A History of Sanskrit Literature c35.s2.1

c35.s2.1

Varāhamihira, who is asserted to have died in A. D. 587, and who wrote perhaps *c.* 550, has preserved in his *Pañcasiddhāntikā*² information of the contents of five Siddhāntas of an earlier date. Of these the *Paitāmaha* belonged to the pre-scientific period, but the other four in various degrees showed a new spirit, which it is impossible not to ascribe to Greek influence, which displayed itself also indelibly in the case of astrology. It is significant in the extreme that two of these Siddhāntas bear non-Indian names, the *Romaka*, which must be connected with Rome, and the *Pauliça*, which reminds us of the name of Paulus Alexandrinus, of whom, however, we have preserved only an astrological treatise. The *Sūrya Siddhānta*, in the form in which we have it, asserts that it was revealed by Sūrya to Asura Maya in Romaka, which is significant. The *Romaka* adopts not the Indian Yuga system, but one of its own, namely the Metonic period of nineteen years multiplied by 150 which gives the smallest Yuga exactly divisible into integral numbers of lunar months and civil days. Further, it makes calculations for the meridian¹ of Yavanapura, city of the Greeks; and the *Pauliça*, which does not adopt a constant Yuga, but operates with specially constructed short periods of time, gives the difference in longitude between Yavanapura and Ujjain. The *Romaka* again alone of Indian works operates with the tropical revolutions of the sun and moon, while the *Sūrya Siddhānta* and probably even the *Pauliça* deal with sidereal revolutions. The *Sūrya*, it seems, shows us the process of adaptation of the new science to Indian ideas in its most pronounced state; thus it accepts the Kalpa system, while, on the other hand, it is more precise in doctrine than its rivals; it alone gives a general rule for the equation of the centre, and its full treatment of eclipses contrasts with the meagre rules of the *Romaka* and the rough formulae of the *Pauliça*. The mention of Romaka, of course, need not be interpreted as an allusion to Rome; it is due to the fame of the Roman Empire when the knowledge which came probably from Alexandria came to be associated with the name of the great metropolis.