Page:Aryabhatiya of Aryabhata, English translation.djvu/42

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12
ĀRYABHAȚĪYA

3. There are 14 Manus in a day of Brahman [a kalpa], and 72 yugas constitute the period of a Manu. Since the beginning of this kalpa up to the Thursday of the Bhārata battle 6 Manus, 27 yugas, and 3 yugapādas have elapsed.

The word yugapāda seems to indicate that Āryabhața divided the yuga into four equal quarters. There is no direct statement to this effect, but also there is no reference to the traditional method of dividing the yuga into four parts in the proportion of 4, 3, 2, and 1. Brahmagupta and later tradition ascribes to Āryabhața the division of the yuga into four equal parts. For the traditional division see Sūryasiddhānta (I, 18–20, 22–23) and Brahmagupta (I, 7–8). For discussion of this and the supposed divisions of Āryabhața see Fleet.[1] Compare III, 10, which gives data for the calculation of the date of the composition of Āryabhața's treatise. It is clear that the fixed point was the beginning of Āryabhața's fourth yugapāda (the later Kaliyuga) at the time of the great Bharata battle in 3102 b.c.

Compare Brahmagupta (I, 9)

yugapādān āryabhatas catvari samSni kftasmgadini ।
yad abhihitavan na te§ani smrtyuktasamanam ekam api ।।

and XI, 4

aryabhato yugapadarfis trin yatan aha kaliyugadau yat ।
tasya krtantar yasmat svayngadyantau na tat tasmat ।।

    (op. cit. XVII [1926], 60–74). The PancasiddhantiM also (XV, 20), "Aryabhata maintains that the beginning of the day is to be reckoned from midnight at Lanka; and the same 'teacher again says that the day begins from sunrise at Lanka," ascribes the two theories to one Aryabhata.

  1. Op. cit., 1911, pp. 111, 486.