ABSTRACT
After the human day follows Pitrf~~dnL ahordtra, i.e. the nychthemeron of the forefathers, whose spirits, according to the belief of the Hindus, dwell in the sphere of the mOOD. Its day and night depend upon light and darkness, not upon the rising and setting in relation to a certain horizon. When the moon stands in the highest parts of the sphere with reference to them, this is a day to them; and when it stands in the lowest parts, it is night to them. Evidently their moon is the time of conjunction or full moon, and their midnight is opposition or new moon. Therefore the nychthemeron of the forefathers is a complete lunar month, the day beginning at the time of half-moon, when the light on the moon's body begins to increase, and the night beginning at the time of half-moon, when her light begins to wane. This follows of necessity from the just-mentioned determination' of the noon and midnight of the nychtherneron of the forefathers. Besides, it may be brought near to the reader by a comparison, as the bright half of the light on the moon's body may be compared to the rising of half of the globe of the sun over the horizon, and the other half's setting below the horizon. 'I'he day of this nychthemeron extends from the last quarter of a month to the first quarter of the succeeding month; the night from the first to the second quarter of one identical month. The totality of these two halves is the nychthemeron of the forefathers.
