X CONTENTS
Page Page
Astronomer's qualifications (36-37) 112 True Sun (1-3) 181
Gnomonic shadow and the prime True Moon (4-6) 183
vertical (38) 113 Daily motion of the Sun and the Moon (7) 185
Agrā : Sine amplitude (39) 113 Rāhu (8) 186
Latitude from Agrā (40) 114 Parallax in longitude (9) 187
Shadow at desired time (41-44) 115 Declination of the Nonagesimal (10-12) 187
Time after sunrise (45-47) 118 Parallax correction and orbital
Time for Sunset (48) 121 diameter (13-14) 189
Shadow from time (49) 122 True diameter of the orbs (15) 191
Moon's shadow (50-51) 123 Moment of the eclipse (16) 192
Directions from shadow (52-54) 126 Eclipse diagram (17-18) 192
Sun from shadow (55-56) 132
Ch.V. PAULIŚA-SIDDHĀNTA : Ch.IX. SAURA-SIDDHĀNTA :
MOON'S CUSPS SOLAR ECLIPSE
Introductory 137 Introductory 197
Time of Moon's visibility (1-3) 137 Mean Sun (1) 197
Diagram of the Moon's cusps (4-7) 143 Mean Moon (2-4) 198
Daily rising and setting of the Rāhu : Maximum latitude (5-6) 201
Moon (8-10) 147 True Sun and Moon (7-9) 203
Epicyclic theory 206
Ch.VI. (VĀSIṢṬHA-) PAULIŚA- Bhujāntara correction 209
SIDDHĀNTA : LUNAR ECLIPSE Udayāntara correction 209
Introductory 152 Deśāntara correction (10) 209
Sun and Moon of equal longitude (1) 152 Mean motion of the Sun and the Moon (11) 210
Probability of an eclipse (2) 154 Motion of Moon's anomaly (12) 211
Duration of the eclipse (3-4) 156 True motion of Sun and Moon (13-14) 211
Total obscuration (5) 160 Kakṣā of the Sun and the Moon (15) 214
Direction of the eclipse (6-8) 162 Measure of the orbs (16) 215
Moment of the eclipse and its Sin Zenith Distance of Meridian
colour (8-10) 165 point (17-18) 216
Diagrammatic representation (11-13) 168 Dṛkṣepa of the Sun (19-20) 219
Lunar and Solar eclipses – Gnomon (21) 220
Differences (14) 171 Parallax-corrected New Moon (22-23) 221
Parallax in latitude (24-25) 223
Ch.VII. (PAULIŚA-SIDDHĀNTA) : Duration of the eclipse (26-27) 225
SOLAR ECLIPSE
Introductory 172 Ch.X. SAURA-SIDDHĀNTA :
Parallax of longitude (1) 172 LUNAR ECLIPSE
Parallax in latitude (2-4) 176
Eclipse computation (5-6) 178 Introduction 228
Diameter of the Shadow (1-2a) 228
Ch.VIII. ROMAKA-SIDDHĀNTA : Duration of the Eclipse (2b-4) 230
SOLAR ECLIPSE Obscuration at any desired moment (5-6) 232
Introductory 181 Time of total obscuration (7) 235

CONTENTS XI
Page
Ch.XI. ECLIPSE DIAGRAM
Introduction 236
Marking the ecliptic etc. (1-3) 236
Marking of points of contact etc. (4-5) 238
Conversion of minutes into angles (6) 240
Ch.XII. PAITĀMAHA SIDDHĀNTA
Introduction 241
Days from Epoch (1-2) 241
Tithi, Nakṣatra etc. (3) 243
Vyatīpāta (4) 244
Duration of a day (5) 246
Ch.XIII. SITUATION OF THE
EARTH: COSMOGONY
Situation of the earth (1-4) 248
Rotation of the earth (5-8) 249
Situation of the Gods and Asuras (9-13) 250
Signs and Yojanas (14-16) 252
Position of Laṅkā and Ujjayinī (17) 253
Measures of the earth etc. (18-19) 253
Visibility of the Sun (20-29) 253
Astronomical observation (30-34) 258
Moon’s visibility (35-38) 258
The Planets and their situation (39-41) 259
Lords of the Months, Days and Year (42) 260
Ch.XIV. GRAPHICAL METHODS
AND ASTRONOMICAL
INSTRUMENTS
Introductory 261
Ascensional differences of the zodiacal
signs (1-4) 261
R sine of the Sun’s zenith distance for
the given time (5-6) 264
Right ascensions of the signs (7) 266
Gnomon (8) 267
Local latitude (from the equinoctial
midday shadow) (9-10a) 267
Sun’s longitude (10b-11) 268
V-Shaped yaṣṭi (12) 269
Moon’s longitude (13) 269
Cardinal directions (by means of a
gnomon (14-16) 270
Page
The Celestial Sphere (17-18) 270
Hemispherical Bowl and its use (19-20) 271
Hoop and its use (21-22) 272
Armillary Sphere (23-25) 273
Sun’s northward and southward
journeys (26) 273
Instruments for measuring time (27-28) 274
Local longitude in terms of time (29-30) 274
The Nādī or Ghaṭī (31-32) 275
Conjunction of the Moon with a Star (33) 276
Positions of certain Junction-
Stars (34-37) 277
Digits between the Moon and a Star
in Conjunction and Time of
Conjunction (38) 277
Heliacal Rising of Canopus (39-41) 278
Ch.XV. SECRETS OF ASTRONOMY
Eclipses (1-10) 282
Situation at the Poles (11-16) 286
Weekday (17-18) 288
Day-reckoning (19-29) 289
Ch.XVI. SAURA SIDDHĀNTA :
MEAN PLANETS
Introductory 292
Mean positions of the Star-planets (1-19) 293
VM’s Bīja corrections (10-11) 298
Ch.XVII. SAURA-SIDDHĀNTA :
TRUE PLANETS
Epicycles of the planets (1-3) 300
True planets (4-9) 301
Special work for Mercury
and Venus (10-11a) 307
Retrograde motion (11b) 309
Heliacal rising (12) 309
Latitudes of planets (13-14) 310
Ch.XVIII. VĀS.-PAU. SIDDH.:
RISING AND SETTING OF PLANETS
Venus (1-5) 312
Jupiter (6-13) 316
Saturn (14-20) 322
Mars (21-35) 339

XII CONTENTS
Page Page
Mercury (35-36) 341 True Saturn (79-81) 363
Hints (57-60) 351
General (61-63) 353 APPENDICES
I. Verse Index 367
SPURIOUS SUPPLEMENT : II. Index of PS verses quoted by later
TRUE PLANETS astronomers 371
III. Bhūtasaṅkhyā used in the PS 372
Introduction (64-66) 355 IV. Index of Places, Persons and Texts
True Mars (67-69) 357 quoted in the PS 373
True Mercury (70-72) 359 V. Bibliography 374
True Jupiter (73-75) 361 VI. Subject Index 377
True Venus (76-78) 362
VII. Śaka and Samvatsara , time
of Varāhamihira etc 383

