A History of the Kerala School of Hindu Astronomy (in Perspective) c7.s4: 4. Concern for accuracy
A History of the Kerala School of Hindu Astronomy (in Perspective) c7.s4
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4. Concern for accuracy
c7.s4.1
The concern of these astronomers for accuracy in the results of computations is reflected in a statement, again by the same author, in another work of his. Towards the close of an extensive work on the computation of eclipses, entitled *Grahaṇamaṇḍana*,² Parameśvara observes, in all humility, that the times of contact etc. as obtained through the calculations enunciated in that work may, at times, differ slightly from observed positions.³ He hastens to add that these small differences must be due to factors which he could not take into account or which had not been identified thus far. But, as a practical scientist, he is confident that it would be possible to postulate, as a result of further observations and experimentations, the necessary corrections by the application of which even these small differences could be eliminated :
c7.s4.2
² K.V. Sarma, *Grahaṇamaṇḍana* of Parameśvara, Cr. ed. with Introduction, Translation and Appendix, Hoshiarpur, 1965.
c7.s4.3
³ Cf., Ibid. : *kālo 'nena ca siddhaḥ kadācid api bhidyate svalpam ||66||*
c7.s4.4
*śastrad alabdha ekaḥ saṃskāro grahaṇakarmaṇi ravīndvoḥ |*
*asty eveti ca kalpyaḥ gaṇakavarair yuktividbhir ataḥ || 98 ||*
*dṛṣṭvā bahuparagān sañcintya ca golayuktim iha gaṇakaiḥ |*
*kalpyaḥ sa tu saṃskāras tasmad, athava gurūpadeśena || 99 ||*
Linked texts (1)
- Grahaṇamaṇḍana — Parameśvara of Vaṭasseri, Sanskrit