[ 36 1 the reason given below, it is not easy, however, to satisfy one- self whether his ephemeris is correct, and how much confidence may be placed in it. For rough comparison, the places of the planets computed by him are shown below, together with their places, first according to the British Nautical almanac, and next according to a widely circulated Bengali almanac said to have been computed after the Súrya-Siddhánta, The correction for precession in the places given in the Bengali almanac has been made by adding 20° 54' to them in accordance with the almanac. Besides these, I append ephemeris for two other days from the Nautical almanac and the Siddhanta-Darpana. For various reasons, neither Chandrasekhara's, nor for that matter-any other Hindu almanac, can coincide with the Nau- tical almanac. Neglecting minor corrections unknown in our almanacs, there is the determination of the exact amount of precession, without which no comparison is possible with Ex- ropean almanacs. To avoid it, the relative distances of the planets may be taken. It will be seen that while the Bengali almanac may be in error by as much as 4°, the error in the ephemeris by the Siddhanta-Darpara is limited to halfa- degree. The reader will, however, remember that a Hindu astro- nonier depends upon unaided vision, and is satisfied if the longi- tudes are correct to a half degree. Accepting this as our stan- dard, the ephemerides by the Siddhánta-Darpane compare favourably with those of the N. A., while the greater discrepan- cies in the Bengali almanac conclusively prove how urgent has been the question of the revision of our existing almanaca in the light of observations now made. Digitized by Google
