Jyotihshastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature c11: Chapter IX. Transmission of Jyotiḥśāstra

Jyotiḥśāstra: Astral and Mathematical Literature c11

Language: English

Chapter IX. Transmission of Jyotiḥśāstra

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At present there exist in India and outside of it some 100,000 manuscripts on the various aspects of *jyotiḥśāstra*. The great majority of these were copied within the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries; for manuscripts cannot long survive in India except under exceptional circumstances. We have, therefore, essentially only those texts selected for study or composed by the scholars of the Mughal and British *rājyas*. Since the practice of copying manuscripts is virtually dead in modern India, many of these estimated 100,000 manuscripts will soon disappear, and the possibilities of our achieving a reasonably accurate assessment of the continuity, development, and transformation of the astral and mathematical sciences in India will be correspondingly diminished. But even without this appalling prospect, we must constantly be aware of the arbitrary way in which was made the selection of texts and commentaries preserved in today's libraries.

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For manuscripts were preserved, with some exceptions, in India before the nineteenth century in family libraries. It is true that Anūpasimha,¹ the Mahārāja of Bikaner in Rājasthān from 1674 till 1698, formed a vast collection rich in *jyotiḥśāstra* manuscripts (many from the Deccan, where he campaigned with Aurangzib) that still survives intact in the Anup Sanskrit Library; that the core of the Sarasvati Mahal Library in Tanjore goes back to Tulajarāja,² the Mahārāja of Tanjore from 1728 till 1736, and his predecessors; that, at the same time, Savāi Jayasimha collected some of the manuscripts now in the Jayapura Museum; and that the incredible treasures of a number of the ancient Jaina Bhāṇḍāras of Gujarāt and Rājasthān have been accumulating since the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Still, most of our manuscripts were in small private collections till recently—or still are. And these small collections tend to preserve a few of the accepted astronomical works of the region (if the family produces *pañcāṅgas*) and the standard works on *jātaka*, *tājika*, *muhūrta*, *praśna*, and *saṃhitā* (if they are astrologers); beyond this they might contain locally popular works, or even manuscripts—sometimes unique—of treatises composed by members of their own families. Since education in the *śāstra* was through a *guru* normally rather than through a *pāṭhaśālā* or *maṭha*, the enrichment of these family libraries was probably most common when a son was sent to study with an external *guru*; one of the most notable examples of this that we have is Divākara of Golagrāma, whose family we shall soon discuss. In large cultural centers like Kāśī, of course, intercourse was easier. And Jaina monks in their ordained peregrinations spread both learning and manuscripts. It was a recognized pious act for a Jaina layman to bear the expense of the copying of manuscripts for these monks; and many of them, as we know from their colophons, occupied the rainy seasons with scribal work.

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¹ CESS A 1, 43b—44a.

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² CESS A 3, 87b—88b.

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It is clear, then, that chance has to a large extent determined what has survived of the truly immense body of material on jyotiḥśāstra that has existed in the past. As an example of this, let us examine the members of the Girinārāyaṇajñāti³ of Gujarāt, who are known primarily because much of their family library was included in the gift of manuscripts presented to the East India Company by the Gaikawar of Baroda in 1809.⁴ Many of them copied extant manuscripts (their names are followed by S), and some were authors of original works (see Table 7). Though there are several gaps at present in our knowledge of the precise relationship of several generations of this family, it is clear that they were active as scribes and authors from about 1500 till 1750; and that, if their library had not been preserved by the Gaikawar’s gift, we would not know of the Gaṇitacūḍāmaṇi of Harihara or the Grahavidyādhara of Vidyādhara (there is just one other manuscript of its Pañcāngavidyādharī besides that in the family collection), and a number of the relatively rare works would be attested by an even smaller number of extant copies.

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³ SATE, pp. 186—188.

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⁴ D. PINGREE, Śrīdhara’s Laghukhecarasiddhi, Baroda 1976, pp. 10—16.

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Another case that it is instructive to examine is that of the family which produced the great Bhāskara in the twelfth century (see Table 8⁵) and which lived in the Sahyādri range, though we possess no manuscripts from their family library. That library presumably was part of the endowment of the maṭha established by Soīdeva under the Yādava Siṅhaṇa at Pāṭṇā in Khandesh in 1207 for the study of the works of Bhāskara; Bhāskara’s grandson, Caṅgadeva, was one of Siṅhaṇa’s court astrologers, as was also Bhāskara’s nephew’s son, Anantadeva. It is regrettable, then, that we no longer have either of Anantadeva’s works or his great grandfather, Maheśvara’s, Karaṇasekhara. However, we do have one treatise that may well have been written by a student of the maṭha; this is the Laghukhecarasiddhi composed by Śrīdhara in 1227, a rare work of which one of the three available manuscripts was copied by Nīlakaṇṭha of the Girinārāyaṇajñāti at Jirṇadurga in 1555.

