidereal solar year is that the beginning of the

Hindu astronomical solar year, and with it the civil solar year and the lunar

year and the nominal incidence of the seasons, has always been, and still is,

travelling slowly forward in our calendar year by an amount which varies accord-

ing to the particular . authority.1 For instance, Aryabha~as year e~iceeds the

Julian year by 12 mm. 30 sec. This amounts to exactly one day in 115* years, and

five days in 576 years. Thus, if we take the longer period and confine

oursel~res to a time when the Julian calendar (old style) was in use, according

to Aryabhata the M~sha-sathkrgnti began to occur in AD. 603 on 20^th March, and

in A.D. 1179 on 25^th March. The intermediate advances arrange themselves into

four steps of one day each in 116 years, followed by one step of one day in 112

years: thus, the Msha-sarhkrgnti began to occur on 21^st March in AD. 719, On

22^nd March in AD. 835, On 23^rd March in A.D. 951, and on 24^th March in A.D. 1067

(whence 112 years take Ifs to 25^th March in AD. 1179). It is now occurring

sometimes on 11^th April, sometimes on the 12^th; having first come to the 12^th in

A.D. 1871.

The civil solar year exists in more varieties than one. The principal variety,

conveniently called the Msh~di year, i.e. the year beginning at the

M~sha-sathkr~nti, is the only one that we need notice at this point. The ~

beginning of it is determined directly by the astronomical solar year; and for

religious purposes it begins, with that year, at the moment of the

Mesha-sathkrgnti. Its first civil day, however, may be either the day on which

the sathkrnti occurs, or the next day, or even the day after that:

this is determined partly by the time of day or night at which the saikranti

occurs, which, moreover, of course varies in accordance with the locality as

well as the particular authority that is followed; partly by differing details

of practice in different parts of the country. In these circumstances an exact

equivalent of the Meshdi civil solar year cannot be stated; but it may be taken

as now beginning on or closely about the 12^th of April.

The solar year is divided into twelve months, in accordance with the successive

sathkranlis or entrances of the sun into the (sidereal) signs of the zodiac,

which, as with us, are twelve in The solar number. The names of the signs in

Sanskrit are as month follows: Msha, the ram (Aries); Vtishabha, the hull

(Taurus); Mithuna, the pair, the twins (Geniini); Karka, Karkata, Karkataka, the

crab (Cancer); Sithha, the lion (Leo); Kany, the maiden (Virgo); Turn, the

scales (Libra); Vrilchika, the scorpion (Scorpio); Dhanus, the bow

(Sagittarius); ivlakara, the seamonster (Capricornus); Kumbha, the water-pot

(Aquarius); and Mba, the fishes (Pisces). The solar months arc known in some

parts by the names of the signs or by corrupted forms of them; and these are the

best names for them for general use, because they lead to no confusion. But they

have elsewhere another set of names, preserving the connection of them with, the

lunar months:

the Sanskrit forms of these names are Chaitra, Vai~kha,jyaishtha, Ashs4ha,

Srgva~a, Bhgdrapada, Mvina or Aivavuja, KSrttika, Mflrgaiira or Marga~irsha

(also known as Agrah6yana), Pausha, Magha, and Phnlguna: in some localities

these names are used in corrupted forms, and in others vernacular names are

substituted for some of them; and, while in some parts the name Chaitra is

attached to the month Masha, in other parts it is attached to the month Mba, and

so on throughout the series in each case. The astronomical solar month runs from

the moment of one sathkranti of the sun to the moment of the next sathkranli;

and, as the signs of the Hindu zodiac are all of equal length, 30 (legrees, as

with us, while the speed of the sun (the motion of the earth in its orbit round

the sun) varies according to the time of the year, the length of the month is

variable: the shortest month is Dhanus; the The disregard of precession, and the

cOnsequent travelling forward of the year through the natural seasons, is, of

course, a serious defect in the Hindu calendar, the principles of which are

otherwise good. Accordingly, an attempt was made by a small band of reformers to

rectify this state of things by introducing a precessional calendar, taking as

the first lunar month the synodic lunation in which the sun enters the tropical

Aries, instead of the sidereal Mesha; and the publication was started, in or

about 1886, of the S~yana-Panchgng or Precessional Almanac.

