A History of Sanskrit Literature c35.s3.4

c35.s3.4

In addition to Lāṭa and Āryabhaṭa, Varāhamihira mentions Siṅha, Pradyumna, and Vijayanandin. His own work lay mainly in the field of astrology, but his *Pañcasiddhāntikā* is of very high historical importance, despite its obscurity through the corruption of the text and lack of old commentaries. Albērūnī thought well of him, and he shows common sense, as when he declines to accept conjunctions of planets as explaining eclipses. Much more important was Brahmagupta, born A. D. 598, son of Jiṣṇu of Bhillamalla near Multan, who wrote his *Brāhma Siddhānta*² or *Sphuṭa Siddhānta* in 628; as has been said, this is believed traditionally to be based on a section of the *Viṣṇudharmottara*, but it may be rather that that version is borrowed from Brahmagupta. In 665 he wrote the *Khaṇḍakhādyaka*,³ a Karaṇa, that is, a practical treatise giving material in a convenient shape for astronomical calculations, but this was based on a lost work of Āryabhaṭa, who again agreed with the *Sūrya Siddhānta*. Brahmagupta is essentially on the same level as that text, but he is far more systematic and complete, and in chapter xi of the *Siddhānta* he attacks very severely Āryabhaṭa in a tone which called down upon him the just censure of Albērūnī. It is clear also that he was under the control of orthodoxy more than his predecessor, while, like him, he excelled in mathematics. One chapter of the *Siddhānta* he devotes to solving astronomical problems.