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Mathematics in Ancient and Medieval India c4.s3.t3: Varāhamihira (c. 505–587 A.D.)

Mathematics in Ancient and Medieval India c4.s3.t3

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English

Varāhamihira (c. 505–587 A.D.)

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Varāhamihira was a native of Avanti and pupil of his astronomer father Ādityadāsa¹. The statement of Utpala that he was a Magadha Brāhmaṇa must be understood in this sense that his family derived its origin from Magadha². At the enquiry of Hunter³, Hindu astronomers of Ujjain furnished a list assigning the date of Varāhamihira to be 427 Śaka era corresponding to 505 A.D. Alberuni⁴ about eight centuries earlier from now gave the date which gives a corroborating evidence, though we do not know the exact period of his life. The date of Varāhamihira's death has been ascertained by Bhau Dāji⁵ in a comm.

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¹ *ādityadāsatanayastadavāptabodhaḥ kāpitthake* *savitṛlabdhavaraprasādaḥ |* *avantiko munimatānyavalokya samyag ghorāṃ* *varāhāmihiro rucirāṃ cakāra ||* ( *Bṛhajjātaka* ch. 26, v. 5) “Varāhamihira, a native of Avanti, was the son of Ādityadāsa and instructed by him. Having obtained the gracious favour of the sun, at Kapitthaka, composed his elegant work on horoscopy, after making himself duly acquainted with the doctrines of the ancient sages”.

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² c/o. Colebrooke, Algebra, p. XLV, fn.

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³ Published by Colebrooke, vide his *Miscellaneous Essays*, 2, p. 461, London, 1837. Also vide Bhaudaji's article, *Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society* (*JRAS*, ) (n.s. ), 1, p. 407, 1865.

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⁴ *Journal Asiatique*, tome IV, p. 285, 1844.

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⁵ “Varāhamihira went to heaven in the 509 in (year) of Śaka era i. e., 587 A.D.” *JRAS*, 1, (n.s.), p. 407, 1865.

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of Āmarāja on the *Khaṇḍakhādyaka* of Brahmagupta to be 587 A.D.

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Varāhamihira's *Pañcasiddhāntikā*¹, among other works², is considered important in the history of astronomy, as it gives the description of the five *siddhāntas* namely, Paulīśa, Romaka, Vaśiṣṭa, Saura and Paitāmaha of earlier dates. In the history of mathematics also, the work has a high place for its amount of trigonometrical information. It gives different relations among three functions, *jyā*, *kojyā* and *utkramajyā* and values of different *jyās* in a quadrant, drawn at a fixed interval (sine table) besides many other information of mathematical importance.

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¹ Ed. with English translation by G. Thibaut and M. M. Sudhākara Dvivedī, Benaras, 1889; Reprinted by Motilal Banarsidas, Benaras, 1930; vide *Jyautiṣasiddhāntasaṃgraha* Ed. by V. P. Dvivedi, Benaras, 1917; Ed. and tran. into English by Neugebaner and Pingree, Kopenhagen 1970

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² *Bṛhatsaṃhitā*, *Bṛhajjātaka*, and some astrological works.

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