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

CHAPTER II
Personal References of
Brahmagupta
Sudhākara Dvivedī in his Gaṇaka Taraṅgiṇī, a small book on
biographical skethes of astronomers and astrologers of this
country gives a brief account of Brahmagupta thus :
Brahmagupta was born in 520 Śaka (655 Vikramī or 589
A.D.) in the reign of King Vyāghramukha, belonging to the Cāpa
family ; his father was Jiṣṇugupta ; and at the age of 30, he wrote
in 550 Śaka (628 A. D.) his well known treatise on Astronomy
known as the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta, which is corroborated by
the statement in the Viṣṇudharmottara Purāṇa, (Chapter on the
Brahma-siddhānta), His other treatise, entitled the Khaṇḍa-
Khādyaka, which is a karaṇa book, was completed in 587 Śaka (665
A. D.). According to some authorities, Brahmagupta was the
grandson of Viṣṇugupta, and the family suffix (Gupta) indicated
that he belonged to the Vaiśya family, and he was in the service
of the King of Rewah, known as Vyāghrabhaṭa.
Brahmagupta was a great critic ; he did not spare any of his
predecessors like Āryabhaṭa, Varāhamihira, Śrīṣeṇa, Viṣṇucandra
and others. Later on, his influence on the writing of the succeeding
generations has been immense. Bhāskarācārya II in his Bījagaṇita
has acknowledged him as a great authority on algebra and has
given him as the first place amongst the galaxy consisting of
Brahmagupta, Śrīdhara, Padmanābha etc. The Eighteenth Chap-
ter of the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta, known as Kuṭṭaka Chapter (on
Pulveriser) has been translated by H. T. Colebrooke in English
in 1817. The English translation of the Twelfth Chapter on
Gaṇita or Calculations from the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta is also
available in English. (See Colebrook's Algebra with Arithmetic
and Mensuration from the Sanskrit of Brahmagupta and Bhās-
kara, London, 1817).
The Vāsanā Commentary on the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta by
Pṛthudakasvāmī (860 A. D.) is also available though with diffi-
culty (as indicated by Sudhākara Dvivedi) ; its incorrect manus-