Jyotihshastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature c10.17

c10.17

The most extensive encyclopaedia of science conceived and executed in pre-modern India was the Toḍarānanda¹¹ in twenty-three saukhyas sponsored by Toḍaramalla,¹² an official in Akbar’s government from at least 1565 till his death in 1589. He entrusted the Jyautiṣasaukhya, the third section, along with several sections on branches of dharmaśāstra to Nīlakaṇṭha, who later wrote the far more influential Tājikanīlakaṇṭhī and Praśnakaumudī. Nīlakaṇṭha completed the Jyautiṣasaukhya in 1572; it contains three skandhas—on saṃhitā (omens), on gaṇita (astronomy; it is not known whether or not mathematics was included), and on horā (genethlialogy). There are also two saukhyas by Nīlakaṇṭha on muhūrta, one of which does not appear as part of Toḍaramalla’s plan as reconstructed; these are the Vivāhasaukhya and the Vāstusaukhya, which latter is saukhya 5. Judging from the quality of Nīlakaṇṭha’s published works these encyclopedic opera would be well worth investigating.