Further, the Hindu sidereal solar year is in excess of the true mean sidereal

year by (if we use Aryabha~as value) 3 mm. 2o4 sec. If we take this, for

convenience, at 3 mm. 20 sec., the excess amounts to exactly one day in 432

years. And so even the sidereal M~sha-snthkrnti is now found to occur three or

four days later than the day on which it should occur. Accordingly, another

reformer had bgun, in or about 1865, to publish the Navin athav~ Patwardhani

Pafich~ng, the New or PatwardhaniT Almanac, in which he determined the details

of the year according to the proper Mesha-sathkr~nti.

longest is Mithuna. The civil solar month begins with its first civil day, which

is determined, in different localities, in the same manner with the first civil

day of the MshAdi year, as indicated above. The civil month is of variable

length; partly for that reason, partly because of the variation in the length of

the astronomical month. No exact equivalents of the civil months, therefore, can

be stated; but, speaking approximately, we may say that, while the month Mesha

now begins on or closely about 12^th April, the beginning of a subsequent month

may come as late as the 16^th day of the English month in which it falls.

The solar year is also divided into six seasons, the Sanskrit names of which are

Vasanta, spring; Grishma, the hot weather; Varsha, the rainy season; Sarad,

autumn; Hemanta, the cold S~S ~ weather; and ~iiira, the dewy season. Vasanta

begins at the Mina-sathkrflnti; the other seasons begin at each successive

second sathkranti from that. Originally, this scheme was laid out with reference

to the true course of the sun, and the startingpoint of it was the real winter

solstice, with Si~ira, as the first season, beginning then now, owing partly to

the disregard of precession, partly to our introduction of New Style, each

season comes about three weeks too late; Vasanta begins on or about 12^th March,

instead of 19^th or 20^th February, and so on with the rest. It may be added that

in early times the year was also divided into three or four, and even into five

or seven, seasons; and there appears to have been also a practice of reckoning

the seasons according to the lunar months, which, however, would only give a

very valning arrangement, in addition to neglecting the point that the seasons

are naturally determined by the course of the sun, not of the moon. But there is

now recognized only the division into six seasons, determined as stated above.

The solar year is also divided into two parts called Uttarayat.ia, the period

durir.g which the sun is moving to the north, and Dakshin~iana, the period

during which it is moving to the south.

The Uttargyaija begins at the nominal winter solstice, The sol- as marked by the

Makara-sathkranti; and the day on stitlal which this solstice occurs, usually

12^th January at diviSions present, is still a special occasion of festivity and

re ear joking; the Dakshiogyana begins at the nominal summer Y solstice, as

marked by the Karka-sa1hkranti. It may be added here that, while the Hindus

disregard precession in the actual computaaon of their years and the regulation

of their calendar, they pay attention to it in certain other respects, and

notably as regards the solstices: the precessional solstices are looked upon as

auspicious occasions, as well as the non-precessional soistices, and are

customarily shown in the almanacs; and some of the almanacs show also the other

precessional sathkrantis of the sun.

The civil days of the solar month begin at sunrise. They are numbered I, 2, 3,

&c., in unbroken succession to the end of the ~ month. And, the length of the

month being variable d e CVI for the reasons stated above, the number of the

civil ay. days may range from twenty-nine to thirty-two.

