Jyotihshastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature c5.s1.60

c5.s1.60

Less popular than the Līlāvatī because it is more difficult was Bhāskara’s Bījagaṇita.⁴⁵ This, the standard Sanskrit textbook on algebra, describes arithmetical operations involving positive and negative numbers and zero; irrational numbers; the pulverizer (virtually identical with the section on this subject in the Līlāvatī); “Pell’s equation” (the vargaprakṛti); the cyclic solution (cakravāla) thereof; various kinds of linear and quadratic equations with one or more unknowns; and equations involving the product of different unknowns (bhāvita). The Bījagaṇita was translated into Persian by ‘Aṭa’ Allāh Rushdī⁴⁶ for the Mughal Shāh Jahān (1628–1659) in 1634/5. It was commented on by Sūryadāsa at Pārthapura in 1538 (Sūryaprakāśa); by Kṛṣṇa⁴⁷ at Vārāṇasī in about 1600 (Bījāṅkura = Navāṅkura = Bījapallava = Kalpalatāvatāra); by Bhāskara⁴⁸ at Rājagiri in 1652 (Śiśubodhana); by Rāmakṛṣṇa⁴⁹ at Jalapura in the Sahyādri in 1687 (Bījaprabodha); by Haridāsa before 1725 (Vāsanā- bhāṣya); by Kṛpārāma at Ahmadābād in 1792 (Bālabodhinī); and by an obscure Nijānanda⁵⁰ (Bījālavāla).