Bharatiya Jyotihshastra (History of Indian Astronomy), translated by R. V. Vaidya v2.c14.39

v2.c14.39

Pārāśarī is a work much talked of by astrologers. It has two versions Bṛhat & Laghu. Laghu Pārāśarī is available and in extensive use. There are several commentaries on it. A work entitled Bṛhat Pārāśarī was printed in Śaka 1814 by Śrīdhar Śivalāl in the Jñānaśāgar Press at Bombay. It consists of two volumes. Part One contains 80 chapters, but only 51 of them could be procured with difficulty from different places, and it is stated in the book that even these were fragmentary and had to be completed from other versions before they were printed by Śrīdhar, the son of Jaṭāśaṅkar. The first part contains 4196 verses. We have no means to ascertain which of them were original and which were interpolated by Śrīdhar or by the printers. At one place, a verse describing the method of finding the ayanāṃśa has been taken from the Graha Lāghava without acknowledging the source. In short, there is no sense in saying that part one, as it stands in a printed form to-day, is the same as the original work of Parāśara. Part two has 20 chapters. Most of the verses in it numbering 812 in all are in ‘anuṣṭupa’ metre. It has been remarked that whatever is not available in this part should be found from the Horāśāstra by Garga. At some places we are asked to adopt certain processes after converting a planet’s place into its Sāyaṇa equivalent. It shows that there must have been some admixture in it after Śaka 500. Part one of Pārāśarī which is in the Government Library at Tanjore contains 1650 verses. The first chapter in it is entitled “ Rāśi Svarūpa”. Its first two verses are as follows :—