सिद्धान्तदर्पण (महामहोपाध्याय सामन्त चन्द्रशेखर सिंह - नग्न-नेत्र खगोल वेध एवं गणित महाकोश)

xxviii सिद्धान्त दर्पण
the metrical composition alone, apart from its value
as a contribution to Hindu astronomy is such as to
entitle him to a high place among the writers of
Sanskrit verse of the present day. It contains, as he
tells us at the end of the work, 2,500 slokas of
various poetical metres. Of these 2,284 verses have
been composed by him and the remaining 216
quoted from the old Siddhantas. Of the latter, the
Surya-Siddhanta and the Siddhanta-Siromani have
been very largely drawn upon. Indeed, as Bhaskara
has Brahmagupta for his guide, when writing his
Siromani, Chandrasekhara has, in the main,
followed in the footsteps of Bhaskara.
But Chandrasekhara has not been a blind
follower of his master. The elements of the planets,
given by Bhaskara, have not been accepted by his
disciple, and for the simple reason, that they are
not correct for the present day. Bhaskara's elements
are not accurate, though there is no reason for
doubting the accuracy of his observations. This fact
is, he had to depend upon his predecessors -
probably Brahmagupta was his main guide - for the
positions of the planets and was thus led to
erroneous results.
Chandrasekhara had the advantage of
Bhaskara's observations. The latter has, of course,
nowhere recorded his observations. But given his
date and his elements, it is easy to find the positions
of the planets as he must have observed them. For
the elements if employed to calculate the positions
of the planets after a long interval, may lead us to
wrong results; but, it employed for places nearer
his time, will be in accordance with his observations.
Thus, furnished with one set of position at a given
date, Chandrasekhara himself supplied the other