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⁵ The earliest known member of the family, Trivikrama, is sometimes identified with the author of the Damayantikathā, who was the son of Nemāditya, the son of Śrīdhara of the Śāṇḍilyagotra. However, this identification is unlikely since Trivikrama the son of Nemāditya composed the Navasārī grant of Rāṣṭrakūṭa Indra III in 915, while our Trivikrama’s son Bhāskara was honored by Bhojarāja a century later.

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Whatever the fate of the maṭha and its library after the fall of Devagiri in 1312, the region was particularly fertile in producing families of jyotiṣīs who were proud to preserve their lineages. One center of activity was Pārthapura on the Godāvarī, which has been identified with Pathri in the Parbhani District some eighty miles southeast of Devagiri, whose Muslim lord ruled the area for much of the medieval period. In Pārthapura flourished from about 1300⁶ the family that produced Jñānarāja, Sūryadāsa, and others (see Table 9). In keeping with the traditions of the region, several members of this family wrote works dependent on those of Bhāskara; their family library clearly contained copies of his opera. We are lucky to have a partial genealogy of the descendents of Sūryadāsa provided by one of them in 1895.⁷ Sūryadāsa’s great-grandson in this lineage was a Gopāla, who lived from 1623 till 1668. He is not identical with the father of Vireśvara (see Table 10), a fellow resident of Pārthapura, since Vireśvara was old enough to comment on Bhāskara’s L in 1639; but he may be a cousin (perhaps once or several times removed). Some of the manuscripts belonging to this family could be ascertained by a careful examination of their works; whether or not Vireśvara had access to the same library might be then determined by reading his commentaries and other treatises.

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⁶ Gaṇeśa puts the origin of his family under Rāma the lord of Devagiri, who must be the Yādava Rāmacandra, who ruled from 1271 till 1311. ⁷ CESS A 3, 75a—75b.

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In a village in the district (*deśa*) of Pārthapura named Golagrāma another family of the Bhāradvājagotra began its career in the middle of the fifteenth century (see Table 11); it is linked to the family we have just discussed by the fact that one of Vireśvara’s works is a commentary on one of Divākara’s astrological treatises. However, its history is quite different; for in the early sixteenth century that Divākara’s great-grandfather, also named Divākara, went to Nandigrāma to study with the famous Gaṇeśa (see Table 12). From Gujarāt he evidently travelled to Kāśī, where his descendents became one of the two prominent families of *jyotiṣīs* in the seventeenth century. Divākara presumably brought with him copies of his *guru*’s works and those of his *guru*’s father, Keśava; and we find that a considerable portion of the scholarly energy of the family was devoted to explicating the various treatises of Keśava and Gaṇeśa. However, following the local preference in Kāśī, they also expounded the Saurapakṣa; and they were receptive to some elements of Islamic astronomy.

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The rival family in Kāśī (see Table 13) in the seventeenth century originated at Dadhigrāma on the Payoṣṇī to the northwest of Pārthapura; for Munīśvara places it near Gaṅgābhaiśilanagara near the Godāvarī (perhaps Gangapur in the Aurangabad District), in the district (*samadeśa*) of Elavapura (Ellora). The Payoṣṇī on whose bank Dadhigrāma lies, then, must be the Pūrṇa that eventually flows into the Godāvarī some thirty miles to the east of Pārthapura, though Dadhigrāma would have been near the headwaters, just south of Bhāskara’s Sahyādri range. This family traces its history back to the middle of the fifteenth century also, and moved to Kāśī in the late sixteenth century. Its interests were divided between Bhāskara’s works, the Saurapakṣa, and Gaṇeśa’s works, while some of its members vehemently attacked members of the Golagrāma family for their acceptance of Islamic astronomical theories. Another family (see Table 14) that flourished in the same area came originally from an unidentified place called Sāsamaṇūra, but had settled in Ṭāpara to the north of Devagiri in the late sixteenth century.

