A History of the Kerala School of Hindu Astronomy (in Perspective) c10.s2: 2. Earlier documentation

A History of the Kerala School of Hindu Astronomy (in Perspective) c10.s2

Language: English

2. Earlier documentation

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Several efforts have been made before to take stock of Hindu astronomical and allied literature, including that of Kerala, though these attempts have hardly succeeded in giving any adequate idea of the extent of the literature produced in Kerala. ‘A brief bibliography of Hindu mathematics’ by G.R. Kaye¹ records but a single work from Kerala, being the commentary of Paramādiśvara (sic.) on the *Āryabhaṭīya*. The *Gaṇakatarangiṇī* or *Lives of Hindu astronomers* by Sudhakara Dvivedi mentions just four Kerala authors and two works.² ‘A consolidated list of Hindu mathematical works’ by K. Balagangadharan³ includes just 18 Kerala authors and 42 works. K.K. Raja’s well-documented paper on ‘Astronomy and mathematics in Kerala : An account of the literature’,⁴ takes into its purview only some of the more prominent authors in these two disciplines, numbering about 20, and their works, numbering about 80. S.N. Sen's *Bibliography of Sanskrit works on astronomy and mathematics*,¹ carries the documentation of just 13 Kerala authors and 47 works. The major histories of Kerala literature, viz., *Kerala Sahitya Charitram* (in 5 vols.) by Ulloor S. Parameswara Aiyar,² *Keraliya Samskrita Sahitya Charitram*, (in 6 vols.)³ and *Kerala Sahitya Charitram : Charcchayum Puraṇavum*, (in 2 vols.),⁴ both by Vaṭakkumkūr Rajaraja Varma, *Malayala Bhasha Charitram* by P. Govinda Pillai,⁵ and *Kerala Bhasha Sahitya Charitram* (in 7 vols.), by R. Narayana Panikkar,⁶ especially the first three, notice a much larger quantum of the literature, though they, too, fail to do adequate justice to the subject. In fact, more than half of the literature on Jyotiṣa produced in Kerala does not find a mention in these volumes. Moreover, the accounts given in these histories are not documented and are, mostly, distributed in their different volumes. Neither do these histories, except that of Ulloor, carry any index to help the reader in locating a work or an author dealt with therein. Under the circumstances as stated above, the wealth of material presented, in a chronological manner, in the following pages may be expected to provide a far more comprehensive account of the literary output of Kerala in the discipline of Jyotiṣa. It has been thought not necessary to repeat here the details which are available in the earlier accounts, but it was felt essential to set out all new information not noticed in therein. Therefore, in the following pages, the stress will be on new information, identifications and correlations, although, for the sake of completeness and continuity, a brief mention will be made also about currently known authors and works, for further details about which the earlier writings referred to in the footnotes might be consulted with advantage. For the documentation of the manuscripts of the works and for extracts therefrom, the annotated Inventory in the next chapter might be referred to.

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¹ JI. and Proc. of the Asiatic Soc. of Bengal, (NS) 7 (1911) 679-86.

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² Rev. edn. by Padmakara Dvivedi, Banares, 1933. The Keralite authorities referred to herein are Parameśvara, Kṛṣṇācārya, Govinda and Vidyāmādhava, among authors, and Bhaṭadīpikā and Daśadhyāyī, among works.

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³ Mathematics Student, 15 (1947) 55-70.

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⁴ Adyar Library Bulletin, 27 (1963) 118-67.

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¹ Part I: *Manuscripts, Texts, Translations and Studies*, National Institute of Sciences of India, New Delhi-1, 1966.

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² Pub., University of Kerala, Trivandrum, 1953-57.

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³ Pub., Vol. I, Kamalalaya Book Depot, Trivandrum, M. E. 1113 (A. D. 1938), Vols. II-VI, Mangalodyam, Trichur, M. E. 1122-40 (A.D. 1947-65).

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⁴ Pub., Mangalodayam, Trichur, 1967-69.

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⁵ Reprint, National Book Stall, Kottayam, 1955.

