Indian Antiquary Vol 01

SR No.: 032493
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 430
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JUNE 7, 1872.
and in the Bombay editions. It is certainly re- markable, however, that throughout the remainder of the work, so far at least as I can at present remember, although astronomical facts are -frequently mentioned, there is no further reference to the Zodiac. And therefore the suspicion naturally suggests itself, that the particulars regarding the horoscope of the nativity were introduced at a later period by zealous astrologers, who were anxious both to obtain and to impart exact informa- tion regarding an event of so great importance. But even if we refrain, on account of this uncertainty, from insisting on the validity of the inferences which might otherwise be legitimately drawn from the mention of the Zodiacal signs, and do not therefore press their bearing on the question as to the time at which the Ramayana was composed, yet the notices in the poem of other astronomical matters furnish also at least some support to the opinion already indicated. For, besides the mention of the nakshatra, there are also frequent references to the planets; and we know that the Indian astronomers acquired their knowledge of the planets at a comparatively late period considerably subsequent, at least, to the dates hitherto assigned to the Ramayana—the first mention of them occurring in the Atharvaparis'ishta and in YajDavalkya (I. 294 ff.]. And the peculiar relations which exist, just in those oldest passages in which the planets are mentioned, between Mars and War, between Mercury and Commerce, between Jupiter and Sacrificial Ritual, appear to point with certainty to the fact that the Indian astronomers were indebted to the Greeks for their knowledge of the planets ;
for neither their Indian names, nor the deities associated with them, afford the smallest explanation of such relations.
Reverting now to what I have said under the first head, regarding the politico-geographical aspect of the question, as to the time when the poem was composed, I bey in the third place to call attention to the fact that in the Ramayana, Ceylon is never called Tâmraparņi or Sinhala
or-though it is true that this was hardly to be looked fer-Pálisimanta), by which names alone the island was known to the Greeks (Taprobane in the earliest times, Palaesimundu at the time of the Periplus, Salike or Sielediba in the time of Ptolemy and of Kosmas Indicoplenstes),--but that throughout the poem it is designated only by the name Laika, which was unknown to the Greeks, and which we moet with (except in the Mahavanso-p. 47, for instance) for the first time in an Atharvaparis'ishta (in the Karmavibhaga ; and indeed in the form Lankapur associated with Sinhalást) and next in Aryabhata, Varahamihira, &c.-The geographical horizon of the Ramayana (which may also be referred to here) is naturally more extensive than that of the Mahabharata, inasmuch as the original story of the latter confines itself to the description of a battle in Hindostan, while the Rumayana carries us as far south as to Ceylon. Butit has already been remarked by others, that the Ramayana shows by no means an exact acquaintance with the geography of the Dekhan. It is evident, on the other hand, from passages here and there, that the poet possessed & special acquaintance with the North-West of India. This appears, for instance, in the episode of Vis'vamitra (vide
• Even in the second passage, although one of the zodiacal signs is mentioned in Schlegel's edition, and with reference to the nativity (II. 15, 8, lagae karkatake prâpte janma (sic!) Ramasya cha sthite), yet the Bengal recension has nothing corresponding, but merely (11. 12, 8, tasminn ahani pushyena gome yogam upagato.)
+ It is perfectly evident that we have to do here with purely arbitrary guessing at the time and not with an actual date. See my Abh. über die Naksh. I. 288. Bentley, among others, has also attempted to calculate from Rama's | horoscope the year in which he was born, the result being the year 940 B. C.--and for the time of the composition of the Ramayana the year 295 A. D. (Hindu Astronomy, London, 1825, p. 14 ff.). Guérin, in bis Astronomie Indienne, p. 288, fixes the latter event more exactly as having taken Dlace in 105 A. D. The notices regarding the horoscope do indeed furnish certain groundwork for calculations regarding the latter event; but they can hardly be used for this purpose ad amurim, so as to determine exactly the precise year in question (compare what is said e. 8. in the Zad. Stud. X. 283 ff., regarding what is essentially the same calculation). Besides, the notices referred to have after all a bearing only on those texts (that is, manuscripts) in which they occur and not on the time at which the Ramayana itself was composed.
1 Vide.e. g. . 71, 24. 72, 18; II. 4, 20, 21, Schl.; V. 55, 1, 2, 78, 15, 56, f., Gorr.
6. Cf, however, Manu, I. 94 ; VII, 121. Regarding the late period at which mention is made of the planets in Indian writers, see Ind. Stud. II., 240, 242; IX. 868; X. 240, Omina und Portenta, p. 889, 840 Jyotisha, p. 10. Regarding the recent origin of the verse in the Yajm-recension of the Jyotisha, in which the Zodiac and Jupiter are mentioned, soe my Treatise on that work, p. 11,22; and on passage ascribed to Baudhayana, soe my Abh. über die Nalesh, II. 368.
Vide Ind. Stud. VIII, 418. X, 819. 1 Vide Lassen, Ind. Al. I. 200-201. Gorresio, Introd. to vol. I. p. c.
. The name of the rakshaaf Siöhiki, on the island between Ceylon nd the mainland, IV. 41, 88, V. 8. 1 Gorr. appears to contain a play upon the name Sinhala + Vide Verz, der 8. H. der Ber, Bibl., p. 98.
An excellent opportunity offered itself for showing such an acquaintance in the description of the regions to be visited by the messengers sent out by Sagrtva (IV. 40, 17 ft. Gorr.)-This digvijaya of the Ramdyana deserve to receive special treatment (cf. Hall's Edition of Wilpon's Vishrup. II, 146 ff.), Gorresio's Text and the Bombay edition differ materially in this matter : AC follow Gorr., in the main; in this respect, for instance that instead of Yavadvipe, the island of Java, IV. 40, 80 (cf. Kem. Introd..to the Brihats. p. 40) they read Jaladvipa (A, owing to a clerical error, has only Jadvipa).