I
Uhap. I.]
INDIAN ASTRONOMY.
19
that, while recorded actual observations by the astronomers of India cannot be bc. carried farther back than the sixth century A.D., their science had prol)ably made some progress 200 years before there was any mention of astronomy in Greece.
Indian
Interior of the Bisma Kurm, Elloua.— From Elliott's Views in In<lia
One of the most pregnant facts on which this conclusion is founded, is the remarkable coincidence between the signs of the zodiac in the Indian and Ai-ab ^<>^^- systems — a coincidence which, while it proves that they must have had ii common origin, cannot be ex- plained without admitting that the Intlian system has the better title to be regarded as the original.
While there is thus abundant evidence to show that India must have received its first inhabitants at no distant period after the dis- I)ersion of the human race, and be- ^ come one of the first cradles of civilization, no distinct dates are ob- tained; and consequently the history of the country cannot be said to be- gin tiU we qiut its own soil, and apply for information to the WTiters of the West, who for the most pait follow some sort of chronological order, and Foreign
_eyen when they indulge in fable, have generally some foundation in fact. The informa- tion.
^ Figa. 1-12 are the signs of the Zodiac, a, The node. ?', Dragon's Tail, or descending node. Thecentre Sun. 6, The Moon, r, Mars. (/.Mercury, e, Jupiter. is the earth, surrounded by the sea, marked with the /.Venus. £/, Saturn. A, Dragon's Head, or ascending four carilinal i>oints, E. (w), W. (x). N. (y), S. (z).
6 ^^i^:^ K,^?-*^^ ^ Oriental Zodiac. — Maurice's Historvof Hindostan.'
