Bharatiya Jyotihshastra (History of Indian Astronomy), translated by R. V. Vaidya v2.c14.52

v2.c14.52

Chidambaram Iyer B.A., referred to on page 287 before, writes in THE HINDU ZODIAC :—The works named Nāḍigranthas contain horoscopes for all persons past, present and future. The author has himself seen five Nāḍiworks and has heard of five more. The Dhruva Nāḍi by Satyacārya is the best of all. Seventy parts of it are in the possession of different persons in South India. It contains true nirayaṇa positions of planets at the time of the birth of each man. The difference between them and the accurate sāyana positions in the beginning of 1883 A.D. as found from the Nautical Almanac is found to vary from 20° 23′ 8″ to 20° 25′ 22″. From this 20° 24′ 15″ has been determined as the ayanāṃśa for that year. This statement contains two important facts. The first is that there are very voluminous works like the Bhr̥gu Saṃhitā extant in the MADRAS Presidency ; and the second is that the planetary positions in them are correct within 2¼ minutes of arc, as compared with those of the Nautical Almanac. (The difference due to Ayanāṃśa is not an error). Chidambaram appears to be a learned and reliable gentleman from his writings. Hence, it is really very surprising that the planetary positions given in the Nāḍi works are so very accurate.