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

lii सिद्धान्त दर्पण
dates of the former class may be reduced to those
of the latter class. It will be further observed that
Munjala, the earliest writer of the set, makes the
closest approximation to the mean, Satananda
seems to have committed an error seeing that he
assigns Saka 450 as the starting year. Madhava
Misra, a commentator of his, makes the same
remark and suggests that the Saka year 421 ought-
to be taken incalculations.¹
From what has been described above the Saka
year 421 or 427 appears to mark the beginning of
the fixed zodiac. It is difficult to prefer one to the
other. The Saka year 421 is equivalent to the year
3600 of the Kali yuga, and the fact of its being so,
goes in its favour. Besides, it is the year in which
Aryabhtta composed his work, a work which
enjoyed a wide reputation. Lalla, whose Tantra
Bhaskara condescended to criticised adopted the
year 421 Saka, and the writer of modern
Surya-Siddhanta evidently held the same view while
writing the ayanamsa rule.
On the other hand, the great popularity of
Varaha-mihira leads us to suppose that the present
system of the zodiac had its beginning in Saka 427,
and I belive all the anomalies noticed before may
be better explained by accepting the year. We have
an authority for our view in the pancha-siddhantika
itself. The often-quoted verse in which Varaha-

1. The copy from which the remarks are made was printed
   in Benares in Samvat 1942. It is full of mistakes, but the
   sense is clear. It is curious to note that Satananda, while
   basing his work on the Surya-Siddhanta, gives a higher
   rate than what is given by the latter Madhava Misra tries
   to justify this rate by altering the rule.