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

XX PAÑCASIDDHĀNTIKĀ ii. Thibaut and Dvivedi who print their emended text in the right hand column of their edition do not specifically indicate their emendations and one has to identify the emendations oneself. Pin- gree indicates his emendations in many places by angular brackets but in many other places prints the emended text without any indication. In the present edition, all their emendations are iden- tified and noticed in the footnotes denoting them by the sigla C and D. When these emendations are accepted in the present edition also, they are not separately marked as above. This procedure is expected to enable the comparison between the emendations of TS and NP and those made in this edition and evaluate the merit and appropriateness between the two. In fact, it is felt that many of the emendations of TS and NP, especially of the latter, are often far-fetched, ungrammatical, offending the metre or failing to give a cogent sense. See, for example, the TS/NP emendations in I.23; IX.5; XI.2, 4, 5; XII.5a, 5d; XIII.38d, 41d: XVII.1, 12; XVIII.2d, 3, 19, 24, 25. iii. In order that a discerning student of the text shall have before him, in full, what occurs in the several manuscripts, an attempt has been made to record all variants, right or wrong. This has been done for three reasons : (a) Correct forms of corrupt passages can be visualized only if all the rea- dings, as found in the manuscripts, are before one’s eyes; (b) Then alone would it be possible for an editor to vindicate the emendations suggested by him; (c) The corrupt and apparently meaning- less readings in the manuscripts which the editor could not correct or has wrongly emended can be corrected or better emendations suggested by other scholars if all the variants are given. However, obvious errors of a purely scribal nature, like separate words written jointly, using anusvāra for anunāsika and vice versa, using double consonants for single consonants and vice versa, giving the benefit of doubt for a letter that could be read rightly or wrongly, have been cor- rected silently and not noticed in the footnotes. 4. Translation The translation provided in the edition is as literal as possible without sacrificing readability and not going against the English idiom. Elucidatory expressions and words which are understood in the context are added within brackets, the ultimate aim being to make the matter dealt with clear and fully understood. Topical headings have been provided to verses or groups of verses with the same objective, again, towards the above-said objective. 5. Notes The notes added are generally detailed and self-contained. There again, they seek to elucidate the verses and the underlying ideas, primarily from the Indian standpoint. Tables and geometrical diagrams are provided wherever warranted. Quite often, the need for the emendations suggested in the text is explained. The emendations made by TS and NP are also examined and observations offered. An aspect of the Notes which deserves special mention is the addition of self-suggested mathematical or astronomical problems and working them out according to methods enunciated in the verses, and also by employing modern methods. Introductions are prefixed for several chap- ters, towards setting out the significance of the contents of the respective chapters. 6. Division of Pañcasiddhāntikā The colophons of the several Sections of PS, as found in the manuscripts, which all go back to a defective archetype, are uneven. Some of the colophons merely mention the topic treated in the respective sections but some others designate the sections as adhyāya-s (chapters) and also indicate the numbers thereof. The several colophons read :