Description
About the Book
The Pancasiddhantika by Varaha Mihira occupies a marked position of its own in Indian astronomical literature. The work is a treatise on mathematical astronomy and it summarises five earlier astronomical treatises, namely the Surya Siddhant Romaka Siddhant Paulisa Siddhant Vasistha Siddhanta and Paitamaha Siddhanta. It is a compendium of Vedanga Jyotisa as well as Hellenistic astronomy (including Greek, Egyptian and Roman elements).
Pancasiddhantika belongs to the class of the so-called karanagranthas i.e., compendious astronomical treatises which do not set forth the theory of the subject at comparative length as the Siddhantas do, but merely supply a set of concise and often only approximately correct rules which suffice for the speedy performance of all the more important astronomical calculations.
It however contains a few chapters whose contents lie outside the limits of a mere karana and resemble the corresponding chapters of the best known Siddhantas; notably the chapter which describes the general constitution of the universe, and the 15th chapter called Jyotisopanisad. And it of course decidely distinguishes itself from all ordinary karanas by the fact that it does not base on any one particular Siddhant but undertakes to reproduce the more important doctrines of five different Siddhantas.
The present book is the first newly recomposed edition of Pancasiddhantika with by original Sanskrit text, Sanskrit commentary Pancasiddhanta-prakasika’ and English translation of G.Thibaut.