A History of the Kerala School of Hindu Astronomy (in Perspective) c10.s2.14

c10.s2.14

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.