An Account of the Bramin's Observatory at Benares. By Sir Robert Barker, Knt. F. R. S.; In aLetter to Sir John Pringle, Bart. P. R. S.Author(s): Robert BarkerSource: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Vol. 67 (1777), pp. 598-607Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/106254 .

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tE 498 ]

XXX. An Accoxnt-of tbe Bramis ObfertaXory at Benares. By Sir Robert Barker, Knt. F. R. S.; in a Letter to sS8ir John P$ingle, Bart P. R. S.

S I Ax

tead May 29s 12 E NARES in the EaR Indies one of tlie

1777* principal feminaries of the Bramins or

prieRs of the origunal Gentoos of Hindoflcan, ontinues I'till to be the place of refiQrt of that fed of people; and there are many publick charities, hofpitaIs, and pagodas, where fome thouIinds of them F1OW refide.

Hanag frequently heard tllat the ancient Bramins had a

knowledge of afl:tonomyX and being confirmed in this by their infountion of an approachitlg eclipi both of the Sun and Moon, I made inqtliry, when at that place in the year w77 2 among the princlpal Bramins, to endea- vour to get fome information relative to the manner in <

which they were acquainted of an approaching eclipSe. The moR intelligent that I couId meet with, however, gave me l>ut little fatisfaXtion. I was told, that thefe matters were confined to a few, who nvere in poIIeffilon of cenain books and records; fome contailling the myI^-

teries

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Sir ROf-ERT BARKEvS Arcoant, Cc 599 tEnes of their reeligton, and others the tables of afcro- nomical ob:"ations, written in the SkanikilTit lan- guagew which few underfl:ood but themfelves: that they would take me to a pla which had been confirudred-for the p=s?ofe of making fuch obServations as I was in- quiring ;er, and from whence they fuppofed the leamed Bramins made theirs. I was then conduEted to a-n cxent building of Rone, the lower part of which, iru itS

prefent fituation, was conarerted into a Ilcable for; horfes, md ra receptacle for lwnber; bolt, by the number of murt-yards and apartments, it appeared that it muflc once have ien an edifice for the ufe of fome public body of people. We entered this building, and went up a icair- cafe to the top of a pat of st, near to the nver Gangess that led to a large terrace, where, to my furpuze and fatisfadtion, I faw a number of infiuments yet remain- ing, in the greatek prefenation, Rupendoully large, im- maveable from the fpot, andl built of Rone, fome of theln besng upwards of twenty feet in helght; and, althou« they are faid to have been ereEted tro hundred years ago, ie graduations and divlf}ons on the feveral arcs ap- zared as well cut, and as accurately divided, as if they hall been the perform;ance of a modern artiS. The exe- cution in the conficruEtion of tHefe infiruments exhibited a nzathematical exadtnefs in the fixing, bearirlg, anct

fitting

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60 0 - Sir ROBERY BARKEfS Xcmrn} of

fitting of the fevfri par£s, it-the ry d ftsfficient fxtppeffls ++. the arery large §oue6 that wropoid thSems and itl ie join3ng and faflcening cach wto ̂ :the other by means 0f lead ;md srono

Th- Situation i ti two Iarga qmdmnY af ;tbe iriS --nzst mjrkad A m the iXt plaZ, whofe radi; is ntne fs.twnwshes, by iegbeing at.rig:tit mglBs wii a gnomf)ti at ;twetlty-five degrges elevationw te throws into fsich au£ibliqlle Iituation-= to rerLdx .the moR dffimltnotilyso rud:of fuch a magn;tzde, but to fxure.in;lthExr.^ition forio long a period, atld affards a WilCiIlg snSanw of the ability of the architedit in theit

. .

flcrsl; for, by the fhadDs of.the gnol:non thrown vn the quadiantS they & DOtX tQ have aItered in the lea**om-their onginal - fi*rxi, and fo true is the line .cxf the gnomon, thai, lvy applying the eye to a fmall

n nng of an inch ilieter at one end, the flght is camed.th$h iree o.thexs of the fame (lnetaflon to *e-exbimit at-the other endw diftant thirtyzight ?feet aght inches, without obRrution; fu¢h is tlie firmnefs and art with which thz ilnllmerit has been executed This performaisce is the more wonderful and. extraori dinary hen comparefl with ie llrorks of the ;irtificers of Ilinklolh-n at this days who axIe sot under the ilumediate

direXt-ion

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the Bramins Opervatory vt Benares. 60t

dired?cion of an Europeall mechanic; but art-s appear to have declined equally with Science irl the EaR.

