[ 42 ] get the required ayanámsa. Frem the Right Ascension and Declination of the star, & Pisciun, on the 13th April 1894, we get 18° 23' 49" as its longitude.* This is however, less than the amount obtained above. It is clear therefore that either the star Revati is not $ Piscium, or it did not mark the initial point. No doubt exists about the identity of the star, neither can we suppose all the Siddhántas false in their assertion. The latitudes and longitudes of thirty-four other stars are given in the Súrya-Siddhanta. They were not measured in the usual way. But from the express instructions as to the method of measurement adopted, we understand that the so-called longi. tudes, Dhruvas, are the longitudes of the Right Ascensions of the stars supposing then to be on the ecliptic, and that the latitudes (Vikshepas) are the distances, north or south, of the stars from the ecliptic, measured along the declination-circles passing through the stars. Now, taking only the 27 stars of the zodiac, and comparing their reduced Dhruvas with their present longi- tudes, we find ourselves confronted with a curious result. + The difference between the recorded and the present longitudes is not the same for every star. Indeed, it varies from about 189 to 24", Omitting Vis'ákhå, of which I am not certain, the mean difference of the longitudes of the stars of the first half of the zodiac, i. e. from As viní to Chitrá, is 21", while that of the stars
- The modera Súrya-Siddbánta gives 359° 50' as the longitude of the
star Revati. This would make the present ayanámša greater by 10' only. † I understand that Prof, Whitney bas discussed the point, and regret that I have no access to his edition of the Sárga-Siddhkuta at present, Digitized by Google
