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

XXII PAÑCASIDDHĀNTIKĀ
dṛṣṭam Varāhamihireṇa sukhaprabodham |
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... || 63 ||
The manuscripts are defective here, omitting the next three lines of the concluding verse, some
exhibiting also a gap.
In continuation of the above, the manuscripts commence another short work with a maṅgala-
śloka ('verse of salutation') and then a second verse expressing a pratijñā ('resolve') to compose a
'better work' by 'Varāhamihira himself.'
prastāve 'pi na doṣān jānann api vakti yaḥ parokṣasya |
prathayati guṇāṁś ca tasmai sujanāya namaḥ parahitāya ||
aṣṭādaśabhir baddhāny ā tārāgraham etad āryābhiḥ |
varam iti Varāhamihiro dadāti nirmatsaraḥ karaṇam ||
These verses end abruptly without any closing colophonic verse, as might be expected.
Not taking into consideration the fact that VM had closed the PS most formally with all attendant
paraphernalia, with verse 63, both TS and NP treat this short work, as the concluding part of Pañ-
casiddhāntikā and as a work of Varāhamihira himself, and translate it and explain it as such. It is not
noticed by TS and NP that computation according to these verses can give only rough results since
the equation of the centre has been dispensed with, which makes them valueless. Further, there are
mistakes in the computation of Venus and Mercury, which one cannot expect to be committed by
VM.
The prose colophon 'Pauliśasiddhānte tārāgrahāḥ evam' ('Thus the star-planets of the
Pauliśasiddhānta') does not have any reality behind it since the computations therefrom do not
accord with those of the Pauliśasiddhānta elucidated earlier. These points have been discussed in
detail in the Notes, below, to these verses. Obviously, these verses are apocryphal and are the handi-
work of an inferior astronomer who has ascribed them to VM. For this reason, in the present edi-
tion, Pañcasiddhāntikā is formally closed with verse 63 and the verses following given as a prakṣepa
(interpolation) by someone else who has moreover blacked out in the original archetype the three
lines in verse 63, being the concluding verse of PS.
8. The Five Siddhāntas in PS : Their Distribution
It had been mentioned earlier that VM's treatment of the five siddhāntās in the PS are uneven.
It is not that each Siddhāntā is taken up one by one and a résumé of the same given fully or sys-
tematically. Select topics are taken up, apparently arbitrarily, and are dealt with individually or
jointly when the enunciations of two schools are similar. Alongside, chapters are devoted also to
general astronomical topics which are applicable to all the schools. The assortment of the treatment
of the subjects in the several chapters are as indicated below.
9. Content Analysis of the Pañcasiddhāntikā
Ch.I. 1-7 General Introduction
8-10 Romaka Days from epoch (Ahargaṇa)
11-13 Pauliśa Days from epoch (Ahargaṇa)
14-16 Saura-Romaka Yuga of Sun and Moon, Lords of the year,
month, and horā.