Lieutenant-colonel ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL, at that time chief engineer in the Eaflc India Comparly's ferarice at Bengal, a gentleman whofe abilities do honour to hls profeon, made a perfpedrive drawing of the whole of the apparatlls that could be brought within his eye at one view; but I lament he could not reprefent fome rery large quadrants, whofe radii wers ahout twersty feet, they being on tho f}dc from whence he twk his drawing. Their defcription ho5vever is, tht they are exaA quarters of circles of different radii, the largefc of which I judged to be tsventy feet, confcruEted- very exaEtly ors the fldes of Sone walls built perpendi_ cular, and fituated, I fuppofe, in the meridian of the place: a brafs-pin is fixed at the center or angle of the quadrant, from whence, the 13ramin informed me, they firetched a vire to the circumference when an ob fervation was to be made; from which it occurred to -meX the obServer mutt have nzoved his eye up or dowrl the circumference by means of a ladder or fome fuch contrivance, to raife and lower himfelf, until he had dif- vered the altitude of any of the heavealy bodies in theirpaffiage over themeridian, fo expreiEed-orl the arcsof thefe quadrants: theSe arcs were very exaAly divided into

Vo; LXVIIX + I nine

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6o > R"ERY BARKEfi Acexntp #

nine large fedrions; eath of which again into ten, maklilg ninety leXer dmElons; or degrees; and thofe alfo into twenty expreffing three minutes each, of about two ths of an inch afunder; 1b that it is probable,. they had fome method of dividing even thefe into more mi- nute divifxns atothe time of obServation.*

My time would mly permit me to take down the par- tigulat dimeMons of the moR capqtal mRrement or the greater equirloEtiaI SunZial, repreSsnted by figllre A,

plate X 2. which apptvs tO bC ^1} sllmEnt tO -a

folar time by the {hadow of a pornon upon two qua drants one fituated to tlit eaIt, and the other to the weR of it; and mdeedthe chiefpart of their inRa}ments at thiv place appear to i conRruEted for the Iime pllrpofb, ex-* cept the quadrants and a braS infirumento that will be defcribed hereafter.

Figure R is anoths-inI}rument for the purpoIE of de- termining the exadt hour of the day by the Ihadow of a

gnomon, svhich itands Brpend}cular to and in the cen-- ter of a flat circular itone, ipported in an oblique fitua- tion by means of four upright Xnes and a croS-pece; b that the Jlladow of the gnomcn, which is a perpendia cular iton rod, is thrown upon the divifions of the circle deXibed on the fie of the flat, circular fl£one

- r Figre

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tbe Bramin's ObWerq:aboty at Benarese ;6o3-

Figure G iS a brafs circle, abowlt two feet diameter, moving vertically ulpxl twofpivots between two -Izcone pillarsX having an indes or hand turning round horizoxw-

tally on the center of this circle, which is difirided irlto

360 parts; but there are no counter diviflons on the ndex to fub-(livide thofe on the circleX This inkrument

appears to be made for takirlg the angle of a flcar at fet- ting or rirlng, or for tahng the azimuth or arnplitude-of the Sun at rifing or fettingw

The uSe of the infctutnent, fiqure , I was a a- lofs to account for It coxwfiAs of two circular ralls; the outer of which is about forty feet diameter? and eight Seet high; the wall within about half that height, arsd ap- pears interlded for a place to Rand on to obferve the divi- fions on the upper circle of the outer wall, rather than for arly other purpofe; and yet both circles are div;ided into 360 degrees, each degree being fub-divsided intsa twerxty leXer di+7ifions, the fame as the quadrarlts. There z a door-way to pafs into the inner circlet arld a pillar in the center, of the fame height with the lo^rer circle, having a hole in it, being the center of both eircles, and feems to be a focket for an iron rod to -be placed perperl- dicular into it. The diviflons onz thefe, as well as all the other iEwIzcrumersts, will bear a rxice exarninatiou wsth a pair of compaXes.

4I 2 Figure

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6oX Sir SOBERY BARKER'S XccoN"t of

bre E is a fmaller eqliinoNal Sun-dial, cohfcrutted upon the fame principle as the large one A.

