A History of the Kerala School of Hindu Astronomy (in Perspective) c9.s1.1

c9.s1.1

The extensive Jyotiṣa literature produced in Kerala, in Sanskrit and in Malayalam which latter is the regional language of that part of India, comprise of original treatises, expositions of individual topics, commentaries on standard texts, computation manuals, minor tracts, single verses and manifold mnemonic tables. A good part of the shorter tracts and other secondary literature which do not form full-fledged works have been lost and what survives of this type of literature has to be looked for in flyleaves and end folios of codices where such matter is generally found written. The definitive literature, too, has been affected considerably. The full extent of the literary activity in this line is not adequately known, much less recognised, for reasons of subject, script and language, as already mentioned above. However, an idea of this literary production can be judged from an examination of the surviving literature, a documented Inventory of which is given in Ch. V, below. While the said Inventory is expected to include references to all the works and authors that could be identified, special notice might be taken here of the broad trends and nature of the literature produced in this discipline. In order that the picture of Kerala Jyotiṣa might be presented in full, the accounts given below and in the Inventory are not restricted to astronomy and mathematics but made to include also the allied discipline of astrology which constitutes the applied aspect of astronomy.