For a particular day, once the day count has been determined, the Surya Siddhanta describes how to determine the celestial longitude (measured along the ecliptic) of the particular body (Sun, Moon, or planet) in question. The longitude is calculated by first calculating the mean longitude for the particular body; this is the longitude that the body would have if it were moving around the celestial sphere at a constant rate. (It has the same meaning in modern calculations of positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets.) Then a correction is calculated based on the assumption that the body is sometimes ahead and sometimes behind the mean longitude. The correction amounts to assuming that the body moves on a smaller circle and the center of this circle is at the mean longitude. At times the body is at the leading edge of the smaller circle, and thus ahead of the mean longitude; later, as the body moves around the smaller circle it is near the trailing edge of the circle and thus behind the mean longitude. This is exactly the same as described by Ptolemy (150 A.D.) in his Almagest; the smaller circle is called an epicycle by Ptolemy. The Hindus apparently did not believe the body actually traveled around the epicycle however, instead they believe there was some sort of force which at times drew the body ahead in its motion, and at other times pulled it back in its motion.
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