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Bharatiya Jyotihshastra (History of Indian Astronomy), translated by R. V. Vaidya v2.c12.s2.t71: The Siddhāntatattva Viveka of Kamalākara

Bhāratīya Jyotiḥśāstra (History of Indian Astronomy), translated by R. V. Vaidya v2.c12.s2.t71

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The Siddhāntatattva Viveka of Kamalākara

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Siddhānta tattva-viveka is a siddhānta work by Kamalākara. Kamalākara’s birth date may be about Śaka 1530. The work Tattva-viveka was compiled at Vārānasi in Śaka 1580. It follows the modern Sūrya Siddhānta most faithfully. Kamalākara’s pride in the Sūryasiddhānta had reached such a stage that he felt that whatever was not found in the Sūryasiddhānta was false, and even if the same method in the Sūryasiddhānta were crude, while that in another siddhānta more accurate, he would still regard the latter as faulty. Thus, for instance, the correction of udayāntara was discovered by Bhāskarācārya, but Kamalākara regarded it as erroneous since it was not given in the Sūryasiddhānta. He likewise attempted to prove that the correct method of finding the length of the circumference of a circle was the one given in the Sūrya Siddhānta, viz. to multiply the square of the diameter by 10 and to extract the square root of the product, even though the method given by Bhāskarācārya is really more accurate. It is needless to say that he has adopted all things like the numbers of revolutions and other elements, from the Sūrya Siddhānta and has even borrowed some verses exactly word by word. This work contains 13 chapters on the following subjects :—mean places, true places, three problems, discs shadow, elevation of moon's cusps, rising and setting, possibility of eclipses, lunar eclipse, solar eclipse, conjunction of plantes with stars, Mahāpāta and problems. All these subjects comprise 3024 verses in different meters. They are interspersed with prose passages and he has added a chapter named “Śeṣa vāsanā” in which he has given the theory of those subjects in the body of the book which was not given at the proper place. This work has been recently published by Sudhākara Dvivedī at Vārānasī Series.

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Although the great drawback of Kamalākara has been pointed out above, his works contain many new things not to be found in the earlier works. They are :—He has stated that the place of the pole star does not remain fixed owing to the precession of the equinoxes. Similarly, that the pole star which we see at present is not situated exactly at the pole (of the equator) and its place is found to have changed when observed early at night and late in the latter part of the night. He says that it is the view of the Greeks that the major part of the earth's surface is under water and only a minor part outside it. The distance, in degrees, of a place from any meridian, in the east-west direction, which is now known as longitude, was termed by him as Tulāṃśa and he has given a list of latitudes and longitudes of 20 cities as below on the assumption that Khāladātta, a city on the equator, was the Prime Meridian :—

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| Place | Latitude | Tulāṃśa | Place | Latitude | Tulāṃśa |
| | ° ' | ° ' | | ° ' | ° ' |
| Kabul | 34 40 | 104 0 | Ahmedabad | 23 0 | 108 20 |
| Khambayat | 22 20 | 109 20 | Burhanpur | 21 0 | 111 0 |
| Ujjayini | 22 1 | 112 0 | Lahore | 31 50 | 109 20 |
| Indraprastha | 28 13 | 114 18 | Argalapur | 26 35 | 115 0 |
| Somanath | 22 35 | 106 0 | Vijapur | 17 20 | 118 0 |
| Varanasi | 26 55 | 117 20 | Golkonda | 18 4 | 114 19 |
| Lucknow | 26 30 | 114 13 | Ajmer | 26 5 | 111 5 |
| Devagiri | 20 30 | 111 0 | Multan | 29 40 | 107 35 |
| Kanauj | 26 35 | 115 0 | Mandava | 27 0 | 121 0 |
| Kashmir | 35 0 | 108 0 | Samarkand | 39 40 | 99 0 |

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He has described in detail, the method of taking observations by the quadrant “instrument” and has discussed different new subjects in the chapter on “three problems” and “eclipses”. He has also mentioned that at the time of the solar eclipse, an observer on the moon’s disc will be able to see the earth engulfed in the shadow. He remarks that the Greeks had observed the transit of Venus across the Sun’s disc. The causes of the clouds, hailstorm, earthquake, and the falling of meteors, have been explained by him. They are not wholly true, they are at least not based on superstition and in the truth. His works show some new methods related to the study on arithmetic, geometry, mensuration and trigonometry. Other siddhāntas, assume 3438 units as the radius of the earth, and give values of the sines of angles at intervalsof 3¾°. He has assumed 60 units as the value for the radius of the earth and given values for the sines of each degree, which are very convenient. A table has been given for finding the right ascension of a planet from its longitude. Other Siddhāntas give neither this table nor the method; these are given only in Keropant’s work. In short, his work has many features. It is, however, very difficult to find out how many of them he can claim as his own. It is a matter of regret that original ideas appearing in his work were not further developed.

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That his brother Divākara, was his guru, has already been mentioned above while citing the verses from his work. Kamalākara was bitterly opposed to Munīśvara, the author of the Sārvabhauma-Siddhānta. They were contemporaries. One wonders whether it was due to jealousy that he began to hate Munīśvara and consequently also Bhāskara’s works. Ranganātha, Kamalākara’s youngest brother, wrote Bhangivibhaṅgī, in order to refute Munīśvara’s ‘Bhaṅgī’, the method of finding the true places of planets. Munīśvara, in his turn, made a counter attack (Gaṇakatarangiṇī page 92.)

Cites (3)