INTRODUCTION

1. Introductory
The Pañcasiddhāntikā (PS) of Varāhamihira (VM), (6th cent. A.D.), occupies an important place
in the history of early Indian astronomy, for, herein we have been given certain aspects of five sys-
tems of Indian astronomy current during the first centuries of the Christian era. The work supplies
also considerable additional material on the astronomical concepts, computational methods and
instruments used during the times of the author. VM makes mention of the objectives of the work
towards its commencement:
pūrvācāryamatebhyo yad yad śreṣṭhaṁ laghu sphuṭaṁ bījam |
tat tad ihāvikalam aham rahasyam udyato vaktum || I.1 ||
Pauliśa-Romaka-Vāsiṣṭha-Saura-Paitāmahās tu pañca siddhāntāḥ || 2 ||
‘Here, I shall state in full the best of the secret lore of astronomy extracted from the different
schools of the ancient teachers so as to be easy and clear.
‘The five siddhānta-s, of which this work is a compendium, are the Pauliśa, the Romaka, the
Vāsiṣṭha, the Saura and the Paitāmaha.
Following the above statement, VM specifies also how he is intending to deal with the said five
astronomical schools :
yat tat param rahasyaṁ bhavati matir yatra tantrakārāṇām |
tad aham apahāya matsaram asmin vakṣye grahaṁ bhānoḥ ||
dik-sthiti-vimarda-karṇa-pramāṇa-velā grahāgrahāv indoḥ |
tārāgrahasaṁyogam deśāntarasādhanaṁ cā ‘smin ||
samamaṇḍala-candrodaya-yantra-cchedyāni śaṅkavacchāyā |
upakaraṇādy akṣajyā-‘valambakā-’ pakramādyāni || I.5-7 ||
‘I shall tell in this work, avoiding all jealousy, the computation of the solar eclipse which is
guarded as a great secret and in which the mind of the astronomer reels. I shall also tell the occurr-
ence or non-occurrence of the lunar eclipse, the directions of the first and last contacts, the dura-
tion, the total phase, the ‘hypotenuse’ at any moment with related quantity of obscuration and time,
and also the mutual conjunctions of the stars and the planets and the computation of difference in
longitude as also the prime vertical, moonrise, astronomical instruments and other requirements,
graphical representations, the gnomonic shadow, the sines of latitude, co-latitude and declinations
and such other matters.’
While the importance of the work in the reconstruction of early Indian astronomy would be
apparent from the above statement, the paucity of reliable manuscripts of the work makes the pre-
paration of a correct edition of the work a formidable task, affecting, in its turn, a proper under-
standing, translation and interpretation of the work. The gravity of the problem could be gauged
from what G. Thibaut has stated in the Preface to the first edition of the work (TS), issued in 1889.
He says:

1. The Pañcasiddhāntikā, the astronomical work of Varāha Mihira. The Text edited with an original commentary in
   Sanskrit and an English translation, by G. Thibaut and Mm Sudhakara Dvivedi, Leipzig : Varanasi, 1889; Rep. Lahore,
   1930; Rep. Varanasi, 1968. (Page references made are to this reprint.)

XIV PAÑCASIDDHĀNTIKĀ
“There is some reason to fear that the feeling of any one who may examine in detail this edi-
tion and translation of Varāha Mihira’s astronomical work will, in the first place, be wonder
at the boldness of the editors. I am fully conscious that on the imperfect materials at our dis-
posal an edition in the strict sense of the word cannot be based, and that what we are able to
offer at present deserves no other name but that of a first attempt to give a general idea of the
contents of the Pañcasiddhāntikā. It would, in these circumstances, possibly have been wiser
to delay an edition of the work until more correct Manuscripts have been discovered. Two
considerations, however, in the end, influenced us no longer to keep back the results, how-
ever imperfect, of our long continued endeavours to restore and elucidate the text of the
Pañcasiddhāntikā. In the first place, we were encouraged by the consideration that texts of
purely mathematical or astronomical contents may, without great disadvantages, be submit-
ted to a much rougher and bolder treatment than texts of other kinds. What interests us in
these works is almost exclusively their matter, not either their general style or the particular
words employed, and the peculiar nature of the subject often enables us to restore with nearly
absolute certainty the general meaning of passages the single words of which are past
trustworthy emendation. And, in the second place, we feel convinced that even from that part
of the Pañcasiddhāntikā which we are able to explain more is to be learned about the early his-
tory of Sanskrit Astronomy than from any other work which has come down to our time.”
(p.v.).

About the manuscript material available to him and the editorial criteria adopted by him Thibaut
says in his Introduction to the edition:

“The present edition of the Pañcasiddhāntikā is founded on two Manuscripts, belonging to
the Bombay Government. The text of the better one of those two Manuscripts is reproduced
in the left hand columns of our edition, while the foot notes give all the more important different
readings from the other Manuscript. A comparison of the traditional text with the emended
one, as given in the right hand columns of the edition, will show that the former had, in many
cases, to be treated with great liberty. Not unfrequently, the emended text is merely meant as
an equivalent in sense of what we suppose Varāha Mihira to have aimed at expressing, while
we attach no importance to the words actually employed in the emendation.” (p.lx).

The Pañcasiddhāntikā has again been edited recently by O. Naugebauer and D. Pingree, (NP)².
And Pingree too observes, on the state of the manuscript material: “The present edition of the
Pañcasiddhāntikā does not solve all the remaining problems connected with this text. We suspect
that much will never be understood unless better manuscripts material becomes available.” (Vol. I,
Intro., p. 19)

It, however, so happens that during the hundred years that have passed by since the publication
of its first edition in 1889 no ‘really’ new manuscript of the work has come to light. A few manus-
cripts that have become available,³ all go back to the two manuscripts used in the first edition, as
shown by the commonality in them of omissions and corruptions which occur in the newly available
manuscripts.

2. The Pañcasiddhāntikā of Varāhamihira. Pt. I. Text and Translation by D. Pingree; Pt. II. Notes by O. Neugebauer,
   Cobenhavn, Munksgaard, 1970.
3. For details, See below under ‘Manuscript material’.

