A History of the Kerala School of Hindu Astronomy (in Perspective) c7.s4.1

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 :