The civil clays are named after the weekdays, of which the usual appellations

(there are various synonyms in each case, and some of the names are used in

corrupted forms) are in Sanskrit The week- Adityavra or Ravivra, the day of the

sun, sometimes day. called Adivflra, the beginning-day (Sunday); Somavara, the

clay of the moon (Monday); Mangalavara, the day of Mars (Tuesday); Budhavgra,

the day of Mercury (Wednesda3~); Brihaspativra or Guruvgra, the day of Jupiter

(Thursday); SukravAra, the clay of Venus (Friday); and ~anivra, the day of

Saturn (Saturday). It may be mentioned, as a matter of archaeological interest,

that, while some of the astronomical books perhaps postulate an earlier

knowledge of the lords of the days, and other writings indicate a still earlier

use of the period of seven days, the first proved instance of the use of the

name of a weekday is of the year AD. 484, and is furnished by an inscription in

the Saugor district, central India.

The divisions of the civil day, as far as we need note them, are 60 l-Zpalas i

pala 24 seconds; 60 palas = igha(ika = 24 minutes; 60 ghatikas = 24 hours = I

day. There is also the muhrta Divisions =2 gha(ikaS=48 minutes: this is the

nearest approach of the to the hour. The comparative value of these measures da.

of time may perhaps be best illustrated thus: 24 rnuloirtas =2 hours; 2l

gha(ikas=i hour; 24 palas=i minute; 24 vipalas= i second.

As their civil day begins at sunrise, the Hindus naturall~ count all their

times, in gha4ikas and palas, from that moment. But the moment is a varying one,

though not in India to Clvii anything like the extent to which it is so in

European time, latitudes; and under the British Government the Hindus have

recognized the advantage, and in fact the necessity, especially in connection

with their lunar calendar, of having a convenient means of referring their own

times to the time which prevails officially. Consequently, some of the almanacs

have adopted the European practice of showing the time of sunrise, in hours and

minutes, from midnight; and some of them add the time of sunset from noon.

The lunar year consists primarily of twelve Iunations or lunar months, of which

the present Sanskrit names, generally used in more or less corrupted forms, are

Chaitra, Vaiigkha, &c., to Phalguna, as given above in connection with the solar

months. It is of two principal varieties, according as The lunar it begins with

a certain day in the month Chaitra, or year.

with the corresponding day in Kgrttika: the former variety is conveniently known

as the Chaitrgdi year; the latter as the Krttikdi year. For religious purposes

the lunar year begins with its first lunar day: for civil purposes it begins

with its first civil day, the relation of which to the lunar day will be

explained below. Owing to the manner in which, as we shall explain, the

beginning of the lunar year is always shifting backwards and forwards, it is not

practicable to lay down any close equivalents for comparison: but an indication

may be given as follows. The first civil day of the Chaitr~di year is the day

after the new-moon conjunction which occurs next after the entrance of the sun

into Mina, and it now falls from about I3th March to about 11^th April: the first

civil day of the Kgrttikgdi year is the first day after the new-moon conjunction

which occurs next after the entrance of the sun into TuI, and it now falls from

about 17^th October to about 15^th November.

The present names of the lunar months, indicated above, were derived from the

nakshatras, which are certain conspicuous stars and groups of stars lying more

or less along the neighborhood of the ecliptic. The nakshatras are regarded The

lunar sometimes as twenty-seven in number, sometimes as month. twenty-eight, and

are grouped in twelve sets of two or three each, beginning, according to the

earlier arrangement of the list, with the pair Kfittika and Rhii~i, and

including in the sixth place Chitrg and Svgti, and ending with the triplet

Rvati, Afvinl and Bhara9i. They are sometimes styled lunar mansions, and are

sometimes spoken of as the signs of the lunar zodiac; and it is, no doubt,

chiefly in connection with the moon that they are now taken into consideration.

But they mark divisions of the ecliptic: according to one system, twenty-seven

divisions, each of 13 degrees 20 minutes; according to two other systems,

twenty-seven or twenty-eight unequal divisions, which we need not explain here.

