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

VI PREFACE When Prof. Sastry passed away in 1982, he left behind his handwritten manuscript which was in different states of perfection. While the earlier chapters were in their final form, chapter XIV had been left untouched and so also were verses 35 to 55 of chapter XVIII. The later chapters, portions of which had been issued in the form of articles, were in their rough draft form. The above-said material was placed in my hands by Dr. T.K. Balasubramanian, Scientist, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Bombay, Prof. Sastry's son, with the suggestion that the same might be duly processed and perfected and made pressworthy and placed before the world of scholars in printed form. As an academic associate of Prof. Sastry for nearly three decades, I accepted the chal- lenge and set to work on it without delay. In this matter I had the cooperation of two eminent scho- lars in astronomy, Prof. K.S. Shukla of Lucknow and Shri. S. Hariharan of Bangalore. Work on Prof. Sastry's manuscript was twofold. The first related to the perfection of the existing Translation and Notes and the supply of the same for the sections which were left out by Prof. Sastry. Prof. Shukla translated Ch. XIV with notes and diagrams and Shri. Hariharan supplied the Translation and Notes for the verses left out in Ch. XVIII. While the above was done at Lucknow and Bangalore, respectively, in Madras, the end chapters were put in proper form. Alongside, the entire manuscript, running to about 500 pages, was duly perfected. This revision work included also such matters as the crosschecking of entries, supply of diacritical marks to Sanskrit expressions, marking off of paragraphs, making the presentation uniform, and several other allied matters. The manuscript, revised as above, had also to be typed out and checked again. The large number of diagrams occurring in the work were also drawn to scale with the use of geometrical instruments and added at appropriate places. The second task related to the critical editing of the textual verses. A draft press copy was pre- pared on the basis of the readings adopted by Prof. Sastry. Copies of all manuscripts of Pañca- siddhāntikā available at different repositories were procured and collated with the draft press copy. The text in the two printed editions and in the external testimonia, which had also been assembled, was collated similarly and the variants recorded. And, on the basis of the above, the final press copy of the critical text was prepared. Varied typography for the half a dozen different items of the edi- tion was also selected to set off the same distinctly in print. The resultant edition, provided with an Introduction and necessary Appendices including a Sub- ject Index, is now placed before scholars. It is to be hoped that this edition of Pañcasiddhāntikā will contribute, in some measure, to the furtherance of the study and appraisal of early Indian mathematics and astronomy. The publication of this volume had been made possible by the generous contribution of friends and patrons of academic studies. The Birlas made a gracious donation of Rs. 20,000/- and Dr. T.K. Balasubramanian, of Rs. 5,000/-. The Rashtriya Veda Vidya Pratishthan, New Delhi, has extended the major financial assistance in the form of purchasing copies of the book amounting to about rupees one lakh. The most profound thanks are due to the above named patrons for their kind gesture. Thanks are due to the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona, Oriental Institute, Baroda, and National Library, Calcutta, for their kind coöperation