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⁶ Pub., Vidyavilasini Book Depot, Trivandrum, n.d.-1951.

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3. Vararuci I (4th cent. A.D.)

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Vararuci is the father figure in the astronomical tradition of Kerala. He is supposed to have lived in the first half of the 4th century, this date having been arrived at on the basis of the dates of birth and death of his eldest son Meḷattoḷ Agnihotri, which are given, according to tradition, in the Kali chronograms yajñasthānam surakṣyam (12,70,701) and purudhiḥ samāśryaḥ (12,57,921) which fall, respectively, in A.D. 343 and 378. The manuscript tradition of the land ascribes to Vararuci the authorship of the 248 Candra-vākyas ('moon-sentences'), popularly called Vararuci-vākyas, beginning with gir naḥ śreyaḥ, and also the promulgation of the kaṭapayādi notation of depicting numbers which has been used in the composition of the said Vakyas.¹

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¹ On Vararuci, see Raja, pp. 120-22; Ul. vol. I. pp. 77-81, 165; Va. vol. I. pp. 90-95. There is another astronomer named Vararuci, the author of the well-known Vākyakaraṇa (ed. T. S. K. Sastri and K. V. Sarma, Madras, 1962), which is the source-book of the Vākya-pañcāṅga, popular in South India, especially the Tamil region. But this Vararuci, whether the name is real or apocryphal, belonged to the Tamil region, as is clear from the introductory verses of that work. It has also been shown that this is a 13th century work, having been composed between 1282 and 1306, as can be inferred from the śodhya-dina ('deductive day') made use of in that work as a 'zero-day' for computations (vide op. cit., Intro., p. ix). For some Keralite legends on Vararuci, see Koṭṭārathil Śaṅkuṇṇi, 'Parayiperṟu pantiru kulam' (Mal.), ('The twelve families born of a woman of the Paraya caste'), Aitihyamālā, (6th edn., Trichur, 1961), pp. 60-90.

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4. Vararuci II

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In horary astrology, the work Kerala-dvādaśabhāvavākyāni, in 12 chapters, is ascribed to Vararuci; the manuscripts of the work carry expressive colophons such as iti Keralīya-Vararuci-vakye and Kerala Vararuci-prokta. Two anonymous works, both entitled Kerala-dvādaśabhava-phalam, one in verse and the other in prose, are allied to Kerala-Vararuci's work mentioned above. Another work of Vararuci is the Vārarucika, an extenstive treatise on general astrology in 12 chapters. Still another work called Vararuci-kerala called also Jātakarahasya and Kerala-rahasya on horoscopy is, also, attributed to him. The Vararuci, who is the author of the above works on astrology might be identical, but it is not possible to assert that he is the same as the author of the Candra-vakyas.

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5. Haridatta (c. 650-700)

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Haridatta, as noted earlier, has the distinction of promulgating, In 683, at Tirunāvāy in Kerala, a new system of astronomical computation called *Parahita*, which presented distinct advantages over the prevailing *Āryabhaṭan* system.¹ One of the important corrections which he introduced was called the *Śakābda-saṃskāra* or *Bhaṭa-saṃskāra*.² His *Grahacāranibandhana*, of which and of whose summary critical editions are available,³ is the working manual of the system. His comprehensive treatise on astronomy entitled *Mahāmārganibandhana*, referred to in the *Grahacāranibandhana* (III. 44), is yet to be recovered. The well-known verse *vāgbhāvonāt* etc., enunciating his *Śakābda-saṃskāra*, which does not occur in the shorter manual, must be from this treatise;⁴ so also Nīlakaṇṭha Somayājī's quotation in his *Grahaṇādi-grantha* (ms., p. 59) which reads: *atra Haridattaś capy āha*—‘*caturdaśabhāgāntaś calanty eva grahās tataḥ*’. The *Parahita* system of computation, which grew highly popular, has played a leading role in the propagation and practice of astronomy in Kerala.⁵

Linked texts (2)

Āryabhaṭīya — Āryabhaṭa, Sanskrit
Vākyakaraṇa — Sanskrit