376
 

ALBERUNPS INDIA.
 

Brahmagup¬
ta's harsh
criticisms
on Arya¬
bhata.
 

Different
lengths of
the solar
year.
 

theory; further, if he had not multiplied the product
by the years of a caturyuga, which gives the product of
1,866,240,000 years, and, moreover, had not multiplied
the number of the complete caturyugas which have
elapsed of the current manvantara by the years of a
single caturyuga, which gives the product of 116,640,000
years. Of the current caturyuga there have elapsed
three yugas, i.e. according to him, 3,240,000 years. The
latter number represents three-fourths of the years of a
caturyuga. He uses the same number when computing
the week-day of a date by means of the number of the
days of the here-mentioned number of years. If he
believed in the above-mentioned rule, he would use it
where it is required, and he would reckon the three
yitgas as nine-tenths of a caturyuga.

Now, it is evident that that which Brahmagupta re¬
lates on his authority, and with which he himself agrees,
is entirely unfounded ; but he is blind to this from sheer
hatred of Aryabhata, whom he abuses excessively. And
in this respect Aryabhata and Pulisa are the same to
him, I take for witness the passage of Brahmagupta
where he says that Aryabhata has subtracted something
from the cycles of the Caput Draconis and of the apsis
of the moon, and thereby rendered confused the com¬
putation of the eclipse. He is rude enough to compare
Aryabhata to a worm which, eating the wood, by chance
describes certain characters in it, without understanding
them and without intending to draw them, " He, how¬
ever, who knows these things thoroughly stands oppo¬
site to Aryabhata, Srishena, and Vishnucandra like the
lion against gazelles. They are not capable of letting
him see their faces." In such offensive terms he attacks
Aryabhata and maltreats him.

We have already mentioned (v. chap, xli.) how many
civil days (sdvana) a caturyuga has according to the
three scholars. Pulisa gives it 1350 days more than
Brahmagupta, but the number of years of a caturyuga