Jyotihshastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature c4.s3.2

c4.s3.2

The earliest *karaṇa* that we know of, as mentioned previously, is the Sūrya-siddhānta of Lāṭadeva, an Ārdharātrika text summarized in the Pañcasiddhāntikā; its epoch was 21 March 505, as were also those of Lāṭadeva's recensions of the Romaka and Pauliśa *siddhāntas* epitomized in the PS.¹¹⁴ Varāhamihira, the author of the PS, was a Maga Brāhmaṇa from Avanti who resided in a village named Kāpitthaka (probably Kāyathā near Ujjayinī¹¹⁵). It has further been suggested that he was connected with the Aulikara court at Daśapura, and in particular with Yaśodharman who was ruling there in 532. In the PS, besides the summaries of the five *siddhāntas* of Pitāmaha, Vasiṣṭha, Romaka, Pauliśa, and Sūrya that we have previously discussed, Varāhamihira includes chapters on spherical trigonometry (PS 4; entitled *karaṇa*), on the first visibility of the Moon (PS 5), on cosmology (PS 13), on instruments and observations (PS 14), and on differences in observed phenomena and time measurements due to such causes as local latitude or longitude and various conventions (PS 15). The PS was one source of the Chinese Chiu-chih li¹¹⁶ written at the T'ang court by Ch'ü-t'an Hsi-ta (Gautama Siddhārtha) in 718.