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One last case may be considered to illustrate the influx of *jyotiṣis* from Vidarbha into Kāśī in the sixteenth century. This family (see Table 15) originated at Dharmapura on the Narmadā in the early part of that century, but became prominent—primarily as astrologers—at Kāśī toward the end of the century.

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This pattern of families of *jyotiṣis* equipped with their own libraries that we can trace in some instances over several centuries was not the norm in South India, though family connections there also obviously had a strong influence. The area that is best known is Kerala, where libraries were maintained at the family *illam*, but where new members of the “school” were often recruited from outside the family. The most impressive line is that of Parameśvara⁸ (see Table 16); it can be continued from Acyuta to the middle of the nineteenth century.⁹ Other, lesser lines are known from Kerala; unfortunately, our information from other Dravidian-speaking areas is not detailed enough to discern any such pattern (but see Table 17).

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⁸ See K. V. SARMA, “Direct Lines of Astronomical Tradition in Kerala,” Charudeva Shastri Felicitation Volume, Delhi 1974, pp. 601–604.

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⁹ K. V. SARMA, A History of the Kerala School of Hindu Astronomy, VIS 55, Hoshiarpur 1972, pp. 5–6.

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However, the continuation of these traditions throughout India was, of course, due not only to the transmission of learning from father to son or from *guru* to *śiṣya*; it was also actively cultivated by the patronage of the powerful—usually Mahārājas. Thus the court of Paramāra Bhojarāja at Dhārā produced a number of *jyotiṣa* treatises under the Mahārāja’s name in the early eleventh century, and provided encouragement to Bhāskara’s great-great-great-grandfather, and probably to Daśabala as well. Mughal patronage of Sanskrit works on *jyotiṣa* in the sixteenth and seventeenth century was extremely generous.¹⁰ And, of course, various of the courts of Rājasthān in the same period—and into the nineteenth century in some cases—maintained *jyotiṣis*, many of whom became authors. But a more interesting development occurred in Gujarāt under the Caulukyas. A number of their leading state officials or members of their families, belonging primarily to the Prāgvāṭavaṃśa (see Tables 18, 19, and 20), though there are also some who belonged to the Janyālayakula (see Table 21), wrote on *jyotiṣa*. The reasons for this phenomenon are not apparent. Naturally, other scholars worked in this field under the Caulukyas who were not members of ministerial families; such are the Jaina Naracandropādhyāya, who composed one of his works at Campāvatī in 1167 under Caulukya Kumārapāla, and Narapati, the son of Naradeva of Dhārā, who completed the Narapatijayacaryā at Aṇahilanagara in 1177 under Caulukya Ajayapāla.

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¹⁰ M. M. PATKAR, “Moghul Patronage to Sanskrit Learning,” PO 3 (1938), 164–175.

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But there was another relationship that we can observe in Gujarāt in this period. Jaina monks such as Naracandropādhyāya often became authors of jyotiṣa texts; but we usually are ignorant of the intellectual climate and economic situation under which they labored. Vastupāla, the minister of Caulukya [Vāghela] Viradhavala and Visaladeva at Dhavalakka (Dholkā, Gujarāt) from 1220 till his death in 1240 and a Jaina member of the Prāgvāṭavaṃśa, was a great patron of Jaina scholars,¹¹ among whom were numbered two jyotiṣīs: Udayaprabha Sūri and Naracandra Sūri. The extent to which these men, or others, Jaina or Hindu, who received princely rewards for their scientific activities, were encouraged and assisted by the milieus provided by their patrons must have varied from individual to individual. But it must be recognized that this patronage of scholars by the powerful, sporadic as it was (it seems to have been more frequent and sustained over longer periods in Gujarāt and Rājasthān than elsewhere in India), served as an alternative mode for the intermingling of traditions, the production of new works, and the copying and preservation of manuscripts to the more traditional family libraries and Jaina bhāṇḍāras. When CESS is completed, it will be possible to analyze the surviving evidence concerning who copied manuscripts (often we observe families of scribes functioning for as many generations as the families of jyotiṣīs) and who owned them. Until then I leave the question at this point.

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¹¹ B. J. SANDESARA, Literary Circle of Mahāmātya Vastupāla and its Contribution to Sanskrit Literature, SJS 33, Bombay 1953.

