Page 687 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

CRITICISM AND SUGGESTIONS 39
Sanskrit grammar, numerals like ~ are declined in the
singular number, even when they are in apposition. to a plural
noun. The same grammar, however, teaches us that these nume-
rals are used also to denote independent numbers, and that the
plural form is not only correct, but necessary when the
speaker wishes to indicate ' many or several groups ' thereof.
For instance, if we want to denote ' several groups of twenty',
fctw~: is the proper form to be used. Without supplying <n~r:
or <nrnr: as understood, I would, therefore, take f~: as an
independent numeral in accusative plural, governed by the verb
~ and qualified by the adjective '3i<'l~flrer: used here not in the
nominative, but in the accusative case. This construction is
at once simple and natural. It is necessary further to note in
0
contrast with ~rit <nr~Y: in the first half of the verse we have, in
the second 0 ~Tif ~\l. evidently meaning that here fu:ffill~'s are
not to be substituted for ( <nr~[: ), but added to something else.
Thus the line means that 'one should raise up, that is, increase
( the figure) in the place of ~ by ( as many) seventy-two's
( as are) equal in measure to the ~ (number).' For example,
uppose we wish to a certain the time (in kalas) of the Moon's
entry into the last Nakeyhatra at the end of 18 pakshas. Here 18 is
equal to one dozen plus six ( '3iii) pak has. The kallis at the
end of one dozen pakshas, are equal to 19 according to first half
of the verse. What remains is to find out the number of kahis,
required to be added to the above result on account of the six
additional (una) pakshas. For this purpose the Vedanga now
directs us to raise up the a:;;:r Number, here equal to 6, by as many
72' as are equal to the a:;;:r Number itself, that is by 6 x 72 in
the present case. We thus get 6 + 6 x 72. Bllt 6 + 6 x 72 = 6 ( 1 + 72)
= 6 x 73; or genera11y n + 72n = 73n. Therefore the rule practi-
cally comes to mean that the una number should be multiplied
by 73. The result, be it remembered, does not give us the
number of the required kaliis. It is only the first or the pre-
liminary step in the calculation required to be made for that
purpose. The moon traverses 1809 Nak~hatras in 124 pakshas,
that is, 14.f14 Nak~hatras during one paksha. Or one may say that
over and above 14 complete Nak~hatras she traverses a fraction
of a Nak~hatra equal to 73 amshas per paksha. Therefore, in a
given number of una pakshas, this fractional part of a Nak~hatra
or the 01'~ of the Moon, as it may be fitly termed, would, in