20. COINCIDENCE WITH THE SURYASIDDHANTA
FIXED INITIAL POINT
By Indian tradition the fixed initial point is very close to the star
zeta Piscium. The
Indian Astronomical Ephemeris For The Year 1981 gives the position
of zeta Piscium on 1.432 January 1981 as 19° 36' 40."64 ecliptic longitude.
According to the SuryaSiddhanta modern commentary, the initial point of the sidereal sphere coincided with the mean vernal equinox after year 3600 of the kaliyuga (499 A.D.) had expired and the annual precession is given as 54". Therefore, at the kaliyuga epoch the fixed initial point of the SuryaSiddhanta sidereal sphere was at
At the kaliyuga epoch, the full Moon point of the fixed initial point of Hindu cosmological time cycles (see Chapter 18) was 216° from the mean summer solstice (see Chapter 17). The corresponding fixed initial point was therefore at54"(3600) 360° - --------- = 306° ecliptic longitude. 3600"
The fixed initial point of Hindu cosmological time cycles and the fixed initial point of the SuryaSiddhanta commentary are, therefore, identical.216° + 180° - 90° = 306° ecliptic longitude.