INTRODUCTION XV
The edition of Pañcasiddhāntikā which is now issued is also based on the manuscripts used for the
two above-said editions. The question that would naturally arise here would be: Why then is the
need for another edition when no new source material is to be had? The answer is threefold:
i. First, it was felt that in reconstructing the text from the corrupt manuscripts, which alone are
available, both TS and NP have subscribed to an editorial principle voiced by Thibaut when he says:
“What, in the attempt to reconstitute the text of an astronomical or mathematical work, has chiefly
to be kept in view, is of course to arrive at rules which are capable of being proved mathematically.
This consideration has, in more than one place, led us to introduce changes even where such
appeared hardly to be required by the external form of the traditional text.” (Introduction, p.lxi),
And, this they have done to an extent which seems to be hardly justified in editing a classical text.
Then again, such emendations are often inserted without specific indication, especially in the
edited text of NP, with the result that the reader takes the emended text as the ‘real’ manuscript
text. The translation and interpretations that follow are, primarily, based on the emended text and
not on the ‘real’ text. In fact, an editorial principle which has to be applied with the utmost caution
and in as limited a manner as possible, seems to have been used rather extensively.
In the present edition of Pañcasiddhāntikā, the principle of sthitasya gatiś cintanīyā, ‘justification of
the extant reading should be thought of’, has been primarily adhered to, alongside the correction
of the copyist’s errors by visualising the psychology of the scribe who is illiterate with reference both
to the language and the subject of the text. ‘Real’ emendations have been comparatively small and
far between. In all cases, however, when changes had to be made to the manuscripts readings, they
have been specifically indicated by their being placed within curved brackets in the case of scribal
errors and in square brackets in the case of editorial supplementation. And, whenever there has
been an emendation, the reasons for suggesting the emendation have been given in the Notes that
follow each verse.
ii. Secondly, in a number of places, TS nor NP do not seem to have caught the correct import
of the text and this has affected their Translation and Notes. All these have been attempted to be
rectified. In many places, the untenability of the TS and NP readings, translations and notes have
also been pointed out.
iii. Thirdly, and what is most important, special effort has been made to digest the textual verses
fully, and offer, in the case of knotty places and apparently vague passages, detailed interpretations
and elucidations, adumbrated with tables and illustrations. Moreover, a number of examples have
also been worked out to illustrate the rules enunciated by Varāhamihira.
Under the circumstances, it is to be hoped that the present publication will form another step
towards understanding and evaluating the principles and practices of early Indian astronomy.
2. Source Material
A-B. The available manuscripts of Pañcasiddhāntikā, of which five have been collated for prepar-
ing the present edition, fall into two recensions which have been designated as A and B. Common
corruptions and omissions indicate that even these two recensions go back to a common original
which too should have been far from perfect in the matter of accuracy. The technical nature of the
work, brizzling with unusual terminology, have made the scribes commit all types of imaginable
errors except in the case of well-known words and expressions. These errors include, as a reference
to the footnotes recorded in the edition would show, wrong spellings, erratic sandhi-s and splitting

XVI PAÑCASIDDHĀNTIKĀ
of words, omission of vowel signs, verses made to stop short in the middle or to run into another,
numbering of verses in the wrong places and so on. In several cases some of these corruptions are
common to all the manuscripts, confirming that these errors have to be traced back to a common
archetype of both the recensions.
The said five manuscripts have been designated A1, A2 and B1, B2, B3, according to the two
recensions and relative reliability of the manuscripts. All the manuscripts are in paper, written in
Devanagari script.
A₁. Ms. No. 338/1879-80 of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, described in A
Catalogue of Collections of Mss. deposited in the Deccan College by S.R. Bhandarkar (Bombay, 1888), p.
143. It has 22 folios with 11 lines per page. It is complete and has been copied at Stambhatīrtha
(modern Cambay in Gujarat) in Sam. 1673, Śaka 1538 (AD. 1616), by Śaṅkara son of Govinda. This
manuscript is the 'better of the two manuscripts' used in the TS. edition of the PS. The manuscript
is far from perfect and exhibits numerous scribal errors and some transpositions, but it is definitely
better than the B manuscripts.
A₂. Ms. No. 49, currently preserved in the National Library, Calcutta, but it originally belonged
to the erstwhile Imperial Library, Calcutta. It is in 24 folios with 9 lines a page. It is incomplete and
extends to a portion of XVIII. 90 d. The writing is very readable but is very much error-ridden. The
readings are closely associated to A₁.
Pingree suspects that it "agrees almost entirely with A (our A₁) of which it is most probably a
copy." (see his edition of PS, Introduction, p. 20). This cannot be a copy of A₁ for the reason that
there occur differences between the two, for which see I. 3c, 7d, 10a, 12a and a number of other
contexts.
Pingree doubts also that A₂ is "perhaps the copy utilized by Thibaut and Dvivedin" (Introduc-
tion, p.20). This goes against Thibaut's statement that his "edition of PS is founded on two Manus-
cripts belonging to the Bombay Government" (T's Introduction, p. LX). It is also to be noted that
while A₁ is complete, A₂ is incomplete. It is again to be noted that minor over-writings and correc-
tions above the lines occur in A₂ at several places obviously having been added by a modern user of
the manuscript. These latter, being modern, have not been noted as variants in the footnotes to the
present edition.
B₁. Ms. No. 37/1874-75 of the Bhandarkar Ori. Res. Inst., Pune, described in A Catalogue of Col-
lections of Mss. deposited in the Deccan College (Bombay, 1888). Copied in modern "Universal foolscap"
paper, with a title page in Devanagari reading "number 37-Satra 1872 [A.D.] Pañcasiddhāntikā,
patrāṇi 49-15-1930", it is in 49 pages, with 15 to 17 lines a page. This is the second of the two man-
uscripts used by TS, from which they have documented only some of the variants, as recorded in
the footnotes of their edition.
Pingree states (Intro., p.20), that in the edition he has documented only those variants recorded
by TS in their footnotes. In the present edition, however, the manuscript has been fully collated
and all the variants therein recorded. This manuscript carries, through its entire length, correc-
tions, obviously made by Thibaut.
B₂. Ms. No. 64 of the National Library, Calcutta. It contains 108 pages numbered 7 to 114, and is
incomplete, commencing only from I.22, the previous verses having been written on the folios 1-6,
now lost. The manuscript is shapely and the writing readable, but the matter contained is extremely

