Logo

Synopsis The lamentable state of the text as appearing in the two original manuscripts (of Varah Mihira) at the disposal of the authors, was a lesser problem then the greater disadvantage under which they laboured with the absence of a commentary. Commentaries can be hardly done without in the case of any Sanskrit astronomical work; much less so, when the text, as that of the Panchasiddhantika, describes many mathematical processes more or less diverging from those commonly employed. Commentaries probably existed formerly, and possibly exist even now; but the authors failed to procure any. The commentary published in the present volume is an entirely original composition by M.S. Dvivedi. A mere translation of the text with notes would, indeed, have sufficed for the European reader; the authors, however, wished to make the results of their labour accessible to Pandits also who understand no English. And a full tika giving full demonstrations in the ordinary Hindu style will, in many cases, be useful to the European student also. The right hand columns of the text give the emended text: the left hand columns the text of the better one of our two manuscripts which the authors thought advisable to exhibit in extense. Some remarks on the manuscripts and the mode of emendation of the text will be found at the end of the introduction. These two original and rare manuscripts were discovered by Prof. G. Buehler when in change of the search for Sanskrit Manuscripts in parts of the then Bombay Presidency.