सिद्धान्तशिरोमणि: गणिताध्याय (भास्कराचार्य - ग्रहगणित, मध्यमाधिकार व स्पष्टाधिकार सटीक)

which the ‘Sāvitra’ was more accurate. Brahmagupta³ says, again, that he was giving a clear presentation of the ancient Brahma Siddhānta which got obsolete by a long lapse of time. In the wake of these statements and a number of others, is it not right to construe that there did exist some ancient astronomical texts which are lost to us. If, as asserted by a host of modern interpreters, we think that there was only the crude Vedāṅgajyotiṣa, before Aryabhaṭa, does it not tantamount to saying that these three great astronomers (leave others) were impostors, who, having derived their knowledge from a foreign source, simply claimed that there were existent before them, Saura, Brāhma and some other Siddhāntas which dealt with Graha-gaṇita. It is uncharitable to say that three rational astronomers were sueh impostors. So, we must conclude that there did exist some astronomical activity, which we have no right to call primitive like the Vedāṅgajyotiṣa. Some might think that there might be existing some other texts in between the times of Vedāṅgajyotiṣa and Aryabha but that at the time of the Vedāṅgajyotiṣa⁴ (roughly 1180 B.C.) astronomy in India was that crude. Even this conclusion need not be

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“I am going to tell clearly what has been, the best, what has been kept secret and briefly-worded in a nut shell from out of the works of ancient Acāryas”. “The Siddhānta of pauliśa is allright, the Romaka is very nearly the same, but the Sūryasiddhānta is more accurate, whereas the two others Vāsiṣṭha and paitāmaha are crude”. 3. ब्रह्मोक्तं ग्रहगणितं महता कालेन यत् खिलीभूतम् अभिधीयते स्फुटं तत् जिष्णुसुतब्रह्मगुप्तेन । Verse 2—Ch. I. 4. As per statement आश्लेषाधर्धात् दक्षिणमुत्तरमयनं रवेर्धनिष्ठाद्यम् of Varāhamihira quoting the meaning of the verse. प्रपद्येते श्रविष्ठादौ सूर्याचन्द्रमसावुदक् सार्पार्धे दक्षिणा......Verse 7—Vedāṅgajyotiṣa, the vernal equinoctial point was at the beginning of Dhaniṣṭha, which means that the time was 1180 B.C. approximately.