गुप्त अभिलेख संग्रह (जे. एफ. फ्लीट - गुप्त सम्राटों एवं परवर्ती नरेशों के ऐतिहासिक पाषाण व ताम्रलेख)

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; APPENDIX II. 147
the Hindus from sunrise to sunrise. The vâra of the abdapa shews the week-day on
which the Mêsha-Saṁkrânti of the year fell. A ghaṭî, also ghaṭî and ghaṭikâ, is the
sixtieth division of a mean solar day and night; and it is, therefore, equal to twenty-four
English minutes. As a matter of convenience, the word ghaṭî is also used for the six-
tieth part of a tithi; but in that application it is not identical with the sixtieth division of a
solar day and night. A pala is the sixtieth division of a ghaṭî; and is, therefore, equal to
twenty-four English seconds. And the ghaṭîs and palas of the abdapa give the time after
sunrise, on the particular vâra, at which the Mêsha-Saṁkrânti took place. Thus, the abdapa
of Śaka-Saṁvat 0 expired, is given (opposite the entry Mêsha-Saṁkrântîchî vêḷ or
‘**time of the Mêsha-Saṁkrânti,’ p. 10) as 1 dina, 10 ghaṭîs, 10 palas; which indicates that
the Mêsha-Saṁkrânti then took place on Sunday, and 10 ghaṭîs and 10 palas, or four
hours and four minutes, after sunrise. The solar year adopted by Prof. K. L. Chhatre is
equal to 365 days, 15 ghaṭîs, 31·52 palas. Dividing 365 by 7 (the number of days in a
week), the remainder is 1. And so, if in one year the Sun enters Aries at the time of sun-
rise on a Sunday, then, in the following year, he will come to Aries on Monday, and
15 ghaṭîs, 31·5 palas, after sunrise. Therefore, the variation in the abdapa in one year
is given (p. 10, col. 3, under vâra) as 1 day, 15 ghaṭîs, 31·5 palas; the decimals being
supplied from column 2, in which is given the number of days, corresponding to the
number of years in column 1.
The word tithi denotes the thirtieth part of a lunation or lunar month; that is, as
applied to the ecliptic circle, it denotes exactly the one-thirtieth part of that circle, viz.
twelve degrees; but, taken as an apparent tithi, and applied to the period of a lunation, it
may be the exact thirtieth part of that period, or it may vary from fifty to sixty-six
ghaṭîs as subdivisions of a solar day. If the word tithi requires to be rendered into
English, it is best represented by ‘lunar day.’ Of the thirty tithis of each month, fifteen
belong to the bright fortnight, or period of the waxing moon, and fifteen to the dark
fortnight, or period of the waning moon. The fifteenth tithi of the bright fortnight is
called pûrṇimâ, pûrṇamâsî, or paurṇamâsî, lit. ‘that which has the full-moon, or that on
which the month is completed;’ and the fifteenth tithi of the dark fortnight is called
amâvâsyâ, lit. ‘that on which there is the dwelling-together (of the sun and moon).’ At
the end of the amâvâsyâ, the sun and the moon are together; that is, they have the same
longitude. When the moon, moving towards the east, leaves the sun behind by twelve
degrees of longitude, then ends the first tithi, which is technically called pratipad or
pratipadâ. So, a tithi is the time which the moon takes to out-go the sun by twelve
degrees. With the exception of the pratipadâ, the tithis are denoted by the regular
ordinal numerals, dvitîyâ, tṛitîyâ, &c., up to chaturdaśî, ‘the fourteenth.’ The pûrṇimâ
and amâvâsyâ are called sometimes by their own special names, and sometimes pañchadaśî,
‘the fifteenth;’ but the amâvâsyâ is generally entered in Pañchâṅgs as the thirtieth tithi,
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