I cannot quit this fubjeEt without obServing, that the Braxnins, without the affilPrance of optical glafl es, had neverthelefs an advantage unexperienced by the ob- ferarers of the more Northern climates. The ferensty- and clearnefi of the atEnofphere in the night-time in the Eafi Indies7 except at the feaSons of thanging the mon- fns or perMical winds, is difficult to expreSs to thofe wi have- not- feen its becatlSe we have nothing in com- parlfons to form our ideas upon: it is clear to perfidrions sP

total quietude fubrlIlcs, fcarcely a cloud t} be feen; and the light of the heavens, by the numerous awearance of ie kars, affords a profpedc both of wonder and cont tmbplation.

This obServatory at Bentes is- fiid to have been bllile lXy the order of the emperor ACKBhR; fOZ as this wife

rince en(leavoured to improve the arts fo he wiShed alSo b recover-the ilences of Hindoflcan, and therefore dz rded that three Iiich places ihould be ereEted; one at llelhiy another at Ag*ra and the third;at Benares.

S.ome donibes have arifers with regard to the certainty of the-ancient Bramins having a ltnowledge in aRro- nomy, and rhether the Perflans might not have irltroo iced it into HTnS1QflCan when conquer by that peol31e e

but

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he Bramin's Obfier sabory a Benares. 605

but thefe doubts I think muR vaniCh, when we know that the prefent Bramins pronounce, from the records and tables which have been handed down to them by their forefathers, the approach of the eclipfes of the Sun and Moon, and regularly as they advance give timely sn- formation to the emperor and the princes in wheSe do- minion they refide. There are yet fome remains in evi- dence of their being at one time -in poXeIElon of this fcience. The figns of the zodiac, in fome of their Choultrys on the coaRc n-f (4oromandel, as remarked by 30HN CALLX efq. F. R. S. in his letter to ffie A*ronomer Royal; requires little other confirmation. Mr. CALL fays that as he was laying on his back, reIting himfelf in the heat of the day, in a Choultry at Verdapetah n the Ma- dura country, near Cape Commoriny he d}fcourered the figns of the zodiac on the cielirig of the Choultry: that he found onej equally compleat, which was on the ael ing of a temple} in the middle o£ a Tank before t-he pa- goda-Teppecolum near Slndurah; and that he had ofien met with teve-ral parts in detached pieces. See PhiloR TranI:. I 7 7 2 p. 3 5 3. Thefe buildings and temples were the places of refidence and worIhipef the original Bramins and bear the markss of great antiqllity, harring pethaps been built before the Perrlan conqueIt Befides, when we knosr that the manners- and cuflcoms of the (;entoo

rel}gion

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60 6 Sir ROBER.T BARKE§ Xccount of religion are fuch as to preclude them from admtt;ng the frnalleR irmevatiorx in their inRitutions; when wq alfo know that -their faXon irl drefs, and the mode of their livring, harrenot received the leail variation from the earliefc account we have of them; it carmot be fup pof-ed they would engrave the fymbolical figures of the Perf1an aflcronomy in their facred temples; the f0g2ls of the sodiac muflc therefore have onginated with them, if we credit their tradition of the pllrity of their reli lon and cufioms.

Mr. FRASER, in his Hcory of the Mogul Emperors, fpeakirg of tirne fays, " the Lunar year they reckon " 354 daysZ 52 gurris, I pUll; the Solar year they 6 reckon 365 daysw IS gUrriS, 3Q pUllS, 52^ peels; 60 cs peels making I pUll, 60 pulls I gurri, and 60- gurris sC I days This is accordirlg to the Bramins or Indian " prieflcs, and- what the Moguls and other Mahomme- 4' dans irl Irldia chiefly go by."

Thus far Mr. FRASER; and it lWerves to Mcrengthen the argument for fuppofing that the Bramins had a know- ledge of afcronomy before the introduEtion of Maho metaniEm into Hindofican.

Dimenrlons

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be Bramin's ObJy 4 Benares 6o}

Dimenfiotls of the larger @quinodtial Sun-dial, plate$ t3! and 14,

Feet. In.

Length Of che gmmOn! a;t the bafe bbv 34 8

Oblique length of the-gnomon cc, - 38 - 8

lladius of the quadrants va, - g 5:

Height of the gnomon at d, -- - 2 z 3

Breadth of-the quadrants ff, - ^ I- 5- IO

ThickneEs gg, - _ r O

Breadth of tslle gnomon hby - - 4 6 NVhole extent of the infirument ii, - 37 4

lLatitude of theb place takexl by double altitude !L5Q I O .-

I1 am, &c.

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