(     152     )
 

OHAPTEK  XIV.
 

Times un¬
favourable
to the
progi-ess of
science.'
 

On the
Siddhantas.
 

HINDU  LITERATURE  IN   THE   OTHER  SCIENCES,
ASTRONOMY,   ASTROLOGY,   ETC.

The number of sciences is great, and it may be still
greater if the public mind is directed towards them at
such times as they are in the ascendancy and in general
favour with all, when jjeople not only honour science
itself, but also its representatives. To do this is, in the
first instance, the duty of those who rule over them, of
kings and princes. For they alone could free the minds
of scholars from the daily anxieties for the necessities
of life, and stimulate their energies to earn more fame
and favour, the yearning for which is the pith and mar¬
row of human nature.

The present times, however, are not of this kind.
They are the very opposite, aud therefore it is quite
impossible that a new science or any new kind of
research should arise in our days. What we have of
sciences is nothing but the scanty remains of bygone
better times.

If a science or an idea has once conquered the whole
earth, every nation appropriates part of it. So do also
the Hindus. Their belief about the cyclical revolutions
of times is nothing very special, but is simply in accord¬
ance with the results of scientific observation.

The science of astronomy is the most famous among
them, since the affairs of their religion are in various
ways connected with it. If a man wants to gain the
title of an astronomer, he must not only know scientific