Victory be to the Lord Shri Krishna Chaitanya
Shri Siddhanta Shiromani
Grahaganitaadhyaya
By
Shri Bhaskaracharya
And the Vaasanaa commentary on that
Along with Bengali translations by
Shri Bimala Prasada Siddhanta Saraswati
And edited by him
For the students of Saraswat Chatushpathi
Published in the Jyotirvida Magazine
In the year 4271 after the birth of Lord Chaitanya
1
That is AD 1486 + 427 = AD 1913
Introduction
After days of sincere and dedicated efforts, the
Grahaganitaadhyaya (Cosmology) part of the Siddhanta Shiromani
is being published in this Jyotirvida Magazine with its original
Sanskrit, Vaasanaa commentary and its translation in Bengali.
Already the Golaadhyaya of this book with its original Sanskrit,
Vaasanaa Commentary and translations in Bengali has been
published in the Vrihaspati Magazine. The original Shri Siddhnata
Shiromani work by Bhaskaracharya has four parts. Lilavati or
Arithmetic and Algebra, although not forming part of cosmology, are
important basic readings as introductions to cosmology.
Considering the special ability of Shri Bhaskaracharya in
mathematics and also his ability to clearly and simply present even
the complex of complex theories in mathematics makes him the
undisputed leader amongst the astronomers. The Siddhanta
Shiromani of Shri Bhaskara can be said to be an elaborate
commentary on Shri Surya Siddhanta. Although in certain places the
figures of Shri Bhaskara differ with Shri Surya Siddhanta, inspite of
this these two books are considered as the stalwarts of ancient Hindu
astronomy.
We are acquainted with two types of astronomy,
Mathematical Astronomy and Applied Astronomy. Mathematical
Astronomy has four sub-categories Siddhanta, Tantra, Karana
and Saarinii. The branch of mathematical astronomy based on
observation of planets and stars and mathematical aspect of them is
called Siddhanta. The branch of mathematical astronomy dealing
with the hypotheses on Siddhanta and its elaborate explanation is
called Tantra. The branch of mathematical astronomy based on
usable mathematics which is used to determine the results of
Siddhanta is called Karana. The tables of calculations made using
the Karana texts for Calenders etc are called Saarinii. Examples of
Siddhnata are the Shri Surya Siddhanta and eighteen similar texts;
Examples of Tantra are the Shri Siddhanta Shiromani,
Shishyadhivriddhid etc; Examples of Karana are the Grahalaghava,
Siddhnata Rahasya, Karana Kutahala, Karana-Prakasha, Vhaswati
etc; Examples of Saarinii are the Dinachandrida, Dinakaumadi,
Makaranda etc texts.
Previously the original Sankrit and the Vaasanaa
commentary of the Grahaganitaadhyaya have been published from
Varanasi. Till date no translation of this has been published in any
Indian languages. So in this respect we can claim our effort as a
unique one. About fourteen years ago, one of my students, the
renowned astronomer Shri Haragaurishankar Jyotirvinod, had
studied this book under me, appeared for the astronomy examination
under government patronage and had secured scholarship. After this
a lot of people studied this book and were able to acquire some
knowledge about the ancient Indian astronomy. Bengal had the
deficiency of good books about astronomy, which I hope will be
remedied by the publication of this book and other contemporary
efforts that are being taken.
It has been my personal experience that even the top people
of the learned society consider astronomy to be very difficult and
hard to understand. I request them, not to exaggerate their own ideas
and project them to the new learners and make their path difficult. I
request you, the learned society of Bengal, please try out this unique
science as this is not as difficult as you think.
Last but not the least, I end this introduction by thanking the
person, the one who never expect a return favour if he has done a
favour to anybody, the one who has acquired a thorough knowledge
ancient Indian astronomy by his efforts alone, the one whose
knowledge of western astronomy is unmatched and the one who have
helped me a lot in editing this book and the one who feels aggrieved
if I thank him, to the one and only, the astronomer par excellence and
the learned Shri K. Dutta, M.A., B.L. from the bottom of my heart.
Saraswat Chatushpati
Shri Mayapur Vrajapattan
Shi Navadwipa
Shri Bimala Prasada Siddhnata Saraswati
