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

INTRODUCTION XXVII
the author’s intention and become blind to its merits and peculiarities, which otherwise they
could have easily seen. Equally off the mark is the emendation of tithi into stvatha by
Neugebauer and Pingree (NP for short). See below, Explanatory Notes, for the real reason
for this ‘slipping away from the real’.”
On this subject might be advantageously referred to the section ‘The place of the Vāsiṣṭha in the his-
tory of Hindu astronomy’ in T.S.K. Sastry’s paper ‘The Vāsiṣṭha Sun and Moon’ in the Jl. of Or.
Research, Madras, 25 (1955-56) 19-41, reprinted in his Collected Papers on Jyotiṣa (Tirupati, 1989,
pp.1-28)
Table of Common topics
Ahargaṇa Vāsiṣṭha II.8
Paulīśa I.11-13 Paitāmaha XII.5
Romaka I.8-10
Paitāmaha XII.1-2 Vyatīpāta-Vaidhṛti
Paulīśa III.20-22
Nakṣatra-Tithi Paitāmaha XII.4
Paulīśa III.16 Candra-grahaṇa
Vāsiṣṭha II.7
Vāsiṣṭha-Paulīśa VI.1-14
Ravi-sphuṭa Saura X.1-7
Paulīśa III.1-3 Ravi-grahaṇa
Vāsiṣṭha II.1
Paulīśa VII.1-6
Candra-sphuṭa Romaka VIII.1-18
Paulīśa III.4 Saura IX.1-27
Vāsiṣṭha II.2-6
Grahāstodaya
Aharmāna Vāsiṣṭha-Paulīśa XVIII.1-60
Paulīśa III.11-12 Saura XVII.11-12
12. Varāhamihira : His Life and Works
One of the foremost early Indian astronomer and astrologer, Varāhamihira belongs to the sixth
century A.D. In the Pañcasiddhāntikā (I.8) he takes the cut-off date or epoch for computations using
the Paulīśa Siddhānta as Śaka 427, which corresponds to A.D. 505. Since the practice in Indian
astronomical manuals (Karaṇa-grantha-s) is to take a contemporary date, as near to the composition
of work, answering to certain specifications, as the cut-off date, it is reasonable to presume that PS
was composed some time after A.D. 505. Regarding his demise there is a statement by Āmarāja in
his commentary on Brahmagupta’s Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta, which reads : navādhika-pañcasamkhyā-
śake Varāhamihirācāryo divam gataḥ. “In śaka 509 Varāhamihira attained to the heavens.’ This would
mean that VM passed away in A.D. 587. This date is corroborated by VM’s mention in PS XV.10,
of Āryabhaṭa who composed his Āryabhaṭīya in A.D. 499, which work should have become well
known by the time that VM composed his PS.