INTRODUCTION XVII
corrupt. The numbering of the verses is also erratic. Several verses are broken in their middle and
verse numbers are interposed. At times the last line of a verse is continued with the beginning let-
ters of the next verse, entailing at times, the beginnings and ends being half-words. (see III. 1 and
2). The manuscript seems to be the handiwork of a good-handed scribe from a highly corrupt orig-
inal. Corrections by a modern hand in lighter ink is seen at places.
Pingree suspects that "this manuscript seems to be a copy of B – perhaps that used by Thibaut
and Dvivedin." (Introduction, p.20).
B₃. Ms. No. 7165 of the Oriental Institute, Baroda. This manuscript in 33 folios contains the
complete work. A post-colophonic statement says that it was copied in Saṁ,. 1928/śaka 1793 (A.D.
1872) by Uttamarāma Durlabharāma, a resident of Amadāvāda (Ahmedabad). The writing is read-
able but corrupt readings persist. Verse numbers are written for the first chapter, but not for the
later chapters. Numbers expressed in the verses are written also in digits in many places.
A few more manuscripts of Pañcasiddhāntikā are known to exist (or to have existed) but could not
be used for the present edition. They are :

1. Ms. No. 288 of the Bombay University. This is at present missing in the Library. Pingree has
   used this manuscript. In 32 folios it contains the full text of PS. It was copied in Saṁ. 1928, corres-
   ponding to AD. 1871, by Nāthurāma Pārika.
2. Ms. No. 6288 of the India Office, London, (Buhler 268) described in the A Catalogue of Skt. and
   Pkt. Mss. in the India Office Library, vol. II by A.B. Keith. This is a copy of our Ms. A₁, copied in Saṁ
   1936, Śaka 1802 (A.D. 1879). We have not used it nor has Pingree.
   About still other manuscripts, Pingree states : "Besides these seven manuscripts, there existed in
   1890 the manuscript belonging to J.B. Modak of Thāṇā which was copied from B (our B₁), and we
   know of a manuscript (no. 6674) of the Pañcasiddhāntikā in the Ānandāśrama in Poona. The man-
   uscripts, recorded as the property of Sjt. Pushpachandra Sarma Daloi of Helach in Assam and of
   the Arsha Library in Vijayanagara (no. 506), probably contain the Bhāsvatī of Śatānanda, which is
   sometimes confused with our text." (Introduction, p. 21).
   C. The emended text of Thibaut-Sudhakara Dvivedi, as printed in the right hand columns of
   their edition. On this Thibaut says (Introduction, pp. lx-lxi):
   "The present edition of the Pañcasiddhāntikā is founded on two manuscripts belonging to
   the Bombay Government. The text of the better one of these two Manuscripts is reproduced
   in the left hand columns of our edition, while the foot notes give all the more important diffe-
   rent readings from the other Manuscript... the emended one as given in the right hand col-
   umns of the edition.
   "What, in the attempt to reconstruct the text of an astronomical or mathematical work, has
   chiefly to be kept in view, is of course, to arrive at rules which are capable of being proved
   mathematically. This consideration has, in more than one place, led us to introduce changes
   even where such appeared hardly to be required by the external form of the traditional text."
   Notwithstanding the wild emendations which Thibaut-Sudhakar Dvivedi have made, at times,
   their emended readings have been recorded as C in the footnotes of the present edition.
   D. The edition, Translation and Notes of TS by O. Neugebauer and D. Pingree, (2 vols.,
   Kopenhagen, 1970). Pingree edits and translates the PS, while Neugebauer offers the Notes. All

XVIII PAÑCASIDDHĀNTIKĀ
our manuscripts are used in this edition too. Herein occur a number of emendations which are
sometimes put within brackets, but sometimes without brackets. Often the emendations are wilder
than those of Thibaut-Sudhakar Dvivedi.
E. External testimonia. About 125 Pañcasiddhāntikā verses have been identified as quoted in
later texts, the largest number thereof, 117 being in the commentary of Utpala of Kashmir (A.D.
966) on the Bṛhatsaṃhitā of Varāhamihira. Other authors who quote from the PS are Pṛthūdaka-
svāmin (A.D. 854), Makkibhaṭṭa (14th cent.), Parameśvara of Kerala (1360-1460), Nīlakaṇṭha
Somayāji, (b. 1443), again of Kerala, and Sūryadevayajvan (b. 1191) of Tamilnadu, in South India.
These PS quotations are taken as External Testimonia and the variants found in such readings
have been noticed in the footnotes with 'E' prefixed to the abbreviations of authors/works which
quote the verses. These sources are :
E. Jy. Jyotirmīmāṃsā of Nīlakaṇṭha Somayāji.
E.M. Makkibhaṭṭa's Com. on the Siddhāntaśekhara of Śrīpati.
E.N. Nīlakaṇṭha Somayāji's Bhāṣya on the Āryabhaṭīya.
E.Pa. Parameśvara's com. on the Āryabhaṭīya.
E.Pr. Pṛthūdakasvāmin's com. on the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta of Brahmagupta.
E.S. Sūryadevayajvan's com. on the Āryabhaṭīya.
E.U. Utpala's com. on the Bṛhatsaṃhitā of Varāhamihira.
Pingree has adopted this method of referring to external testimonia, and we have followed him
in the matter. In fact, we have been much benefitted by his identifications and our labour relates
only to texts which have not been noticed by him.
On the provenance of PS, Pingree states that :
"So far there is no indisputable evidence that the Pañcasiddhāntikā was known outside of
an area roughly corresponding to the modern states of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan,
the Punjab, Kashmir, and West Pakistan.
"However, some verses from the text are quoted by fifteenth century Kerala astronomers
of the dṛggaṇita school in their commentaries on the Āryabhaṭīya. Thus Parameśvara (c.
1380-1460) cites a verse, and Nīlakaṇṭha (b. 1443) several others. It is noteworthy that all four
verses that they quote are also found in Utpala's commentary on the Bṛhatsaṃhitā, which was
known in Kerala; it is not proved, then that they had a copy of the Pañcasiddhāntikā." (Intro-
duction p. 17).
Pingree's assertion as above is not correct for the reason that Kerala and South Indian astronom-
ers quote not only the said four verses occurring in Utpala's commentary, but five more PS verses
which do not occur in Utpala's commentary, they being PS, I.3, 4 by Nīlakaṇṭha in his Jyotir-
mīmāṃsā, the verses saṅkhyā tu teṣām and yāny ataḥ prati again by Nīlakaṇṭha in his Āryabhaṭīya-bhāṣya
IV.10 and PS XIII.36 by Sūryadevayajvan in his Āryabhaṭīyavyākhyā. (See below App. II: Index of
PS verses quoted by later astronomers). This would mean that PS should have been prevalent in
South India also.
Recording of Variant readings
Textual variants recorded in footnotes in the present edition are restricted to be above-said mate-
rial listed under A, B, C, D and E. Some of the PS verses have, indeed been studied by scholars
but emendations and variants occurring in these studies have not been recorded here mainly for the

INTRODUCTION XIX
reason that they have mostly been documented by Pingree in his edition of the PS and so can be
referred to therefrom.¹
3. Presentation of the Text
While the generally accepted conventions of critical editing of Indic texts are duly followed in the
present edition, attention might be drawn to certain methodologies which are stressed herein, in
view of the technical nature of the text, the defective nature of the manuscripts and the tentative-
ness of many of the emendations and textual changes effected in the two earlier editions.
i. On account of the inadequacies of the copyists of the parent manuscripts and also due to
deficiencies in the parent manuscripts themselves, some emendations have to be done in the edited
text. However special care has been taken in this edition to indicate such emendations by placing
them within curved brackets; square brackets are used to enclose fillings of apparent omissions or
newly suggested readings. Doubtful suggestions are marked by an interrogation mark.