The almanacs show the course of the sun through them, as well as the course of

the moon; and the course of the sun was marked by them only, before the time

when the Hindus began to use the twelve signs of the solar zodiac. So there is

nothing exclusively lunar about them. The present names of the lunar months were

derived from the nakshatras in the following manner: the full-moon which

occtirred when the moon was in conjunction with Chitr (the star a Virginis) was

named ChaitrI, and the lunar month, which contained the Chaitri full-moon, was

named Chaitra; and so on with the others. The present names have superseded

another set of names which were at one time in use concurrently with them; these

other names are Madhu (=Chaitra), Mgdhava, ~ukra, ~uchi, Nabhas, Nabhasya, Isha,

Urja (=Kgrttika), Sahas, Sahasya, Tapas, and Tapasya (=Phalguna): they seem to

have marked originally solar seasonmonths of the solar year, rather than lunar

months of the lunar year.

A lunar month may be regarded as ending either with the newmoon, which is called

amvasya, or with the full-moon, which is called prnamasi, prtlima: a month of

the former kind is termed amnla, ending with the new-moon, or .iuktdi, beginning

with the bright fortnight; a month of the latter kind is termed puirpimnta,

ending with the full-moon, or krishpadi, beginning with the dark fortnight. For

all purposes of the calendar, the amnta month is used in Southern India, and the

pur~firnanta month in Northern India. But only the amanta month, the period of

the synodic revolution of the moon, is recognized in Hindu astronomy, and for

the purpose of naming the lunations and adjusting the lunar to the solar year by

the intercalation and suppression of lunar months; and the rule is that the

lunar Chaitra is the amnta or synodic month at the first moment of which the sun

is in the sign Mina, and in the course of which the sun enters Mesha: the other

months follow in the same way; and the lunar Krttika is the amdnla month at the

first moment of which the sun is in Tul, and in the course of which the sun

enters Viichika. The connexiori between the lunar and the solar months is

maintained by the point that the name Chaitra is applied according to one

practice to the solar Mina, in which the lunar Chaitra begins, and according to

another practice to the solar Msha, in which the lunar Chaitra ends. Like the

lunar year, the lunar month begins for religious purposes with its first lunar

day, and for civil purposes with its first civil day.

One mean lunar year of twelve lunations measures very nearly 354 days 8 hrs. 48

mm. 34 sec.; and one Hindu solar year measures 365 days 6 hrs. 12 mm. 30 sec.

according to Aryabha~a. or slightly more according to the other two authorities.

