Page:A Historical View of the Hindu Astronomy.djvu/22

Rh assumes; that is to say, he assumes that the planets were in a line of mean conjunction at the beginning of the Kali Yuga, and from thence draws the motion that would give the position of the planet in his own time, agreeing with his observation. To make this matter plain, I will give an example.

Suppose that in A. D. 939, at the end of the year 4040 of the Kali Yuga, there were two astronomers making observations on the planet Venus at the same place, one being a European, the other a Hindu, and that they both found the place of the planet in the Hindu sphere to be then 2' 19° 55′ 12". The Hindu astronomer says to the European: "We must now find the mean annual motion that will give 'this position; and observes, that at the beginning of the Kali Yuga, the planets were all in a line of mean conjunction in the beginning of the Hindu sphere; consequently, that the mean annual motion of Venus, multiplied by 4040, the years then elapsed, must give the position, and therefore the mean motion must be=7' 15° 11′ 52′′8; for if this quantity be multiplied by 4040, it will produce 2° 19° 55′ 12′′." The European astronomer observes: "We have agreed in the actual position of Venus at the end of the year 4040 of the Kali Yuga, because it depends on actual observation made now by both of us; but the assumption that the planets were in a line of mean conjunction in the beginning of the Kali Yuga, I cannot admit to be true: for by our tables, which I