Page 708 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

60 SAMAGRA TILAK- 2 • VEDANGA lYOTl~HA
or 31 amshas when the amshas of a day exceed it and name
only the excess. Thus if an event happens after midday we
are not to say that it occurred at 40 or 50 amshas of the day
but 40- 31 = 9 or 50- 31 :: 19 amshas only. This meaning seems
to be so out of place that one may very well ask if there be an
example of it in the Vedanga. Yes, answers B; and points to his
interpretatipn of Y. 16. But B's interpretation of Y. 16 is unfortu-
nately as far-fetched as that of the present verse. So, at best, we
have a doubtful rule, supported by an equally doubtful example.
One may, however, fairly say, that if the verse is not otherwise
intelligible, there is no alternative, but to accept B's meaning
strained though it may be. This seems to be the view taken by S,
who practically follows B, only proposing to read ~~ instead
of B's ~~~. firstly because perceiving the right meaning on~ he
saw that it was not the suitable word and secondly because he
might have felt that some express authority was needed to hold
that the amshas, mentioned in the verse, were the amshas of a
day and not of a Nak~hatra. Bin reply calls this a specious emenda-
tion at once ' artificial and unnecessary; ' and so it might be,
though I think otherwise, if B's intrepretation is on the whole to
be accepted. But taking a hint therefrom, I propose to read
<g~ for the meaningless and impossible ~~ and interpret the
whole verse in an entirely different way. The verse thus read
will stand as follows :-
~~~ qci ~i'l_ qy~ q-rzy:;;r~~ @fcfi'fiT I
+iT<TJ~s~;;~~ M~f~ <l~ II
And taking the amshas to mean, as the context shows, the
Nak!Jhatra-amshas of a parvan, I thus explain the verse :- ' A
day, a nycthemeron ~ should be abandoned or omitted. '
When ? ' If a parvan is at ( that is, ends in ) a pada. ' What is
a pada ? ' A pada is thirty and one ( amshas ), ' says the second
line. How are the ( parvan ) amshas to be counted ? ' One should
indicate the excess, if any, after dividing the amshas by ( all ) the
bhagas ( amshas ) themselves ( that is, by 124 ). ' The anl'aya of
the whole verse thus becomes quite simple and natural; and an
important rule is obtained therefrom. The second part of the rule
requires little explanation. One need not go in search for an
example to illustrate it. It is the actual procedure followed in cal-
culating the parvan amshas according to the Vedanga. As directed