Consequently, the beginning of a lunar year pure and simple would be always

travelling backwards through the solar year, by about ereven days on each

occasion, and would in course of time recede entirely through the solar year, as

it does in the Mahommedan calendar. The Hindus prevent that in the following

manner. The length j,~tercaJa- of the Hindu astronomical solar month, measured

by the Uon and sathkrantis of the sun, its successive entrances into the SUpPr~S

signs of the zodiac, ranges, in accordance with periodical bIQflOf variations in

the speed of the sun, from about 29 days months 7 hrs. 38 mm. up to about 31

days 15 hrs. 28 mm The length of the amnta or synodic lunar month ranges, in

accordance with periodical variations in the speed of the moon and the sun, from

about 29 days 19 hrs. 30 mm. down. to about 29 days 7 hrs. 20 mm. Consequently,

it happens ftom time to time that there are two new-moonconjuoctions, so that

two lunations begin, in one astronomical solar month, between two sa,hkrntis of

the sun, while the sun is in one and the same sign of the zodiac, and there is

no sathkrnli in the lunation ending with the second new-moon: when this is the

case,, there are two lunations to which the same name is applicable, and so

there is an additional or intercalated month, in the sense that a name is

repeated: thus, when two new-moons occur while the sun is in Msha, the lunation

ending with the first of them, during which the sun has entered Mesha, is

Chaitra; the next lunation, in which there is no sa~ikranti, is Vaiiakha,

because it begins when the sun is in Mesha; anti the next lunation after that is

again Vaiikha, for the same reason, and also because the sun enters V~ishabha in

the course of it: in these circumstances, the first of the two Vaiikhas is

called AdhikaVail~kha, the additional or intercalated VaiiI~kha, and the second

is called simply Vaii~Lkha, or sometimes Nija-Vaiskha, the natural Vaiikha. On

the other hand, it occasionally happens, in an autumn or winter month, that

there are two sathkrdntis of the sun in one and the same amnta or synodic lunar

month, between two new-moon conjunctions, so that no lunation begins between the

two sa8thrntis: when this is the case, there is one lunation to which two names

are applicable, ,and there is a suppressed month, in the sense that a name, is

omitted: thus, if the sun enters both Dhanus and Makara during one synodic

lunation, that lunation is M~rgaiira, because the sun was in Vriichika at the

first moment of it and enters Dhanus in the course of it; i the next lunation is

Magha, because the sun is in Makara by the time whed it begins and will enter

Kumbha in the course of it; and the name Pausha, between Margaiira and Magha, is

omitted. When a month is thus suppressed, there is always one intercalated

month, and sometimes two, in thesame Chaitriidi lunar year, so that the lunar

year never contains less than twelve months, and from time to time consists of

thirteen months. There are normally seven inter- I calated months, rising to

eight when a month is suppressed, in 19 solar years, which equal very nearly 235

luhation~2 and there is never less than one year without an intercalated month

between two years with intercalated months, except when there is only one such

month in a year in which a month is suppressed; then there is always an

intercalated month in the next year also. The suppression of a month takes place

at intervals of 19 years and upwards, regarding which no definite statement can

conveniently be made here. It may be added that an i,ntercalated Chaitra or

Karttika takes the place of the ordinary month as the first. month of the year;

an intercalated month is not rejected for that purpose, though it is tabooed

from the religious and auspicious points of view.

The manner in which this arrangement of intercalated and suppressed months works

out, so as to prevent the beginning of the Chaitrdi lunar year departing far

from the beginning of the Mshfldi It might also be called Pausha, because the

sun enters Makara in the course of it; and it may be observed that, in

accordance with a second rule which formerly existed, it would have been named

Pausha because it ends while the sun is in Makara, and the omitted name would

have been Margafira. But, the more important condition of the present rule, that

Pausha begins while the sun is in Dhanus, is not satisfied.

2 The well-known Metonic cycle, whence we have by rearrangement our system of

Golden Numbers, naturally suggests itself; and we have been told sometimes that

that cycle was adopted by the Hindus, and elsewhere that the intercalation of a

month by them generally takes place in the years 3, 5, 8, 11, 14, 16, and 19 of

each cycle, differing only in respect of the 14^th year, instead of the r3th,

from the arrangement which is said to have been fixed by Meton. As regards the

first point, however, there is no evidence that a special period of 19 years was

ever actually used by the Hindus during the period with which we are dealing,

beyond the extent to which it figures as a component of the number of years, 19X

150

2850, forming the lunisolar cycle of an early work entitled RomakaSiddhanta;

and, as was recognized by Kalippos not long after the time of Meton himself, the

Metonic cycle has not, for any length of time, the closeness of results which

has been sometimes supposed to attach to it; it requires to be readjusted

periodically. As regards the second point, the precise years of the intercalated

months depend upon, and vary with, the year that we may seleet as the apparent

first year of a set of 19 years, and it is not easy to arrange the Hindu years

in sets answering to a direct continuation of the Metonic cycle.

solar year, may be illustrated as follows. In A.D. 1815 the Meshasarhkrnti

occurred on 11^th April; and the first civil day of the Chaitradi year was 10^th

April. In A.D. 1816 and 1817 the first civil day of the Chaitr~di year fell back

to 29^th March and 18^th March. In A.D. 1817, however, there was an intercalated

month, ~rava9a; with the result that in A.D. 1818 the first civil day of the

Chaitradi year advanced to 6^th April. And, after various shiftings of the same

kindincluding in AD. 1822 an intercalation of A~vina and a suppression of

Pausha, followed in A.D. 1823, when the first civil day of the Chaitrfldi year

had fallen back to 13^th March, by an intercalation of Chaitra itselfin AD. 1834,

when the Meshasarhkrgnti occurred again.

MATERIAL FOR BA PART 2 PAPER 5

MATERIAL FOR MA PART 1