MUN??VARA VI?VAR?PA

(b. Benares, India, 17 March 1603)

astronomy, mathematics.

The member of a noted family of astronomers who originated at Dadhigr?ma on the Payo??i River in Vidarbha with Cint?mani, a Brahmana of the Devaratragotra, in the middle of the fifteenth century, and continued with successive generations represented by Rama (who was patronized by a king of Vidarbha), Trimalla, and Ballala, Munisvara was a grandson of Ballala, born after the latter had moved the family to Benares. Ballala had had five sons: Rama, who wrote a commentary on the Sudh?rasas?ran? of Ananta (fl. 1525); K???a (fl. 1600–1625); Govinda, whose son N?r?yana wrote commentaries on the Grahalaghava of Gane?a (b. 1507) and, in 1678, on the J?takapaddhati of Ke?ava (fl. 1496); Ranganatha, who finished his commentary on the Suryasiddhania, the G??h?rthapraka?a, in 1603; and Mahadeva. Munisvara was the son of Ranganatha and the pupil of K???a,

who traces his guruparampara, or lineage of teachers, back through Vi??u (fl. ca. 1575–1600) and N?si?ha (b. 1548) to the great Ga?e?a himself.

Although thus tracing his intellectual genealogy back to the school of Ga?e?a and Ke?ava (see essay in Supplement), Mun??vara followed his uncle’s example of studying the works of Bh?skara II (b. 1115); as K???a had written a commentary, the B?j??kura, on Bh?skara’s Bijaganita, Munisvara continued the task by commenting on the Lilavati in the Nis????rthad?t? and on the two parts of the Siddh?nta?iroma?i in the immense Marici, begun in 1635 and finished in 1638.

In the 1640’s and 1650’s Munisvara’s family entered into a scientific controversy with another Benares family of astronomers whose intellectual genealogy was traced back to Ganesa. This second family had originated in Golagr?ma in Mah?r???ra at about the same time that Cint?ma?i appeared in Dadhigrama: its representatives contemporary with Munisvara were the three brothers Divakara (b. 1606), Kamalakara (fl. 1658), and Ranganatha. They generally favored the Saurapak?a (see essay in Supplement). And, in this connection, it should be noted that Munisvara’s greatest work, the Siddhantasarvabhauma, which was completed in 1646 and on which he wrote a commen- tary, the Asayaprakdsini, in 1650, is fundamentally Saura in character; there is, however, a strong admixture of material from the Br?hmapak?a (see essay in Supplement), reflecting his intense study of Bhaskara II’s Siddh?nta?iroma?i and of the Siddantasundara of Jnanaraja (fl. 1503). He also demonstrates some knowledge of Islamic astronomy, although much less acceptance of it than is shown by Kamalakara. It is around their respective attitudes toward Islamic astronomy that the controversy between the two families principally turned. Despite his negative attitude, however, the author of the Siddhantasarvabhauma seems to have enjoyed the patronage of Shah Jahan (reigned 1628 1658).

Munisvara also composed a P???s?ra on mathe- matics, of which the earliest manuscript, still in Benares, was copied in 1654.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. Only one of Munisvara’S works has been published in full. Of the Marici the part relating to the Goladhyaya was edited by Datt?treya ?p?ie as Anandasrama Sanskrit Series 122, 2 vols. (Poona, 1943 1952). Of the part relating to the Ganitadhyaya, the first chapter only was edited by Muralidhara Jha (Benares, 1917) and the rest by Kedaradatta Josi in vols. II and III of his ed. of the Grahaga?it?dhy?ya (Benares, 1964). Mural?dhara ?hakkura edited 2 vols. containing the first twochs. and a part of the third of the Siddhantasarvabhauma with the Asayaprakasini as Saraswati Bhavana Texts 41 (Benares, 1932 1935); no more has appeared.

II. Secondary Literature. There are notices on Munisvara in S. Dvivedin, Ga?akatara?gi?i (Benares, 1933), repr. from The Pandit, n.s. 14 (1892), 91–94; S. B. Diksita, Bharatiya Jyoti???stra (Poona, 1896, 1931), 286–287; and M. M. Palkar in Poona Orientalist, 3 (1938), 170–171.

David Pingree