बृहत्संहिता (आचार्य वराहमिहिर - स्थापत्य, खगोल, मौसम व जल विज्ञान)

v written Samhitas. He refers to them and sometimes quotes them and gives his views in addition, for the benefit of mankind (vide I-5). The पराशरतन्त्र (Parasara Tantra) is partly in prose and partly in verse of अनुष्टुभ् (Anushtub) and आर्या (Arya) type. The geographical details given in Chapter XIV are taken with slight changes from this तन्त्र (Tantra). So, it can be said to be the geography of India at the time of Parasara. According to tradition, it was Varahamihira that fixed the sphere at the beginning of Aswini (Cf. III-1). His style, though at times archaic, is simple, grace- ful and pithy, bearing the stamp of individuality and affinity to सुश्रुत (Susruta) and Kalidasa. That is the reason why he was ranked among the nine gems of the Court of Vikrama.) The author was the son of आदित्यदास (Adityadasa) of Ujjain (बृ. जा. XXVIII-9). The Astronomers of Ujjain have held that वराह (Varaha) belonged to the 427th year of Saka era or 505 A. D. This date is confirmed by Albi- runi also as that of the composition of his पञ्चसिद्धान्तिका (Pancha Siddhantika). But Dr. Bhau Daji declares that वराह (Varaha) died in 587 A. D. Hence it should be concluded that 505 A. D. is the date of his birth and not of his composition. Scholars hold that वराह (Varaha) quotes आर्यभट (Aryabhata) who was born in 476 A. D. This also points to the above conclusion regarding the date of his birth. About the statement made in the ज्योतिर्विदाभरण (Jyotirvidabharana) we can only say that it was not written by Kalidasa, the author of Raghu- vamsa, etc. Probably there were many Kalidasas and one such was the one belonging to the 6th century A. D.