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Vasiṣṭhagotra, Girinārāyaṇajñāti; Gujarāt Devarāja

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Vidyādhara S (1521) (at Jirṇadurga)

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| . . . . .
| | | |

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Nilakaṇṭha S (1555) Viṣṇu Raghunātha Narasimha (at Jirṇadurga) |

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| Puruṣottama S (1599)

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HARIHARA[¹]

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¹ Gaṇitacūḍāmaṇi.

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Nārāyaṇa Bhaṭṭa

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| . . . . .
| | |

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Nilakaṇṭha S (1626; 1637) Mukunda Bhaṭṭa VIDYĀDHARA[²] S S (1649; 1650; 1665) | (at Rājakota) Bhāṇaji

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² Grahavidyādhara (at Rājakota 1638); Pañcāṅgavidyādharī (at Jirṇagaḍha 1643).

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| S (1672)

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Viśvanātha

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Mukundaji Bhaṭṭa

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Prabhujī Bhaṭa S (1740) (at Nūtanapura)

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| . . . . .
| | | |

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Jivaraja Vallabhaji Morāraji S (1726) Bhavāni Nānu Bhaṭa Śāṇḍilyagotra; Sahyādri Trivikrama

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Bhāskara (honored by Paramāra Bhojarāja)

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Govinda

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Prabhākara

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Manoratha

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MAHEŚVARA[1]

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| . . . . . | . . . . .
| |

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BHĀSKARA[2] (b. 1114) (at Vijjaḍaviḍa) Śrīpati

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Lakṣmīdhara Gaṇapati (astrologer of Yādava Jaitrapāla) |

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| ANANTADEVA[3]

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Caṅgadeva (astrologer of Yādava Siṃghaṇa) (astrologer of Yādava Siṃghaṇa)

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¹ Vṛttaśataka; Laghujātakaṭīkā; Karaṇaśekhara.

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² Līlāvatī; Bījagaṇita; Siddhāntaśiromaṇi (1150; with ṭīkā, Mitākṣarā); Karaṇakutūhala (1183); Śiṣyadhīvṛddhidavivaraṇa.

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³ Chandaścittyuttarādhyāyaṭīkā; Bṛhajjātakaṭīkā.

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Table 9

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Bhāradvājagotra; Pārthapura on the Godāvarī Rāma

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Nīlakaṇṭha

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Viṣṇu

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Nīlakaṇṭha

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Nāganātha

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| . . . . . | . . . . .
| |

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JÑĀNARĀJA[1] Nṛsiṃha

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| | . . . . . | . . . . . |
| | |

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¹ Siddhāntasundara (1503); Bījādhyāya.

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² Grahagaṇitacintāmaṇi.

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³ Sūryaprakāśa (1538); Tājikālaṅkāra; Gaṇitāmṛtakūpikā (1541); Siddhāntasamhitāsārasamuccaya; Bhāskarabhūṣaṇa.

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⁴ Jātakābharaṇa.

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⁵ Tājikabhūṣaṇa; Ratnāvalīpaddhati; Gaṇitamañjarī.

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CINTĀMAṆI[2] SŪRYADĀSA[3] ḌHUṆḌHIRĀJA[4]

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GAṆEŚA[5]

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Pārthapura Vināyaka

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Gopāla

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VĪREŚVARA[1]

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[1] Līlāvatyudāharaṇa (1639); Bījavivaraṇa ?; Divākarapaddhatiprakāśavivaraṇa ?; Tithyāvali ?; Tājikābharaṇa ?

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Table 11 Bhāradvājagotra; Golagrāma on the Godāvarī Rāma

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Bhaṭṭācārya

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Divākara (pupil of Gaṇeśa of Nandigrāma; to Kāśī)

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Kṛṣṇa VIṢṆU[1] MALLĀRI[2] Keśava VIŚVANĀTHA[3]

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NṚSIṂHA[4] (b. 1586) TRYAMBAKA[5]

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DIVĀKARA[6] (b. 1606) KAMALĀKARA[7] RAṄGANĀTHA[8]

