Bh?skara I

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Bh?skara I

(fl. 629)

astronomy.

Bh?skara I, who was one of the leading exponents of ?ryabhata I’s two systems of astronomy (see Essays V and VI), composed his commentary on the ?ryabhat?ya in 629. In this work he mentions Valabh? (Vala, in Saur?stra), Bharukaccha (Broach, in Gujarat), ?iv?bh?gapura (?iv?rajapura, in Saur?stra), and Sth?ne?vara (Thanesar, in the Panjab). But in this same work, and in the Mah?bh?skar?ya, Bh?skara constantly speaks of the ?ryabhat?ya as the ?smakatantra and its followers as the ?smakiy?h. This seems to indicate that he belonged to a school of followers of the ?ryabhat?ya which flourished in A?maka (probably the Nizamabad District of Andhra Pradesh). It is supposed by Shukla that Bh?skara was born in either Saur???ra or A?maka, and later migrated to the other.

Bh?skara is the author of three works: the Mah?bh?skar?ya, the Laghubh?skar?ya, and the ?ryabhat?yabh??ya. The first contains eight chapters:

On the mean longitudes of the planets.
On the correction due to local longitude
On the three problems relating to diurnal motion, and on the conjunctions of the planets with the stars.
On the true longitudes of the planets.
On solar and lunar eclipses.
On heliacal risings and settings, on the lunar crescent, and on the conjunctions of the planets.
The parameters according to the audayaka(?ryapaksa) and the ?rdhar?trika systems.
Examples.

There are two published commentaries on the Mah?bh?sk?r?ya: Bh?sya, by Govindasv?min (fl. ca. 800–850), on which there is a supercommentary (Siddh?ntad?pik?) by Parame?vara (fl. 1400–1450), and Karmad?pik?, by Parame?vara. The anonymous Prayogaracan? is unpublished, and no manuscripts are known of the Govindasv?mya of S?ryadeva and the T?k? of Sr?kantha. The text was published with the Karmad?pik? by Balavanta R?ya ?pte, as ?nand??rama Sanskrit Series, no. 126 (poona, 1945); with Govindasv?min’s Bh?sya and Parame?vara’s Siddh?ntad?pik? by T. S. Kuppanna Sastri, as Madras Government Oriental Series, no. 130 (Madras, 1957); and with an English translation and commentary by Kripa Shankar Shukla (Lucknow, 1960).

The Laghubh?skar?ya also contains eight chapters:

On the mean longitudes of the planets.
On the true longitudes of the planets.
On the three problems relating to diurnal motion.
On lunar eclipses.
On solar eclipses.
On the visibility of the moon and on its cresent.
On the heliacal risings and settings of the planets and on their conjunctions.
On the conjunctions of the planets with the stars.

There exist three commentaries on the Laghubh?skar?ya: ?an?karan?r?yana’s Vivarana (869), Udayadiv?kara’s Sundar? (1073), and Parame?vara’s p?rame?vara. No manuscripts are known to me of the B?la?ankara of ?an?kara (b. 1494) nor of the Tik? of ?r?kantha. The text was edited with the p?rame?vara by Balavanta R?ya ?pte, as ?nand??rama Sanskrit Series, no. 128 (Poona, 1946); with the Vivarana of ?an?karan?r?yana, as Trivandrum Sanskrit series, no; 162 (Trivandrum, 1949); and with an English translation and commentary by Kripa Shankar Shukla (Lucknow, 1963).