सिद्धान्तशिरोमणि: गणिताध्याय (भास्कराचार्य - ग्रहगणित, मध्यमाधिकार व स्पष्टाधिकार सटीक)

which the ‘Sāvitra’ was more accurate. Brahmagupta³
says, again, that he was giving a clear presentation of the
ancient Brahma Siddhānta which got obsolete by a long
lapse of time. In the wake of these statements and a
number of others, is it not right to construe that there
did exist some ancient astronomical texts which are lost
to us. If, as asserted by a host of modern interpreters,
we think that there was only the crude Vedāṅgajyotiṣa,
before Aryabhaṭa, does it not tantamount to saying that
these three great astronomers (leave others) were
impostors, who, having derived their knowledge from a
foreign source, simply claimed that there were existent
before them, Saura, Brāhma and some other Siddhāntas
which dealt with Graha-gaṇita. It is uncharitable to say
that three rational astronomers were sueh impostors. So,
we must conclude that there did exist some astronomical
activity, which we have no right to call primitive like the
Vedāṅgajyotiṣa. Some might think that there might be
existing some other texts in between the times of
Vedāṅgajyotiṣa and Aryabha but that at the time of the
Vedāṅgajyotiṣa⁴ (roughly 1180 B.C.) astronomy in India
was that crude. Even this conclusion need not be

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“I am going to tell clearly what has been, the best, what
has been kept secret and briefly-worded in a nut shell
from out of the works of ancient Acāryas”.
“The Siddhānta of pauliśa is allright, the Romaka is very
nearly the same, but the Sūryasiddhānta is more accurate,
whereas the two others Vāsiṣṭha and paitāmaha are crude”.
3. ब्रह्मोक्तं ग्रहगणितं महता कालेन यत् खिलीभूतम्
अभिधीयते स्फुटं तत् जिष्णुसुतब्रह्मगुप्तेन । Verse 2—Ch. I.
4. As per statement आश्लेषाधर्धात् दक्षिणमुत्तरमयनं रवेर्धनिष्ठाद्यम् of
Varāhamihira quoting the meaning of the verse.
प्रपद्येते श्रविष्ठादौ सूर्याचन्द्रमसावुदक्
सार्पार्धे दक्षिणा......Verse 7—Vedāṅgajyotiṣa, the vernal
equinoctial point was at the beginning of Dhaniṣṭha,
which means that the time was 1180 B.C. approximately.