पञ्चसिद्धान्तिका (आचार्य वराहमिहिर - सूर्य, रोमक, पौलिश, वासिष्ठ एवं पितामह सिद्धान्त)

THE BOOK The Pañcasiddhāntikā of the sixth century astronomer Varāhamihira is a major work on mathematical astronomy of early India, and is particularly significant for the fact that it provides a résumé, though uneven, of five astronomical schools, viz., Vāsiṣṭha, Paitāmaha, Romaka, Pauliśa and Saura, which flourished in India during the early centuries of the Christian era. The full texts of all these systems are now lost, which makes the Pañ- casiddhāntikā all the more significant. All the available manuscripts of the work go back to a defective original. This makes the full and correct understanding of the work difficult and indefinitive, there being also occasional lacunae and obscure passages. These have, in many places, affected adversely the text and the translations of this work as issued earlier, by G. Thibaut and Sudhakara Dvivedi (Be- nares, 1889) and by O. Neugebauer and David Pingree (Copenhagen, 1970). The present Critical edition of the Pañcasiddhāntikā, which makes use of all the available manuscripts of the text as also external testimony, attempts to present a much more perfect text and translation of the work. To the edition has been added an authentic translation of the work with explanatory notes in terms inclusive of modern mathematics, adumbrated by tables and diagrams. Wherever computations are involved, illustrative examples are worked out. Besides an informative and analytical General Introduction, explanatory introduc- tions are prefixed to chapters indicating the contents and the method of approach adopted in those chapters. THE EDITORS Professor T.S. Kuppanna Sastry (1900-1982), M.A., L.T., was a polymath. A Sanskritist by profession, he was also a keen student of the sciences, both eastern and western. His forte was early Indian astronomy, which he studied in comparison with modern astronomy. The combination had given him the insight and analytical skill to understand and appreciate early Indian astronomy in terms of modern astronomy. His publications include critical editions of the Mahābhāskarīya of Bhāskara I with two commentaries, and the Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa with Translation and detailed notes. Jointly with K.V. Sarma, he edited the Vākyakaraṇā of Vararuci with commentary. A number of papers which he wrote on Indian astronomy have been collected together and issued under the title Collected Papers on Jyotisha (Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati, 1989). Professor K.V. Sarma, (b.1919), B.Sc., M.A. (Skt.), D.Litt. (History of Astronomy), formerly Director of the wellknown V.V. Institute of Sanskrit and Indological Studies, Hoshiarpur (Punjab), and presently Hon. Professor of Sanskrit, Adyar Library and Research Centre, Madras, has been a student of Indian astronomy for nearly forty years. He has edited and translated a large number of astronomical texts, mainly produced in Kerala. These include Dṛggaṇita, Grahacāranibandhana, Tantrasaṅgraha, Sphuṭanirṇaya, Rāśigolasphuṭānīti, Goladīpikā, Candrasphuṭāpti and Jyotirmīmāṁsā. He is the author, jointly, of Indian Astronomy: A Source Book (Bombay, 1985). His writings include also about 250 research papers on different subjects including Indian astronomy. Price: Rs. 350/-