पञ्चसिद्धान्तिका (आचार्य वराहमिहिर - सूर्य, रोमक, पौलिश, वासिष्ठ एवं पितामह सिद्धान्त)

THE BOOK
The Pañcasiddhāntikā of the sixth century
astronomer Varāhamihira is a major work on
mathematical astronomy of early India, and
is particularly significant for the fact that it
provides a résumé, though uneven, of five
astronomical schools, viz., Vāsiṣṭha,
Paitāmaha, Romaka, Pauliśa and Saura, which
flourished in India during the early centuries
of the Christian era. The full texts of all these
systems are now lost, which makes the Pañ-
casiddhāntikā all the more significant. All the
available manuscripts of the work go back to
a defective original. This makes the full and
correct understanding of the work difficult
and indefinitive, there being also occasional
lacunae and obscure passages. These have, in
many places, affected adversely the text and
the translations of this work as issued earlier,
by G. Thibaut and Sudhakara Dvivedi (Be-
nares, 1889) and by O. Neugebauer and David
Pingree (Copenhagen, 1970).
The present Critical edition of the
Pañcasiddhāntikā, which makes use of all the
available manuscripts of the text as also
external testimony, attempts to present a
much more perfect text and translation of the
work. To the edition has been added an
authentic translation of the work with
explanatory notes in terms inclusive of
modern mathematics, adumbrated by tables
and diagrams. Wherever computations are
involved, illustrative examples are worked
out. Besides an informative and analytical
General Introduction, explanatory introduc-
tions are prefixed to chapters indicating the
contents and the method of approach
adopted in those chapters.
THE EDITORS
Professor T.S. Kuppanna Sastry (1900-1982),
M.A., L.T., was a polymath. A Sanskritist by
profession, he was also a keen student of the
sciences, both eastern and western. His forte
was early Indian astronomy, which he studied
in comparison with modern astronomy. The
combination had given him the insight and
analytical skill to understand and appreciate
early Indian astronomy in terms of
modern astronomy. His publications include
critical editions of the Mahābhāskarīya of
Bhāskara I with two commentaries, and the
Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa with Translation and detailed
notes. Jointly with K.V. Sarma, he edited the
Vākyakaraṇā of Vararuci with commentary. A
number of papers which he wrote on Indian
astronomy have been collected together and
issued under the title Collected Papers on
Jyotisha (Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha,
Tirupati, 1989).
Professor K.V. Sarma, (b.1919), B.Sc., M.A.
(Skt.), D.Litt. (History of Astronomy), formerly
Director of the wellknown V.V. Institute of
Sanskrit and Indological Studies, Hoshiarpur
(Punjab), and presently Hon. Professor of
Sanskrit, Adyar Library and Research Centre,
Madras, has been a student of Indian astronomy
for nearly forty years. He has edited and
translated a large number of astronomical
texts, mainly produced in Kerala. These include
Dṛggaṇita, Grahacāranibandhana, Tantrasaṅgraha,
Sphuṭanirṇaya, Rāśigolasphuṭānīti, Goladīpikā,
Candrasphuṭāpti and Jyotirmīmāṁsā. He is the
author, jointly, of Indian Astronomy: A Source
Book (Bombay, 1985). His writings include
also about 250 research papers on different
subjects including Indian astronomy.
Price: Rs. 350/-