A History of the Kerala School of Hindu Astronomy (in Perspective) c10.s2.18

c10.s2.18

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