1. Studies mentioned in this footnote have mostly been identified by Pingree and on pages 18-19 of his edition of PS and
   variants.
   i. G. Thibaut, 'Notes from Varāha Mihira's Pañcasiddhāntikā', Jl. of Asiatic Society of Bengal, 53 (1884) 259-93.
   ii. S.B. Dikshit, 'The Original Sūrya-siddhānta', Indian Antiquary, 19 (1890) 45-54.
   iii. S.B. Dikshit, 'The Romaka Siddhānta', Indian Antiquary, 19 (1890), 133-42.
   iv. S.B. Dikshit, 'The Pañcasiddhāntikā', Indian Antiquary, 19 (1890) 439-40.
   v. J. Burgess, 'The Romaka Siddhānta', Indian Antiquary, 19 (1890) 284-85.
   vi. J. Burgess, 'The sines and arcs in the Pañcasiddhāntikā', Indian Antiquary, 20 (1891) 228.
   vii. M.P. Kharegat, 'On the interpretation of certain passages in the Pañcha Siddhāntikā of Varāhamihira, an old his-
   torical work' Jl. of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 19 (1895-97) 109-41.
   viii. K.S. Shukla, 'On three stanzas from Pañcasiddhāntikā,' Gaṇita, 5 (1954) 129-36.
   T.S. Kuppanna Sastri
   ix. 'The Vāsiṣṭha Sun and Moon in Varāhamihira's Pañcasiddhāntikā', Jl. of Or. Research, Madras, 25 (1955-56)
   19-41.
   x. 'Some misinterpretations and omissions in Thibaut and Sudhakara Dvivedi in the PS of VM', Vishweshvaranand
   Indological Journal, 11 (1973) 107-18.
   xi. 'The epoch of the Romaka Siddhānta in the PS and the epoch longitudes of the Sun and Moon the Vāsiṣṭha
   Siddhānta', Indian Jl. of Hist. of Science, 13 (1978) 151-58.
   xii. 'The Vāsiṣṭha-Pauliśa Venus in the PS of VM', Collected Papers of T.S. Kuppanna Sastry, Tirupati, 1989, pp. 141-47.
   xiii. 'The Vāsiṣṭha-Pauliśa Jupiter and Saturn in the PS', Collected Papers, pp. 148-68.
   xiv. 'The Vāsiṣṭha-Pauliśa Mars in the PS of VM', Collected Papers, pp. 169-87.
   xv. 'The epoch-constants of the Vāsiṣṭha-Pauliśa star-planets', Collected Papers, pp. 201-5.
   xvi. 'Saurasiddhānta of PS : Planetary constants and computation', Collected Papers, pp. 206-40.
   xvii. 'Pañcasiddhāntikā XVIII. 68-81 : An interpolation', Collected Papers, pp. 241-54.

XX PAÑCASIDDHĀNTIKĀ
ii. Thibaut and Dvivedi who print their emended text in the right hand column of their edition
do not specifically indicate their emendations and one has to identify the emendations oneself. Pin-
gree indicates his emendations in many places by angular brackets but in many other places prints
the emended text without any indication. In the present edition, all their emendations are iden-
tified and noticed in the footnotes denoting them by the sigla C and D. When these emendations
are accepted in the present edition also, they are not separately marked as above. This procedure
is expected to enable the comparison between the emendations of TS and NP and those made in
this edition and evaluate the merit and appropriateness between the two. In fact, it is felt that many
of the emendations of TS and NP, especially of the latter, are often far-fetched, ungrammatical,
offending the metre or failing to give a cogent sense. See, for example, the TS/NP emendations in
I.23; IX.5; XI.2, 4, 5; XII.5a, 5d; XIII.38d, 41d: XVII.1, 12; XVIII.2d, 3, 19, 24, 25.
iii. In order that a discerning student of the text shall have before him, in full, what occurs in the
several manuscripts, an attempt has been made to record all variants, right or wrong. This has been
done for three reasons : (a) Correct forms of corrupt passages can be visualized only if all the rea-
dings, as found in the manuscripts, are before one’s eyes; (b) Then alone would it be possible for
an editor to vindicate the emendations suggested by him; (c) The corrupt and apparently meaning-
less readings in the manuscripts which the editor could not correct or has wrongly emended can be
corrected or better emendations suggested by other scholars if all the variants are given.
However, obvious errors of a purely scribal nature, like separate words written jointly, using
anusvāra for anunāsika and vice versa, using double consonants for single consonants and vice
versa, giving the benefit of doubt for a letter that could be read rightly or wrongly, have been cor-
rected silently and not noticed in the footnotes.
4. Translation
The translation provided in the edition is as literal as possible without sacrificing readability and
not going against the English idiom. Elucidatory expressions and words which are understood in
the context are added within brackets, the ultimate aim being to make the matter dealt with clear
and fully understood. Topical headings have been provided to verses or groups of verses with the
same objective, again, towards the above-said objective.
5. Notes
The notes added are generally detailed and self-contained. There again, they seek to elucidate
the verses and the underlying ideas, primarily from the Indian standpoint. Tables and geometrical
diagrams are provided wherever warranted. Quite often, the need for the emendations suggested
in the text is explained. The emendations made by TS and NP are also examined and observations
offered. An aspect of the Notes which deserves special mention is the addition of self-suggested
mathematical or astronomical problems and working them out according to methods enunciated
in the verses, and also by employing modern methods. Introductions are prefixed for several chap-
ters, towards setting out the significance of the contents of the respective chapters.
6. Division of Pañcasiddhāntikā
The colophons of the several Sections of PS, as found in the manuscripts, which all go back to a
defective archetype, are uneven. Some of the colophons merely mention the topic treated in the
respective sections but some others designate the sections as adhyāya-s (chapters) and also indicate
the numbers thereof. The several colophons read :

