COMPARISON WITH MODERN SCIENCE

The standard values for the tropical year and annual precession in longitude determined by Simon Newcomb for the epoch 1900.0, mean noon at Greenwich December 31st 1899 are :
 

1 tropical year = 365.2421988
precession in one year = 50".2564
The sidereal year and its precessional constant may be derived from these values.
1 sidereal year ( 1900.0 ) = ( 360" / ( 360" - 50".2564 )) x ( 365.2421988 ) + 1
                 = 366.2563627 diurnal revolutions of the Earth
precession in longitude in one year  = ( 365.2563627 / 365.2421988 ) x ( 50".2564 )
                   = 50".2583
The following shows the astronomical quantities used in the construction of Hindu cosmological time cycles with those of Simon Newcomb for the epoch 1900.0
 
QUANTITY HINDU NEWCOMB DIFFERENCE
constant of precession 50".4 / yr 50".2583 / yr 0".1417 / yr
sidereal year ( solar ) 365.2563795 365.2563627 1.4 sec / yr
tropical year 365.2421756 365.2421988 - 2.0 sec / yr

The sidereal year in the above table refers to the number of solar civil days it takes for the earth to orbi the sun in relation to any particular star. The former is a sidereal-diumal relation and the later is a sidereal-solar relation. The very close agreement between the length of the year as measured by Hindu cosmological time cycles and that determined by modern science, together with the demonstrated greal antiquity of the cycles, shows that the rotation of the Earth is not being sensibly retarded by "tidal friction" or any other cause. Astronomers today would do well to look for lack of accuracy in their measurement of the Sun's mean motion and to the variations of long periods in the rotation of the Earti to explain the so-called slowing down of the earth.