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The first record of the succeeding period, called the Siddhanta Jyotisha by Diksit, is known from ca. A.D. 400. During the reign of the Saka and Kushana rulers (ca. 100 B.C.A.D. 200), knowledge of Greco-Chaldean astronomy entered into India via Seleucid Babylon. In the period 4001200 A.D., virtually all of India used calendars based on the Siddhanta Jyotisha system. |
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In particular, Indian astronomers settled on the Saka era as a base for the calculations. The use of the Saka era for date recording was generally confined to the South, while regnal year systems were in place generally. Annual calendars were compiled according to the rules promulgated by the three common prayer books or Siddhantas the Surya Siddhanta, the Arya Siddhanta, and the Brahma Siddhanta which did not differ in their essentials. |
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About A.D. 1200, India was invaded by Islamic conquerors, who brought the lunar Hegira calendar with them. |
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Emperor Akber initiated the Tarikh-Ilahi, a modified Persian solar calendar, in A.D. 1584, but this system fell into disuse by A.D. 1630. |
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British rule began in A.D. 1757, and the Gregorian calendar was inaugurated in India for civil and administrative purposes. |
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In this section, I discuss some of the early Indian calendars and trace the development of some ideas that appear in them. |
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9.6.1.2.1
The Vedic Age Calendar |
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The traditional early age for Indian literature is about 1200 B.C. when the Vedic hymns were composed. The Rig Veda and later works were composed in successive periods. Among the later works are the Vedangas, which are a kind of post-Vedic aphorism literature. The orthodox view has six Vedangas, of which the last is the Vedanga Jyotisha, the subject of which is astronomy. |
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References are found in this work to a year of 12 months and to a year of 720 day-and-night pairs, implying a year of 360 days and months of 30 days. Other lines refer to a year of three seasons, implying seasons of four months. More cryptic references may indicate that an intercalary month was known and may mention the use of a period of 12 days as the difference between a solar year of 366 days and a lunar year of 354 days. There is at least one reference to a period larger than a year, a yuga of five years. |
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The term "yuga" appears throughout Indian literature as meaning "a period of an integral number of years in which certain astronomical events recur". Yugas of many different lengths are known. |
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