INTRODUCTION XXI

1. Karaṇāvatāraḥ
2. Nakṣatrādicchedaḥ
3. Iti Pauliśasiddhāntaḥ
4. Iti Karaṇādhyāyaś caturthaḥ
5. Iti Śaśidarśanam
6. Candragrahaṇe ṣaṣṭhodhyāyaḥ
7. Pauliśasiddhānte ravigrahaṇam
8. Iti Romakasiddhānte 'rkagrahaṇam aṣṭamo 'dhyāyaḥ
9. Iti Sūryasiddhānte 'rkagrahaṇam navamo 'dhyāyaḥ
10. Candragrahaṇam daśamo 'dhyāyaḥ
11. A(nu)varṇanam ekādaśo 'dhyāyaḥ
12. Iti Paitāmahasiddhānte dvādaśo 'dhyāyaḥ
13. Trailokyadarśanam nāma trayodaśo 'dhyāyaḥ
14. Iti Chedyakayantrāṇi caturdaśo 'dhyāyaḥ
15. Jyotiṣopaniṣat pañcadaśo 'dhyāyaḥ
16. Sūryasiddhānte madhyagatiḥ
17. Tārāgrahasphuṭīkaraṇam ṣoḍaśo (? saptadaśo) 'dhyāyaḥ
18. Pauliśasiddhānte tārāgrahāḥ
    However, whether there be full chapter headings and chapter numbers or there be only the men-
    tion of the topics in the colophons, the commencement of a new subject helps to ascertain the
    beginnings of the chapters. The omission of the specification of the chapter headings and numbers
    has to be ascribed to the imperfections in the original archetype.
    This helps us to correct Pingree's edition where Chs. XVI and XVII are taken as a single chapter,
    which he numbers as XVI. Now, after eleven verses, here, there occurs the colophon 'Sūryasid-
    dhānte madhyagatiḥ', which is the subject of those eleven verses. After still another fourteen verses
    occurs in the colophon 'Tārāgrahasphuṭīkaraṇam ṣoḍaśo 'dhyāyaḥ', and an entirely different subject is
    treated in those fourteen verses. Ignoring the radical difference in the subjects dealt with in the two
    sets of verses and the colophon after the first set of verses and guided merely by the colophon at
    the end of the second set of verses, Pingree combines the two sets of verses, 11 plus 14 = 25, to con-
    stitute ch. XVI and takes ch. XVIII of TS and of the present edition as ch. XVII.
    7. Chapter XVIII of Pañcasiddhāntikā
    The theme of Ch. XVIII is the heliacal rising and setting of the star-planets according to the
    Vāsiṣṭha and Pauliśa schools. Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and Mercury are treated, in that order,
    in verses 1-56, and certain allied matters in verses 57-60. In verse 61 the author states that he, Var-
    āhamihira, hailing from Avanti, has composed the PS for the benefit of students. In the next verse,
    62, he asks astronomers dissatisfied with Pradyumna and Vijayanandi, to resort to his work. Having
    thus completed his treatise, couched entirely in the Āryā metre, following a convention, adopted by
    Sanskrit writers, of concluding works by a closing colophonic verse couched in a different metre,
    VM breaks into a different metre, the Vasantatilakā, for the purpose :
    āvantyakaḥ samāsāc chiṣyahitārtham sphuṭāṅkasamam |
    cakre Varāhamihiras tārāgrahakārikātantram || 61 ||
    Pradyumna-bhūmitanaye jīve saure 'tha Vijayanandikṛte |
    budhe ca bhagnotsāhaḥ sphuṭam idam karaṇam bhajatām || 62 ||

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.

INTRODUCTION XXIII
Ch.I. 17-25 Romaka Lords of the days of the month
Ch.II 1-13 Vāsiṣṭha
1 " True Sun (Ravi-sphuṭa)
2-6 " True Moon (Candra-sphuṭa)
7 " Nakṣatra computation
7 " Tithi computation
8 " Day-time (Aharmāna)
9-10 " Gnomonic shadow (Śaṅkucchāyā)
11-13 " Lagna
Ch.III 1-37 Pauliśa
1-3 " True Sun (Ravi-sphuṭa)
4 " True motion of Moon (Candragati)
5 " Equation of the centre (Mandaphala)
6-9 " Sense obscure
10 " Cāra
11-12 " Day-time (Aharmāna)
13-14 " Deśāntara
15 " Local time (Iṣṭadeśakāla)
16 " Nakṣatra computation
17 " Sun's daily motion (Ravi-gati)
18-19 " Karaṇa-s
20-22 " Vyatīpāta and Vaidhṛti
23-24 " Ṣaḍaśīti-kāla
25 " Solstices (Ayana)
26 " Saṅkrānti-kāla
27 " Tridinaspṛk-yoga
28-29 " Rāhu (Node)
30-31 " Moon's latitude (Candra-vikṣepa)
32 " Bhadraviṣṇu, defect in
33 " Pādāditya, defect in
34-35 " Romaka, defect in
36-37 General Astronomy, importance of
Ch.IV 1-58 General Problems of Time, Space and Direction
(Tripraśna)
1-15 " Table of R sines (Jyāḥ)
16-18 " Declination of Sun and Moon (Krānti)
19-22 " Gnomonic shadow and derivatives
(śaṅkucchāyā)
23-25 " Sine colatitude and Day-diameter
(Lambajyā and Dinamāna)
26-28 " Cara and derivatives

XXIV PAÑCASIDDHĀNTIKĀ
Ch. IV. 29-30 " Rt. ascensional difference
(Laṅkodaya-rāśimāna)
31-34 " Rising of signs (Rāśyudaya)
35-36 " Gnomonic shadow (Śaṅkucchāyā)
37-38 " Astronomer's qualifications
39-40 " Sine amplitude (Agrā)
41-49 " Gnomonic shadow at required time
(Iṣṭacchāyā)
50-51 " Moon's shadow (Candracchāyā)
52-54 " Directions from shadow (Diksādhana)
55-58 " Sun from gnomonic shadow
(chāyātaḥ raviḥ)
Ch. V 1-10 Paulīśa Moon's horns (Candraśṛṅgonnati)
Ch. VI 1-14 Vāsiṣṭha and Lunar eclipse (Candragrahaṇam)
Paulīśa
Ch. VII 1-6 Paulīśa Solar eclipse (Ravi-grahaṇa)
Ch. VIII 1-18 Romaka Solar Eclipse (Ravi-grahaṇa)
Ch. IX 1-27 Saura Solar eclipse (Ravi-grahaṇa)
Ch. X 1-7 Saura Lunar eclipse (Candra-grahaṇa)
Ch. XI 1-6 General Eclipse diagram (Grahaṇaparilekhā)
Ch. XII 1-6 Paitāmaha
1-2 " Days from epoch (Ahargaṇa)
3-4 " Tithi, Nakṣatra etc.
4 " Vyatīpāta
5 " Day-time (Aharmāna)
Ch. XIII 1-42 General Situation of ther worlds
(Trailokyasaṁsthānam)
Ch. XIV 1-41 General Astronomical instruments
(Chedyaka-yantrāṇi)
Ch. XV 1-29 General Jyotiṣopaniṣat
Ch. XVI 1-11 Saura Mean planets
1-9 " Mean planets (Graha-madhya)
10-11 " Bīja correction by VM

