It has, however, been observed that no two current almanac agres in their computations. A fierce controversy is going on between the conservatives and the liberals in Hindu India about the correction of almanacs, and therefore about the date of the Siddhintay. The orthodox of the Hindu community refuse to believe in the existence of errory that have crept into the figures of the old Siddhántas in course of time. To use the foreign Nautical Almanac to regulate the religious observances is out of the question. Any correction, if necessary, must come from within, from a Hindu uninfluenced by foreign education. It is not for Europe, with all her brilliant scientific discoveries and wonderful inventions of labout-saving machinery, to take the place of the old Rishis, whose hallowed names are associated with every department of useful knowledge. Europe may be our guide in matters temporal, but must not dictate a word in matters spiritual. Materially, a Hindu is hardly a Hindu of old days, though spiritually, I believe, he is still the same. · The value of the Siddhanta-darpana, the work of an orthodox Hindu, shewing errors in our current almanaca, cannot thus be Gyer-rated. Here is a man who has practically tested the ele ments hitherto followed, and found reasons for correction. And he has authority for doing so from the honoured Rishis, who have given their sanction to the adoption of such corrections as may be necesary for the purpose of making calculation agree with observation. • The influence which Chandrasekhara's work has already exerted upon society is not inconsiderable. Some twenty-three years ago, a meeting of learned Panditas and Hindu astronomers Digitized by Google
