Bharatiya Jyotihshastra (History of Indian Astronomy), translated by R. V. Vaidya v1.c5.6

v1.c5.6

It is needless to say that being scientific the present work will not be readily intelligible to all and sundry like works of fiction. It cannot, however, be said that every section of the book will be found unintelligible. Supposing the book is divided into sections of eight pages, then every such section contains something or other equally intelligible to all readers. The reader should, therefore, not despair if some passage is found to be abstruse, but should proceed with the reading. I am sure that no reader would be found who is unable to understand even a single page of this work. One reader may understand one subject, another may understand some other. One reader may find a particular part interesting and useful while another may be able to appreciate something else. The headings printed on the left side of the page at several places would give a glimpse into the subjects under discussion. Those headings and the table of contents or a glance at the subject-index at the end will enable the reader to find out any passage or subject that he likes. At some places technical terms have been used and if their meaning is not clear they may be looked up in the Index at the end for the page numbers for which their definitions, meanings or explanations can be found. Some of the terms have been explained in my book “Jyotirvilāsa”. I was particularly keen on brevity in order that the volume may not run into great length. This has led to the introduction of lengthy compound words at some places in the book ; but these can be easily understood from the context.