INTRODUCTION XXV
Ch. XVII. 1-14 Saura True planets
1-11a " True planets (Graha-sphuṭa)
11b " Retrograde motion (Vakragati)
12 " Heliacal rising (Grahāstodaya)
13-14 " Planetary latitudes (Graha-vikṣepa)
Ch.XVIII 1-60 Vāsiṣṭha-Pauliśa Heliacal rising and setting of planets
(Grahāstodaya)
1-5 " Venus (Śukra)
6-13 " Jupiter (Guru)
14-20 " Saturn (Śani)
21-35 " Mars (Kuja)
36-56 " Mercury (Budha)
57-60 " Hints
61-63 General Conclusion of PS
64-81 Spurious
Supplement True planets
64-66 " Introduction
67-69 " True Mars
70-72 " True Mercury
73-75 " True Jupiter
76-78 " True Venus
79-81 " True Saturn
10. Depiction of the Siddhāntas in PS
The above Content Analysis of the PS would enable the identification of the extent of selective depiction
of the different siddhāntas by VM in the work, as shown below.
PAULIŚA-SIDDHĀNTA Ṣaḍaśītikāla III.23-24
Candra-vikṣepa III.30-31
Ahargaṇa I.11-13 Rāhu III.28-29
Nakṣatra III.16 Candra-grahaṇa VI.1-14
Mandaphala III.5 Ravi-grahaṇa VII.1-6
Ravigati III.17 Candraśr̥ṅgonnati V.1-10
Raviphuṭa III.1-3 Grahāstodaya XVIII.1-60
Candra-sphuṭa III.4
Ayana III.25
Saṅkrānti III.26 ROMAKA-SIDDHĀNTA
Tridinaspr̥kyoga III.27
Deśāntara III.13-14 Ahargaṇa I.8-10
Cara III.10 Yuga I.14-16
Aharmāna III.11-12 Lord of the year I.17-18, 21
Iṣṭadeśakāla III.15 Lord of the month I.19, 21
Karaṇa III.18-19 Lord of the Horā I.20, 21
Vyatīpāta III.20-22 Lord of the Days I.23-25
Vaidhṛti III.20-22 Ravi-grahaṇa VIII.1-18

XXVI PAÑCASIDDHĀNTIKĀ
SAURA-SIDDHĀNTA Candra-sphuṭa II.2-6
Nakṣatra II.7
Yuga I.14-16 Tithi II.7
Lord of the year I.17-18, 21 Aharmāna II.8
Lord of the month I.19, 21 Śaṅkucchāyā II.9-10
Lord of the Horā I.20, 21 Lagna II.11-13
Graha-madhya XVI.1-11 Candra-grahaṇa VI.1-14
Graha-sphuṭa XVII.1-11 Grahāstodaya XVIII.1-60
Graha-vikṣepa XVII.13-14
Candra-grahaṇa X.1-7 PAITĀMAHA-SIDDHĀNTA
Ravi-grahaṇa IX.1-27 Ahargaṇa XII.1-2
Grahāstodaya XVII.11-12 Nakṣatra XII.3
Tithi XII.3
VĀSIṢṬHA-SIDDHĀNTA Vyatīpāta XII.4
Ravi-sphuṭa II.1 Aharmāna XII.5
With regard to the Chapters and verses not included in the above table, some, like chapters XI
to XV, and several verses, are of a general nature, applicable to all the siddhāntas and in the case
of the others it is difficult to identify positively the siddhāntas to which they pertain.
11. Comparative Study of the Siddhāntas
It can be seen from the above Table that several of the topics selected by VM from the different
siddhāntas for depiction in the PS are common. This should enable a comparative study of the
common topics, the more important of which are noticed in the Table below.
In this connection it is necessary to point out, an erroneous view current, to the effect, that the
Pauliśa siddhānta is accurate, the Romaka is equally accurate, the Saura is still more accurate and that
the Vāsiṣṭha and Paitāmaha highly inaccurate. This view has been brought into vogue through two
unwarranted emendations introduced by TS and NP into the text of the following verse in the PS:
Pauliśatithis sphuṭo 'sau tasyāsannas tu Romaka-proktaḥ |
spaṣṭataraḥ sāvitraḥ pariśeṣau dūravibhraṣṭau || PS. I.4
‘The tithi resulting from Pauliśa is tolerably accurate and that of the Romaka approximate
to that. The tithi of the Saura is very accurate. But that of the remaining two (viz., the Vāsiṣṭha
and the Paitāmaha) have slipped far away (from the real).’
Here VM speaks only about the tithi, (lunar day), as computed during his time according to the
different siddhāntas; He is not making a relative estimate of the siddhāntas as such or in respect of
the various other computations. As elucidated in the Note to this verse in the body of this book (p.5) :
“The five Siddhāntas are compared here with reference to their tithi alone because that is the
chief of the five aṅgas, viz., tithi, vāra, nakṣatra, yoga and karaṇa; that is most useful not only for
religous purposes but also for civil purposes; that is independent of the origin of reference in
the ecliptic and can be examined for correctness by observation of eclipses and heliacal rising;
and that is used in finding the days from Epoch, the sine qua non of all astronomical computation.
“This being the case, the change of tithi into kṛta by the late Dr. G. Thibaut and M.M.
Sudhakara Dvivedi (TS for short), especially when the manuscripts read only tithi or titha, is
unwarranted, to say the least. Doing this, they have condemned the Vāsiṣṭha Siddhānta beyond

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.

