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

INTRODUCTION <span style="float: right;">XXIX</span> On Tantra the major work of VM is the Pañcasiddhāntikā in eighteen chapters. It would seem from a statement of Utpala towards the beginning of his commentary on VM’s Laghujātaka that VM had prepared an abridgement also of that work Cf. Varāhamihira ..... jyotiśśāstrasaṅgrahaṁ kṛtvā tadeva vistara-grantha-bhīrūṇāṁ kṛte’ ‘saṅkṣiptaṁ gaṇitaśāstraṁ’ kṛtvā horāśāstraṁ vaktukāmaḥ etc. On horoscopy VM has produced two works, the Bṛhajjātaka, called also Horāśāstra in 26 chapters, and its abridged version, the Laghujātaka, called also Svalpa-jātaka and Sūkṣmajātaka, in thirteen chapters. On natural or mundane astrology also VM has two works, the Bṛhatsaṁhitā called also Vārāhī- saṁhitā in 106 chapters and Samāsasaṁhitā, known also as Laghu-saṁhitā and Svalpa-saṁhitā known through quotations. These are works of an encyclopaedic nature, dealing with astrological and many other subjects of human interest, such as architecture and iconography, water divining, omens, cosmetics, horticulture, characteristics of animals, gemmology, weapons, species of men and women and their qualities and the like. A wide range of information on the geography of India and its people is also to be round in the Bṛhatsaṁhitā. Vaṭakaṇikā, which exists only in the form of quotations, is a work of VM on omens. On military astrology, three works of VM are available; (i) Mahāyātrā, known also as Bṛhadyātrā, Bṛhadyogayātrā, Yakṣyeśvamedhikāh-yatrā (based in the commencing expression yakṣye 'svamedhena vijitya in the second verse of the work), (ii) Svalpayātrā or Ṭikaṇikāyātrā, and (iii) Yogayātrā. On marital horoscopy, VM has written a work entitled Vivāhapaṭala, and according to Utpala, there is also a Svalpavivāhapaṭala (vide. his com. on Bṛhajjātaka XX. 10). More than 30 more texts are mentioned, in manuscripts and elsewhere, to have been composed by VM (Cf. A.M. Shastri, op. cit., pp. 29-31) but these lack authenticity in their ascription. Alongside his wide range of scholarship, VM’s writings are also characterised by chaste language, brevity and linguistic elegance. He is a master not only of expression but also of metre. In illustra- tion of his poetic talents one might refer to the figures of speech expressed through verses XIX. 13-15 of the Bṛhatsaṁhitā describing Agastyodaya, the rising of the star Agastya. In the same work, Bṛhatsaṁhitā, he utilises the entire chapter 104, containing 64 verses, the Gocarādhyāya (‘Transits of planets’), to illustrate the metres, including the daṇḍaka-s, alongside depicting the subject proper. It is also instructive that the names of the several metres are also deftly incorporated in the verses by means of śleṣa or double entandre. Utpala is not, perhaps off the mark when he says, towards the commencement of his commentary on Bṛhatsaṁhitā, extolling VM as an incarnation of the Sun : Yac cāstram savitā cakāra vipulam skandhatrayair jyautiṣam tasyocchittibhayāt punaḥ kaliyuge saṁsṛjya yo bhūtalam | bhūyaḥ svalpataram Varāhamihira-vyājena sarvam vyadhād ittham yaṁ pravadanti mokṣakuśalās tasmai namo bhāsvate ‘The science of Jyautiṣa in its triple aspects (of Tantra, Jātaka, and Saṁhitā) was propounded at length by God Sun. Fearing that it would be lost in the Kali age, God Sun incarnated in the world in the form of Varāhamihira and expounded all (the said three aspects) again in shorter form. So say about the Sun those who are knowledgeable about salvation. Obeisance to that Sun.’ Madras January 4, 1993 <span style="float: right;">K.V. SARMA</span>