180

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 fre quently mentioned, there is no further reference to

for neither their Indian names, nor the deities associated with them, afford the smallest ex planation of such relations.

the Zodiac.” And therefore the suspicion natural

aspect of the question, as to the time when the

ly suggests itself, that the particulars regarding the horoscope of the nativity were introduced at a later period by zealous astrologers, who were an xious both to obtain and to impart exact informa tion regarding an event of so great importance.t But even if we refrain, on account of this uncer tainty, from insisting on the validity of the in ferences 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

poem was composed, I beg in the third place to call attention to the fact that in the Ramayana, Ceylon" is never called Tâmraparni or Siâhala (or—though it is true that this was hardly to be looked for—Pálisimanta)," by which names

other astronomical matters furnish also at least

there are also frequent references to the planets;

with (except in the Mahavanso—p. 47, for in stance) for the first time in an Atharvaparis ishta (in the Kūrmavibhāga ; and indeed in the form Laſikāpuri associated with Siúhalást) and next

and we know that the Indian astronomers ac

in Aryabhata, Varāhamihira, &c.—The geograph

quired their knowledge of the planets at a comparatively late period—considerably subse quent, at least, to the dates hitherto assigned to the Ramayana—the first mention of them occurring in the Atharvaparis ishta and in Yaj

ical horizon of the Ramayana (which may also be referred to here) is naturally more extensive

some support to the opinion already indicated.

For, besides the mention of the nakshatra,t

Reverting now to what I have said under the first head, regarding the politico-geographical

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 Indico pleustes),--but that throughout the poem it is designated only by the name Lañkä, which was unknown to the Greeks, and which we meet

than that of the Mahabharata, inasmuch as the

the Indian astronomers were indebted to the

original story of the latter confines itself to the de scription of a battle in Hindostan, while the Rama yana carries us as far south as to Ceylon. But it has already been remarked by others, that the Ra mayana shows by no means an exact acquaintance with the geography of the Dekhan. : It is evi dent, on the other hand, from passages here and there, that the poet possessed a special acquain tance with the North-West of India. This appears,

Greeks for their knowledge of the planets;

for instance, in the episode of Visvāmitra (vide

navalkya [I. 294 f. J.S. And the peculiar rela tions which exist, just in those oldest passages in which the planets are mentioned, between Mars and War, between Mercury and Com merce, between Jupiter and Sacrificial Ritual, appear to point with certainty to the fact that

• . Even in

second passage, although one of the zodiacal signs is mentioned in Schlegel's edition, and with reference to the nativity (II. 15, 3, lagne karkatake präpte janma [sic!]. Rámasya chasthite), yet the Bengal recen sion has nothing corresponding, but merely (II. 12, 3, tasminn ahani pushyena some yogam upāgate.)

• It is perfectly evident that we have to do here with

a purely arbitrary guessing at the time and not with an the

Cf, however, Manu, I. 24; VII, 121. Regarding the late period at which mention is made of the planets in Indian writers, see Ind. Stud. II., 240, 242; IX. 363; X. 240, Omina und Portenta, p. 339, 340; Jyotisha, p. 10. Re garding the recent origin of the verse in the Yajus-recension of the Jyotisha, in which the Zodiac and Jupiter are men tioned, see my Treatise on that work, p. 11, 22; and on a assage ascribed to Baudhayana, see my Abh. iiber die

actual date. Seemy Abh. iiber die Naksh. I. 288. Bentley,

Naksh. II. 358.

among others, has also attempted to calculate from Rāma's

| Wide Ind. Stud. VIII, 413. X, 319.

• Wide Lassen, Ind. Alt. I. 200-201. Gorresio, Introd.

to vol. I. p. c.

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 f.). Guérin, in his Astronomie Indienne, p. 238, fixes the latter event more exactly as having taken

place in 105 A.D. The notices regarding the horoscope do indeed furnish a certain groundwork for calculations re garding the latter event; but they can hardly be used for

-

The name of the rākshasi Sinhikā, on the island be

tween Ceylon and the mainland, IV. 41, 38, W. 8.1 Gorr, appears to contain a play upon the name Sinhala. t Wide Verz. der S. H. der Ber, Bibl., p. 93.

t. An excellent opportunity offered itself for showing such an acquaintance in the description of the regions to be

this purpose ad amussim, so as to determine exactly the

visited by the messengers sent out by Sugriva (IV. 40, 17 ff.

precise year in question (compare what is said e. g. in the

which they occur—and not on the time at which the Rama

Gorr.)—This digvijaya of the Rāmāyana deserves to re ceive special treatment (cf. Hall's Edition of Wilson's Vish nup. II, 146 ft.), Gorresio's Text and the Bombay edition differ materially in this matter: A C follow Gorr., in the !yana itself was composed. Wide e. g. I. #. 71, Gºr.” 24. 72, 13; V. 55,t1, 2,73, 1535, ‘’’ II.4, “” 20, “ 21, ” Schl. :; V

the island of Java, IV. 40, 30 (cf. Kern, Introd. to the Brihats. p. 40) they read Jaladvipa (A, owing to a clerical

Ind. Stud. X. 233 ff., regarding what is essentially the same Besides, the notices referred to have after all a bearing only on those texts (that is, manuscripts) in

calculation).

niain; in this respect, for instance that instead of Yavadvipa,

error, has only Jadvipa).