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[1] Bṛhaccintāmaṇiṭīkā; Saurapakṣagaṇita ? (1608). [2] Grahalāghavavāṭikā; Parvadvayasādhana ? (1588); Varṣaphalapaddhatiṭīkā ? [3] Siddhāntarahasyodāharaṇa (1612); Brahmatulyodāharaṇa (1612); Rāmavinodadīpikā (1614); Keśavipaddhatyudāharaṇa (1618); Gahanārthaprakāśikā (1620); Nīlakaṇṭhyudāhṛti (1629); Pātasāraṇīṭīkā (1631); Karaṇaprakāśodāharaṇa; Janmapatrilekhanakrama; Tithicintāmaṇiṭīkā; Makarandodāharaṇa; Mitāṅka; Muhūrtatattvavāṭikā; Varṣaphalapaddhatiṭīkā; Saurapakṣagaṇitavyākhyā. [4] Saurabhāṣya (1611); Vāsanāvārttika (1621); Tithicintāmaṇiṭīkā. [5] Viṣṇukaraṇaṭīkā (1663); Paddhatikalpavallī (1673). [6] Jātakamārga (1625; with ṭīkā in 1627); Prauḍhamanoramā (1626); Makarandavivaraṇa; Pātasāraṇīṭīkā; Varṣagaṇitabhūṣaṇa (with ṭīkā). [7] Siddhāntatattvaviveka (1658; with ṭīkā); Śeṣavāsanā; Sauravāsanā. [8] Mitabhāṣiṇī; Lohagolakhaṇḍana; Palabhākhaṇḍana; Bhaṅgīvibhaṅgīkaraṇa.

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Kauśikagotra; Nandigrāma Kamalākara

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KEŚAVA[1]

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| . . . . .
| | |

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ANANTA[2] GAṆEŚA[3] (b. 1507) Rāma

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Ballāla NṚSIMHA[4] (b. 1548)

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Keśava

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¹ Grahakautuka (1496); Jātakapaddhati (with ṭīkā); Tājikapaddhati; Muhūrtatattva; Sudhirañjana.

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² Laghujātakaṭīkā.

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³ Grahalāghava (1520); Pātasāraṇī (1522); Tithicintāmaṇi (1525); Buddhavilāsinī (1545); Bṛhattithicintāmaṇi (1552); Vivāhadīpikā (1554); Muhūrtadīpikā; Cābukayantra; Pratodayantra (with ṭīkā); Sudhīrañjanayantra.

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⁴ Grahakaumudī (1588 and 1603); Kheṭamuktāvalī (1566); Grahadaśaphala; Grahadīpikā; Varṣaphaladīpikā; Harṣakaumudī; Hillājadīpikā.

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⁵ Śiromaṇiprakāśa.

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GAṆEŚA[5]

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Table 13

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Devarātragotra; Dadhigrāma on the Payoṣṇī Cintāmaṇi

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Rāma = Videhaputrī

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| . . . . .
| |

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Trimalla GOPIRĀJA[1]

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Ballāla = Goji (to Kāśī)

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| . . . . .
| | | |

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Rāma KṚṢṆA[2] RAṄGANĀTHA[3] Mahādeva Govinda (patronized | | | by Jahangir) MUNĪŚVARA[4] GADĀDHARA[5] NĀRĀYAṆA[6] (b. 1603)

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¹ Perhaps the resident of Dadhigrāma who wrote the Vilāsavatī (1540).

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² Bījāṅkura (1601 ?); Jātakapaddhatyudāharaṇa.

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³ Gūḍhārthaprakāśaka (1603).

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⁴ Marici (before 1638); Siddhāntasārvabhauma (1646; with a ṭīkā, Āśayaprakāśinī, in 1650); Ekanāthamukhabhañjana; Gaṇitaprakāśa; Cābukayantraṭīkā; Pāṭīsāra; Nisṛṣṭārthadūti.

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⁵ Lohagolasamarthana.

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⁶ Grahalāghavodāhṛti; Jātakakaustubha (1678).

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Kauśikagotra; Sāsamaṇūra Ananta

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Kṛṣṇa

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Hari

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Ananta

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NĀRĀYAṆA[¹] (at Ṭapara)

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¹ Muhūrtamārtaṇḍa (1571; with ṭīkā in 1572).

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GAṄGĀDHARA[²]

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² Manoramā (1586).

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Table 15 Gārgyagotra; Dharmapura on the Narmadā Cintāmaṇi

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ANANTA[¹] = Padmāmbā

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¹ Kāmadhenuṭīkā; Janipaddhati.

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| . . . . . | . . . . .
| |

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NĪLAKAṆṬHA[²] (at Kāśī) RĀMA[³] (at Kāśī)

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² Jyotiṣasaukhya (1572); Vivāhasaukhya; Vāstusaukhya; Vyavahārasaukhya; Saṃskārasaukhya; Samayasaukhya; Tājikanīlakaṇṭhī (1587); Praśnakaumudī; Bhāvaprakāśa.