• DOI:10.1086/371821
• Corpus ID: 161208100

The Hindu Calendar as Described in Al-Bīrūnī's Masudic Canon

@article{Kennedy1965TheHC,
  title={The Hindu Calendar as Described in Al-Bīrūnī's Masudic Canon},
  author={Edward S. Kennedy and Susan Engle and Jeanne Wamstad},
  journal={Journal of Near Eastern Studies},
  year={1965},
  volume={24},
  pages={274 - 284}
}

• E. S. Kennedy, Susan Engle, Jeanne Wamstad
• Published 1 July 1965
• History
• Journal of Near Eastern Studies

ALL the writings of the eleventh century scientist and historian, Abfi Ray1hn al-Birfini, merit exhaustive study. The Arabic text of one of his major works, the astronomical compendium called Al-Qanitn al-Mascidi [2],2 has only recently been published. Its translation into a European language, together with a technical commentary, would be an important contribution to the history of the exact sciences. Failing this, the next best thing would seem to be an attack in detail, a series of additions to the already considerable group of studies elucidating parts of the Qznfin. This paper is a contribution along these lines. We present in Sections 3 and 4 below a translation of and commentary upon one self-contained chapter, the sixth, of Treatise II, a treatise devoted to calendars and chronology. The chapter begins with a definition of the Saka Era. Birfini then states two rules, the first (173:1-173:103) for converting a date given in one of the three calendars common in the countries of medieval Islam into the equivalent Indian date, the second (173:11174:1) for performing the inverse operation, conversion from an Indian into a Western date. The epochs of the Arkand ZIj (the Khandakhddyaka [4]) and the Kaliyuga are given in 174:2-5. In 174:6-176:16 the hierarchies of periods used in Indian chronology are defined, and the astronomical parameters assembled by us in Section 2 below are presented. All of the latter are from Brahmagupta's Brahmasphutasiddhanta [3]. The rest of the chapter consists of a detailed explanation of the rules already given, first (177:1-179:6) for changing from Indian to Western dates, then (179:7-180:6) for the