XXVIII PAÑCASIDDHĀNTIKĀ
Personal details about VM are forthcoming from his own writings as also from those of others.
Towards the close of his Bṛhajjātaka, VM says:
Ādityadāsa-tanayas tadavāptabodhaḥ
Kāpittakaḥ savitṛlabdhavaraprasādaḥ |
Avantiko munimatāny avalokya samyag
Horām Varāhamihiro ruciram cakāra ||
(Br.J. 26.1 (Edn. Triv. Skt. Ser., No.91)
Thus VM was the son of Ādityadāsa; he learnt the śāstra from his own father; his native place was
Kāpitthaka; he was blessed by Lord Sun (at Kāpitthaka). He (later) resided at Avanti (Ujjain)
where he composed his work Horā (Bṛhajjātaka). On Kapitthaka VM's commentator Utpala says :
Kāpitthākhye grāme yo 'sau bhagavān savitā sūryaḥ, tasmāt labdhaḥ prāpto varaḥ prasādo yena ('In the vil-
lage of Kāpittha where he received the blessing of God Sun'). Kāpitthaka, the native village of VM,
has been identified by Ajay Mitra Shastri (vide his India as seen by Varāhamihira, (MLBD, Delhi,
1969, p.19) on the basis of the mention thereof by 7th century Chinese traveller Yuan Chwang with
Kāpittha populary known as "Saṅkāśya (modern Sankisa) in the Farrukhabad district of Uttar
Pradesh...."
Utpala states in his commentary on VM's Bṛhatsaṁhitā (I.1) that VM was a 'Magadhadvija' : tad
ayam apy Āvantyakācāryo Magadhadvija-Varāhamihiraḥ arkalabdhavaraprasādo jyotiśśāstrasaṅgrahakṛt,
(Ed. Sarasvati Bhavana Granthamālā, Varanasi, 1968, p.2). Utpala makes such a statement also in
his commentary on VM's Yogayātrā. This and the surname 'Mihira' which is borne by many Śāka-
dvīpa brāhmaṇas, who are worshippers of the Sun, would indicate that VM belonged to this clan
of Brāhmaṇas whose forefathers migrated to India from the Maga country in Persia and settled in
the village of Kāpitthaka whence VM came to the city of Ujjain where he wrote his works.
By all accounts, Varāhamihira had the Sun as his tutelary deity. To quote A.M. Shastri (op. cit.,
pp. 20-21) :
'That Varāhamihira was a devotee of the Sun admits of no doubt. His father's name was
Ādityadāsa, his own name-ending 'Mihira', derived from 'Mithra', the Iranian Sun-god, his
obtaining a boon from the Sun, his obeisance to the Sun in all his works except the
Vivāhapaṭala, (which, appropriately enough, opens with an invocation to Kāma, the Indian
god of love), and his devoting a comparatively larger number of verses to the description of
Sūrya icons, all indicate that the sun was his family deity. His son Pṛthuyaśas also invokes the
Sun in the opening verse of his Ṣaṭpañcāśikā. As we have seen, Varāhamihira was regarded as
an incarnation of the Sun.'
The fame of VM has given rise to several legends about his birth and incidents in his life, includ-
ing his being a courtier of King Vikrama and one of the nine gems (nava-ratnas) in his court. All
these have to be considered as more fable and eological, not based on facts.
Varāhamihira was an astute astronomer and astrologer and wrote extensively on all the three
branches of the science, viz., Tantra or mathematical astronomy, Horā (Jātaka) or horoscopy, and
Saṁhitā or mundane or natural astrology. It is interesting that for all his major works, VM has
prepared abridged versions also for the benefit of those who desist from works which are too
lengthy, who, as Utpala says, are vistaragrantha-bhīru-s.

INTRODUCTION <span style="float: right;">XXIX</span>
On Tantra the major work of VM is the Pañcasiddhāntikā in eighteen chapters. It would seem
from a statement of Utpala towards the beginning of his commentary on VM’s Laghujātaka that VM
had prepared an abridgement also of that work Cf. Varāhamihira ..... jyotiśśāstrasaṅgrahaṁ kṛtvā
tadeva vistara-grantha-bhīrūṇāṁ kṛte’ ‘saṅkṣiptaṁ gaṇitaśāstraṁ’ kṛtvā horāśāstraṁ vaktukāmaḥ etc.
On horoscopy VM has produced two works, the Bṛhajjātaka, called also Horāśāstra in 26 chapters,
and its abridged version, the Laghujātaka, called also Svalpa-jātaka and Sūkṣmajātaka, in thirteen
chapters.
On natural or mundane astrology also VM has two works, the Bṛhatsaṁhitā called also Vārāhī-
saṁhitā in 106 chapters and Samāsasaṁhitā, known also as Laghu-saṁhitā and Svalpa-saṁhitā known
through quotations. These are works of an encyclopaedic nature, dealing with astrological and
many other subjects of human interest, such as architecture and iconography, water divining,
omens, cosmetics, horticulture, characteristics of animals, gemmology, weapons, species of men
and women and their qualities and the like. A wide range of information on the geography of India
and its people is also to be round in the Bṛhatsaṁhitā. Vaṭakaṇikā, which exists only in the form of
quotations, is a work of VM on omens.
On military astrology, three works of VM are available; (i) Mahāyātrā, known also as Bṛhadyātrā,
Bṛhadyogayātrā, Yakṣyeśvamedhikāh-yatrā (based in the commencing expression yakṣye 'svamedhena
vijitya in the second verse of the work), (ii) Svalpayātrā or Ṭikaṇikāyātrā, and (iii) Yogayātrā.
On marital horoscopy, VM has written a work entitled Vivāhapaṭala, and according to Utpala,
there is also a Svalpavivāhapaṭala (vide. his com. on Bṛhajjātaka XX. 10). More than 30 more texts are
mentioned, in manuscripts and elsewhere, to have been composed by VM (Cf. A.M. Shastri, op. cit.,
pp. 29-31) but these lack authenticity in their ascription.
Alongside his wide range of scholarship, VM’s writings are also characterised by chaste language,
brevity and linguistic elegance. He is a master not only of expression but also of metre. In illustra-
tion of his poetic talents one might refer to the figures of speech expressed through verses XIX. 13-15
of the Bṛhatsaṁhitā describing Agastyodaya, the rising of the star Agastya. In the same work,
Bṛhatsaṁhitā, he utilises the entire chapter 104, containing 64 verses, the Gocarādhyāya (‘Transits
of planets’), to illustrate the metres, including the daṇḍaka-s, alongside depicting the subject
proper. It is also instructive that the names of the several metres are also deftly incorporated in the
verses by means of śleṣa or double entandre. Utpala is not, perhaps off the mark when he says, towards
the commencement of his commentary on Bṛhatsaṁhitā, extolling VM as an incarnation of the Sun :
Yac cāstram savitā cakāra vipulam skandhatrayair jyautiṣam
tasyocchittibhayāt punaḥ kaliyuge saṁsṛjya yo bhūtalam |
bhūyaḥ svalpataram Varāhamihira-vyājena sarvam vyadhād
ittham yaṁ pravadanti mokṣakuśalās tasmai namo bhāsvate
‘The science of Jyautiṣa in its triple aspects (of Tantra, Jātaka, and Saṁhitā) was propounded at
length by God Sun. Fearing that it would be lost in the Kali age, God Sun incarnated in the world
in the form of Varāhamihira and expounded all (the said three aspects) again in shorter form. So
say about the Sun those who are knowledgeable about salvation. Obeisance to that Sun.’
Madras
January 4, 1993 <span style="float: right;">K.V. SARMA</span>