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Art. XIV.—Brief Notes on the Age and Authenticity of the Works of Âryabhaṭa, Varâhamihira, Brahmagupta, Bhaṭṭotpala, and Bhâskarâchârya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Extract

The name of this celebrated astronomer is written either Âryabhaṭa or Âryabhaṭṭa, but generally with one ṭ only. In an old manuscript of the Brahma Sphuṭa Siddhânta of Brahmagupta, copied in Samvat 1678, or A.D. 1621, the name occurs about thirty-three times, and is invariably written Âryabhata; and a double ṭ cannot be introduced without violating the Âryâ metre.

Type
Original Communications
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1865

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References

page 392 note 1 Colebrooke states that Brahmagupta cites Âryabhaṭa “in more than a hundred places by name.” Misc. Eṡs. vol. ii. p. 475.Google Scholar He evidently includes citations or allusions by the learned commentator Chaturveda Pṛthûdaka Svâmin, whose commentary I regret I do not possess.

page 393 note 1 A Historical View of the Hindu Astronomy. London, 1825, p. 128Google Scholar

page 393 note 2 Ibidem, pp. 168, 169.

page 393 note 3 Colebrooke's, Misc. Ess. vol. ii. p. 477.Google Scholar

page 393 note 4 Ibid. p. 467.

page 394 note 1 Indische Alterthumskunde, vol. ii., p. 1136Google Scholar.

page 394 note 2 See Colebrooke's, Misc. Ess. ii. p. 467.Google Scholar To the friendly offices of Mr. Gundert, a German missionary in India, I am indebted for a copy of this work, from a MS. in the possession of the Râjâ of Kerkal, in Malabar. It is here called Daṣagîtaka Sûtra. I have also received from him a copy of the Âryabhaṭṭîya.

page 394 note 3 C. M. Whish names this work in the first dissertation mentioned in note 1, p 1134, as well as in the second: On the Quadrature of the Circle, etc., in Trans, of the Roy. As. Soc. iii. p. 509.Google Scholar Also Masûdî and Albdîrûndî record it; see Rcinaud's, Mémoire, etc., pp. 321 and 322.Google Scholar

page 395 note 1 See Coll, Wilson's Mackenzie. i. p. 119, No. v.Google Scholar The title is Sûrya Siddântaprakâṣa, and it contains the Sûtras of the Sûrya Siddhânta, with Âryabhṭṭa's commentary, and explanations of it by a later author of the sixteenth century. The work contains three chapters with the superscriptions: Gaṇita, i.e. Arithmetic, Algebra, and Geometry, Kâlakriyâ., by which very likely the doctrine of the calculation of the great periods must be understood; the title Gola of the third chapter designates the Globe, but is intended to denote Astronomy. Albîrûnî mentions a Tantra of Âryabhaṭṭa; See Reinaud's, Mémoire, p. 335.Google Scholar In the commentary of Paramâdîṣvara on Âryabhaṭṭa's explanation of the Sûrya Siddhânta (called Sûrya-Siddhaânta-vyaâkhyâna, and surnamed by the special title Bhaṭṭîyadîpikû, the title of which Mr. Gundert has communicated to me, and which work is likely to be the same with the one adduced in the Mackenzie Collection, vol. ii. p. 121,Google Scholarnamed Âryabhaṭṭa-vyâkhyâna), the work of Âryabhaṭṭa is called Tantra-Bhaṭṭîya.

page 395 note 2 On the Ârya-Siddhânta. By Hall, Fitzedward, Esq., M.A. Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. vi. p. 659,Google Scholar

page 396 note 1 Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. vi. pp. 561 and 564.Google Scholar

page 397 note 1 P. 387.

page 399 note 1 Colebrooke's, Misc. Ess., vol. ii. p. 467.Google Scholar

page 399 note 2 Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. vi. p. 560,Google Scholar

page 399 note 3 See the Siddhânta Kaumudî of Bhâṭṭojî Dîxita. Calcutta, 1864, vol. i. p. 369.Google Scholar

page 403 note 1 Colebrooke's, Misc. Ess., vol. ii. p. 392.Google Scholar

page 403 note 2 Journal American Oriental Society, vol. vi. p. 558,Google Scholar

page 404 note 1 Journ. Roy. As. Soc. vol. xx. 1863, p. 376Google Scholar.

page 404 note 2 Ibid. p. 378. The couplet in the Âryabhaṭîya is as follows:—

page 405 note 1 Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. vi. p. 561.Google Scholar

page 406 note 1 Varâha Mihira calls himself the son of ÂdityadÂsa, under whom he studied and obtained the highest gift from the Sun in Kapitthaka (a grÂma, according to Bhaṭṭotpala), and an Âvantika, or native of Ujjayinî. Bhaṭṭotpala calls him a Mâgadha brâhmaṇa, or dvijavara (best of Brâhmaṇas), and Âvantikâchârya. Varâha's son was Pṛthuyaṣas, who composed the Shaṭpanchâṣikâ, on which also Bhaṭṭotpala has a commentary.

page 406 note 2 The passage is given by DrKern, , Jour. Eoy. As. Soc. vol. xx. p. 383.Google Scholar

page 407 note 1 Colebrooke's, Misc. Ess., vol. ii. p. 482.Google Scholar

page 407 note 2 Journal Asiatique, tome iv. 1844, p. 285.Google Scholar

page 408 note 1 Journal Bombay Branch Royal Asiatic Society, 1862, vol. vi.Google Scholar

page 409 note 1

page 409 note 2 See Journal As. Soc. Bengal, 1845, p. 810.Google Scholar

page 410 note 1 ProfessorMüller, Max, Preface to the Rigveda, iv. pp. xiv. f.Google Scholar

page 416 note 1 Gaganechara.

page 416 note 2 The Mîmânsâ as propounded by Bhaṭṭa Kumârila.

page 416 note 3 In the Mîmânsâ Ṣâstra. Prabhâkara and Murâri Miṣra were the founders of two other schools, besides Kumârila Bhaṭṭa.

page 416 note 4 The three sciences (Skandhas) are Gaṇita, Horâ, and Sanhitâ.

page 417 note 1 Cage, in the original.

page 417 note 2 Or 1600 villages.

page 417 note 3 The following adjectives are equally applicable to the brothers Sonhadeva and Hemâḍideva.

page 418 note 1 A syllable lost: the word means a place, but here is evidently intended to mean the first gifts, Agradâna.