Page:Sewell Dikshit The Indian Calendar (1896) proc.djvu/46

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THE INDIAN CALENDAR.

A.D. 1944, and possibly not till (141 years =) A.D. 1963.[1] (</) Mâgha is only once suppressed in Saka 1398 current, Mârgaśîrsha is suppressed six times, and Pausha 18 times. No other month is suppressed.

Bhâskarâchârya lays down[2] that Kârttika, Mârgaśîrsha and Pausha only arc liable to be suppressed, but this seems applicable only to the Brâhma-Siddhânta of which Bhâskarâchârya was a follower. He further states, "there was a suppressed month in the Śaka year 974 expired, and there will be one in Śaka 1115, 1256 and 1378 all expired", and this also seems applicable to the Brâhma-Siddhânta only. By the Sûrya-Siddhânta there were suppressed months in all these years except the last one, and there was an additional suppression in Saka 1180 expired.

Gaṇeśa Daivajña, the famous author of the Grahalâghava (A.D. 1520), as quoted by his grandson, in his commentary on the Siddhânta-Siromaṇi, says, "By the Sûrya-Siddhânta there will be a suppressed month in Śaka 1462, 1603, 1744, 1885, 2026, 2045, 2148, 2167, 2232, 2373, 2392, 2514, 2533, 2655, 2674, 2796 and 2815, and by the Ârya-Siddhânta[3] there will be one in 1481, 1763, 1904, 2129, 2186, 2251 (all expired)." The first four by Sûrya calculations agree with our results.

51. By the pûrṇimânta scheme. Notwithstanding that the pûrṇimânta scheme of months is and was in use in Northern India, the amânta scheme alone is recognized in the matter of the nomenclature and intercalation of lunar months and the commencement of the luni-solar year. The following is the method adopted—first, the ordinary rule of naming a month is applied to an amânta lunar month, and then, by the pûrṇimânta scheme, the dark fortnight of it receives the name of the following month. The correspondence of amânta and pûrṇimânta fortnights for a year is shown in Table II., Part i., and it will be observed that the bright fortnights have the same name by both schemes while the dark fortnights differ by a month, and thus the pûrṇimânta scheme is always a fortnight in advance of the amânta scheme.

The saṅkrântis take place in definite amânta lunar months, thus the Makara-saṅkrânti invariably takes place in amânta Pausha, and in no other month; but when it takes place in the kṛishṇapaksha of amânta Pausha it falls in pûrṇimânta Magha, because that fortnight is said to belong to Magha by the pûrṇimânta scheme. If, however, it takes place in the sukla paksha, the month is Pausha by both schemes. Thus the Makara-sankranti, though according to the amânta scheme it can only fall in Pausha, may take place either in Pausha or Magha by the pûrṇimânta scheme; and so with the rest.

The following rules govern pûrṇimânta intercalations. Months are intercalated at first as if there were no pûrṇimânta scheme, and afterwards the dark fortnight preceding the intercalated month receives, as usual, the name of the month to which the following natural bright fortnight belongs, and therefore the intercalated month also receives that name. Thus, in the example given above (Art. 45), intercalated amânta Vaiśâkha (as named by the first rule) lies between natural amânta Chaitra and natural amânta Vaiśâkha. But by the pûrṇimânta scheme the dark half of natural amânta Chaitra acquires the name of natural Vaiśâkha; then follow the two fortnights of adhika Vaiśâkha; and after them comes the bright half of the (nija) natural pûrṇimânta

  1. ↑ This relation of intervals is a distinct assistance to calculation, as it should lead us to look with suspicion on any suppression of a month which docs not conform to it.
  2. ↑ See the Siddhânta-Siromaṇi, Madhyamâdhikâra. Bhâskara wrote in Śaka 1073 (A.D. 1150). He did not give the names of the suppressed months.
  3. ↑ I have ascertained that Gaṇeśa has adopted in his Grahalâghava some of the elements of the Ârya-Siddhânta as corrected by Lalla's bîja, and by putting to test one of the years noted I find that in these calculations also the Ârya-Siddhânta as corrected by Lalla's bîja was used. Gaṇeśa was a most accurate calculator, and I feel certain that his results can be depended upon. [S. B. D.]
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