ब्राह्मस्फुटसिद्धान्त (ब्रह्मगुप्त - शून्य, कुट्टक, बीजगणित एवं सम्पूर्ण २१ अध्याय सान्वय सटीक)

BRAHMAGUPTA AND ŚRĪṢEṆA 329
Brahmagupta and Śrīṣeṇa
In Varāhamihira's Pañcasiddhāntikā we have a critical
review of the five Siddhāntas or five systems of astronomical
study : Puliśa Siddhānta, Romaka Siddhānta, Vasiṣṭha Siddhānta,
Sūrya Siddhānta and Brāhma Siddhānta. Colebrooke in his
Paper “On the notion of the Hindu Astronomers concerning the
precession of the equinoxes and motions of the planets”, publi-
shed in the Asiatic Researches, vol. xii. p. 209-250, Calcutta.
1816,4 to, reproduced in the Miscellaneous Essays. Vol. II. 1872,
says the following in regards to the authorship of these schools
of astronomy :
All these books are frequently cited in the astrono-
mical compilations and are occasionally referred to
their real or supposed authors. The first is everywhere
assigned to Puliśa, whose name it bears. The Romaka
Siddhānta is ascribed by the scholiast of Brahmagupta
and by a commentator of the Sūrya Siddhānta to
Śrīṣeṇa. The Vāsiṣṭha Siddhānta is by the same
authority given to Viṣṇucandra. Both these authors
are repeatedly mentioned with censure by Brahma-
gupta ; and it is acknowledged that they are entitled
to no particular deference.
The Brāhma Siddhānta, which is the basis of Brahma-
gupta’s work, is not anywhere attributed to a known
author ; but referred to in all quotations of it which
have fallen under observation, either to the Viṣṇudhar-
mottara Purāṇa, of which it is considered as forming
a part, or to Brahmā (also called Pitāmaha) who is
introduced into it as the speaker in a dialogue with
Bhṛgu, or it is acknowledged to be the work of some
unknown person. The true author it may be now
impracticable to discover, and would be vain to con-
jecture.
The Sūrya Siddhānta (if the same which we now pos-
sess) is in the like manner ascribed to no certain author
unless in the passage cited by my colleague Mr. Bently
(Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. p. 572) who says that “in
the commentary of the Bhāsvatī, it is declared, that