Page:Sewell Dikshit The Indian Calendar (1896) proc.djvu/9

This Volume is designed for the use, not only of those engaged in the decypherment of Indian inscriptions and the compilation of Indian history, but also of Judicial Courts and Government Offices in India. Documents bearing dates prior to those given in any existing almanack are often produced before Courts of Justice as evidence of title; and since forgeries, many of them of great antiquity, abound, it is necessary to have at hand means for testing and verifying the authenticity of these exhibits. Within the last ten years much light has been thrown on the subject of the Indian methods of time-reckoning by the publications of Professor Jacobi, Dr. Schram, Professor Kielhorn, Dr. Fleet, Pandit Śaṅkara Bâlkṛisṇna Dîkshit, and others; but these, having appeared only in scientific periodicals, are not readily accessible to officials in India. The Government of Madras, therefore, desiring to have a summary of the subject with Tables for ready reference, requested me to undertake the work. In process of time the scheme was widened, and in its present shape it embraces the whole of British India, receiving in that capacity the recognition of the Secretary of State for India. Besides containing a full explanation of the Indian chronological system, with the necessary tables, the volume is enriched by a set of Tables of Eclipses most kindly sent to me by Dr. Robert Schram of Vienna.

In the earlier stages of my labours I had the advantage of receiving much support and assistance from Dr. J. Burgess (late Director-General of the Archæological Survey of India) to whom I desire to express my sincere thanks. After completing a large part of the calculations necessary for determining the elements of Table I., and drawing up the draft of an introductory treatise, I entered into correspondence with Mr. Śaṅkara Bâlkṛisṇna Dîkshit, with the result that, after a short interval, we agreed to complete the work as joint authors. The introductory treatise is mainly his, but I have added to it several explanatory paragraphs, amongst others those relating to astronomical phenomena.

Tables XIV. and XV. were prepared by Mr. T. Lakshmiah Naidu of Madras.

It is impossible to over-estimate the value of the work done by Dr. Schram, which renders it now for the first time easy for anyone to ascertain the incidence, in time and place, of every solar eclipse occurring in India during the past 1600 years, but while thus briefly noting his services in the cause of science, I cannot neglect this opportunity of expressing to him my gratitude for his kindness to myself.