[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Science, technology and education](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science) › [Jyotihshastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981) › c4.s5.6 # Jyotihshastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature c4.s5.6 Jyotiḥśāstra: Astral and Mathematical Literature c4.s5.6 - **Language:** English ### [c4.s5.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c4.s5.6) The earliest attested epoch of the lunar vākyas is 1184. The vākyas themselves, called Candravākyāni²³⁷ and attributed to Vararuci, use the relation: 9 anomalistic months = 248 days. The larger cycles of the system are: 110 anomalistic months = 3031 days, and 449 anomalistic months = 12,372 days. The two smaller cycles had already been given by the Vasiṣṭhasiddhānta known to Varāhamihira (PS 3, 8–9); the first is ultimately Babylonian. Several Sanskrit poems composed in Kerala contain, embedded in their verses by means of the kaṭapayādi system, Vararuci’s lunar vākyas; the most notable of these is the Haricarita²³⁸ composed by Parameśvara²³⁹ in the fifteenth century, in which the life of Kṛṣṇa provides the surface meaning for the versified astronomical tables. These vākyas were still in use in south India in modern times. They were described by John Warren in 1825²⁴⁰ as part of a discussion of the pañcāṅga-computations; in this form, and misnamed “Tamil,” they generated some interest among non-Indian historians of science in the 1950’s and 1960’s.²⁴¹ - [Previous: c4.s5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c4.s5.5) - [Next: c4.s5.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c4.s5.7) - [Up: c4.s5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c4.s5) ## Linked texts (3) - [Vāsiṣṭhasiddhānta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.siddhanta.early.vasistha) — Sanskrit - [Haricarita](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.kerala.sphuta.haricarita) — Parameśvara, Sanskrit - [Candravākyāni (Vararuci-vākyas)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.kerala.sphuta.candravakya) — Vararuci (Kerala), Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c4.s5.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.pingree-1981.c4.s5.6) · Pramāṇa