Jyotihshastra: Astral and Mathematical Literature c9.4

c9.4

Only parts of this treatment of *praśna* are found in the *Ṣaṭpañcāśikā*¹ composed by Varāhamihira’s son, Pṛthuyaśas,² in the second half of the sixth century. He is interested in travel, warfare, profit and loss, sickness and death, marriage, and pregnancy. The most important commentaries on these fifty-six verses were composed by Bhaṭṭotpala in Kāśmīra in about 970, by Parameśvara in Kerala in the early fifteenth century, and by Dāmodara Rāṇabha³ at Kāśī in about 1680 (Prakāśikā). Similar in content and in brevity are Bādarāyaṇa’s⁴ Praśnavidyā⁵ in seventy-six verses, on which Bhaṭṭotpala wrote a commentary in about 970, and Bhaṭṭotpala’s own Praśnajñāna or Āryāsaptati⁶ in seventy verses, on which commentaries were composed by Rāmakṛṣṇa at Amarāvatī and by Śrīdatta.