[4] Owing to the precession of the equinoxes, the sidereal year is not the same as the solar year, being about 20 minutes longer. That is, the sun passes a particular star a second time in a period of 365 days 6 hours and 9 minutes, while it passes the equatorial point in 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 49 seconds, this latter period being the solar year. The difference is due to slight changes in the direction of the earth’s axis, which change the position of the celestial equator and of the equinoctial point where the sun crosses it. It is not clear how the Hindus get over this difficulty, but the point does not affect the general account.
[5] The stars corresponding to the nakshatras and their symbols are mainly taken from Mr. L. D. Barnett’s Antiquities of India, pp. 190, 191, compared with the list in Mr. W. Brennand’s Hindu Astronomy, pp. 40, 42.
[6] Taken from Professor Newcomb’s Astronomy for Everybody.
[7] The moon’s orbit is really an ellipse like that of the earth and all the planets.
[8] Barnett, op. cit. p. 190.
[9] The Indian Calendar, by Messrs. Sewell and Dikshit, pp. 11 and 25.
[10] Brennand’s Hindu Astronomy, p. 100.
[11] The Indian Calendar, Sewell and Dikshit, p. 28 and Table I.
[12] This seems to have been done by some ancient Indian astronomers.
[13] The Indian Calendar, p. 29.