Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 2.djvu/127

 April, 1873.1 113 CALENDAR OF TIPU SULTAN. TABLE A. Months. Names. D;ivs in e «ch Corresponding Hindu months. Signs of tho Zodiac. 'Names of tho months according 1 Alnnedy ... 29 | Chaitra ! Meslia i Ahrnedy. 2 Bdhary ... 30 ! 1 VaisAkh 1 Vrishablia- Behan*. 3 j**** Ja’fury ... 30 ! Jaishtha j MithAna... TAqy. 4 ^S»lj la DarAy 29 Asliadlia Kataka ... i (jSJ+* Sumry. 5 y** Ia Hashemy . 29 ! Sravana Simha Ja’fury. 6 Wasa’y ... 30 Bhadrapada... Kanya ... Hydery. 7 1 ^ S Dzuburju dy 29 |, AswuyAja ... Tula  1 ! Khdsrowy. 8 ^ jAxa* Hydery ... 30 i Kartika  Vrishika... L5^ ** Deeny. ' 9 Tuluy  29 Margasirsha. . DhanAssA . Dzakiry. 10 ^•^Ynstffy ... 30 P Ashy a  Makara ... t^***,) R^hmanv. ii i ^5* 1 Izedy 29 | Magha 1 Kimbha... ^^Ij Radzy. 12 i ^ Byaszy 30 Phalgun Rubany. Colonel Kirkpatrick says :—“ Though the foregoing names are not absolutely unmeaning, yet they would not appear to have had any appropriate signification attached to them, with the exception of the first, called by one of the names of Muhammad, and of the eighth or Uydery, which might possibly have been so denominated in honour of the Sultan’s father, as Tuluy might likewise have Been in allusion to its being the month in which the Sulten himself was born.” With respect to the last column in the table, Colonel Kirkpatrick says that the first ar¬ rangement was after some time superseded by another; the Sultan having, as there is reason to believe, made a second reform of the calendar in A.D. 1787-88. The latter altera¬ tion would not appear to have extended further than to the substitution of new names for the months and years in the place of those first assigned to them. I have said that tho principle according to which the number of days is determined is peculiar. If the table be examined, it will be seen that while the last seven months consist of twenty-nino and thirty days alternately, accord¬ ing to the Muhammadan system, in the first five months that rule is not observed. It differs also from the HindA year, because the months of that always consist of thirty days, or rather tithis (frTf^f) as they call them. The point of interest in the names of the months is that the initial letter of each denotes its place in the calendar, according to the well- known notation called Ubjud, which as¬ signs a certain numerical power to every letter in the alphabet. There being no single letter to express either eleven or twelve, the first two letters of ts&yH Izedy and Bytszy added together denote the place of each respectively in the order of months. Thus (Alt/) I -f- if (yt) = 1 + 10 = 11, and (Be) V + Si* (yO = 2 + 10 = 12. The verse after the first word of which the notation is named, as well as the numerical power Assigned severally to the letters compos¬ ing it, is thus given in Richardson’s Dictionary under the word I Ubjud. ^♦1 S j j. A isr-J | Cjt£.COIO H o 00 M Ci 'iT ^ 03 tC m OOOO O A j L 3> i J k a «• O O 00 VI Ol ^ M to H OOO OOO COCO CO 00 N c; OOO OOO oooo oooo Richardson’s explanation of the word Ubjud is as .follows:—“The name of an arithmetical verse the letters of which have different powers from one to a thousand. This was probably the ancient order of the alphabet.” The verso itself is formed by just writing together the letters, in order of the Arabic alphabet, in groups of three or four or more, as in the first instance pleased the whim of the contriver. Each letter has a numerical signifi¬ cation attached to it, as is tho case in the Roman system of notation. This Ubjud nota¬ tion applies only to tho series of names first given by Tipii Sul&n to the months. The
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