?AT?NANDA

(fl. India, 1099)

astronomy.

The only certain biographical data concerning ?at?nanda are that he was the son of ?a?kara and Sarasvar? and that he wrote the Bh?svat? in 1099 on the basis of Var?hamihira’s (fl. ca. 505) summary in the Pañcasiddh?ntik? (I, 14; IX; X; XI [?]; and XVI) of L?tadeva’s (fl. 505) recension of the S?ryasiddh?nta according to the ?rdhr?tri-Kapaksa (see essay in Supplement) of ?ryabhata I (b. 473). The last verse of the Bh?svat?, it is true, refers to the divine utterance of Purusottama, and some have mistakenly concluded therefrom that ?at?nanda lived at Purusottama or Puri, in Orissa; but the only Indian locality referred to by ?at?nanda is Ujjayin?. In any case, the Bh?svar?, containing only eighty-one verses, was instrumental in spreading this version of the s?ryasiddh?nta throughout northern and, especially, eastern India, as can be seen from the existence of numerous manuscripts (nearly a hundred), commentaries, and editions. The commentators include the following:

1. Aniruddha (b. 1463), who wrote a t??k? in Benres in 1495 (see D. Pingree, Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit, ser. A. I [Philadelphia, 1970], 43b).

2. Acyuta (fl. 1505–1534), who wrote a Bh?svat?ratnad?pik? in Bengal (see D. Pingree, op. cit., I, 36a–36b).

3. Gan?apati Bhat?t?a (fl. 1512), who wrote a vivrti in Bengal (see D. Pingree, op. cit., vol. II [Philadelphia, 1971], 89a).

4. M?dhava Mi?ra (fl. 1525), who wrote a vivarana at Kanauj.

5. Balabhadra (b. 1495), who wrote a B?labodhin? in 1543 in Bengal.

6. Kuvera Mi?ra (fl. 1685), who wrote a t?k?, probably in Bengal (see D. Pingree, op cit., II , 47b).

7. Ga¯?g?dhara (fl. 1685), who wrote a t??k? probably in R?jasth?n (see D. Pingree, po. cit., II , 85a).

8. R?makr?s?n?a (fl. 1738), who wrote a Tattvaprak?sik?.

9. Kamalanayana (fl. 1740?), who wrote an ud?haran?a in Mithil? (see D. Pingree, op. cit., II , 20a).

10. Yog?ndra (fl. 1742), who wrote an ud?haran?a probably in Mithil?.

Those commentators who cannot be dated include Cakravartin (Bh?svat?paddhati): Cakraviprad?sa (t?k?): Dharm?ditya (Bh?svat?tilaka): Gop?la (Vivarana: see D. Pingree. op. cit., II, 130b): Gop?n?tha Sudh? (Bh?svat?prak??ik?: see D. Pingree, op cit., II, 137a): Ke?ava (?) (ud?harana: see D. Pingree, op. cit., II, 64a): Madhs?dana (Subodhin?): R?me?vara (t?k?): Vanam?lin (Hind? t?k?): Vi?varan?tha (vy?khy?): and Vrnd?vana (ud?hara?a).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Bh?svat? has been published several times: at the Akhav?ra Press (Benares, 1854): with vivarana of M?dhava Mi?ra in Aru?adaya, I (1890–1891): with his own Sanskrit t?k?, Ch?trabodhin?, and his own Hind? explanation by M?trpras?da P??deya (Benares, 1917): and with his own t?k?, Manoram?, and several appendices by T?k?r?ma Dhana¯jaya (V?r??as?, N.D.).

There are short biographical notices on ?at?nanda in S. Dvivedin, Ga?akatara?gi?? (Benares, 1933), 33–34, repr. from The Pandit, n.s.14 (1892); and in ?. B. D?k?sita. Bh?rat?ya Jyot?h?àstra (Poona, 1896, repr. Poona, 1931). 243–245.

David Pingree