| Specifications |
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Publisher: THE KUPPUSWAMI SASTRI RESEARCH INSTITUTE |
| Author Sita Sundar Ram | |
| Language: Sanskrit Text with Transliteration and English Translation | |
| Pages: 309 | |
| Cover: HARDCOVER | |
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10.0x7.0 Inch |
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Weight 770 gm |
| Edition: 2012 | |
| ISBN: 9788185170503 | |
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HBQ293 |
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Ships in 1-3 days |
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It is indeed gratifying that the Kuppuswami Sastri Research
Institute is publishing Dr. Sita's Ph.D. thesis, which is a pioneering study of
Krsoa Daivajña's famous commentary Bijapallava on the Bijaganita of the
celebrated mathematician-astronomer Bhaskaräcärya.
Krsna Daivajña belonged to a prominent jyotiși family of
Varanasi and was associated with the Mughal court at Agra. In the concluding
verses of the Bijapallava (see §1.6.1 of the present work), Krsna gives his
genealogy where he praises the erudition of his father Ballala, grandfather
Trimalla, great grandfather Rama and Rama's father Cintamani. Among his five
brothers, Ranganatha is noted for his commentary Güdhärthaprakāśaka on the
Süryasiddhanta. Several Jyotișa works by his nephews Munīśvara, Gadadhara and
Näräyana have come down to us (see D. Pingree, Jyotihśāstra, p. 126, for their
family tree). According to Muniśvara, the family originally lived at Dadhigrama
on the Payoşni river in the Vidarbha region, but Krsna's father Balläla moved
to Väräņasi (cf. D. Pingree, Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit, CESS,
A4, p. 432ab). In the opening verses of the Bijapallava, Krsna mentions his
illustrious guru parampară (see §1.6.2 of the present work). Krsna's teacher
Vişnu was the pupil of Nrsimha (b. 1548) who was himself the pupil and nephew
of Ganesa (b. 1507), the celebrated author of the Grahalāghava, who studied under
his own father Kešava (1. 1497/1507). This Visou is presumably the son of
Divakara, the pupil of Ganesa, who wrote Süryapaksašarana (see D. Pingree,
Jyotihšästra, p. 37). His works on mathematics are not known but his two rules
for specific types of equations are cited by Krsna in the Bijapallava (see §6.3
of the present work). At the Mughal court, Krsņa received patronage from
Jahangir as well as from Abd al-Rahim Khan-i Khanan. The horoscope of the
latter was included by Krsna in his commentary on Sripati's Jätakapaddhati.
Krsna was a member of the team entrusted with the task of rendering Ulugh Beg's
astronomical tables into Sanskrit at Akbar's translation bureau. In a Mughal
miniature painting depicting the birth of Jahangir, there is a picture of an
astrologer drawing a horoscope. S.R. Sarma identifies this astrologer as Krsna
(see his The Archaic and the Exotic, pp. 100-07). Aside from an original work
Chadakanirnaya on eclipses (cf. §1.6.4 of the present work), Krsna produced
commentaries on Bhāskarācārya's Lilävati and Bijaganita and on Sripati's
Jātaka-karma-paddhati. The Janipaddhati on which Krşņa is said to have written
a commentary (vrtti) according to Munīśvara (cf. CESS A4, p. 438b) seems to me
to be Sripati's Jätakapaddhati, although Dr. Sita regards it as a separate
work. David Pingree lists two manuscripts in the CESS with the comment, 'A ikä
on the Lilävati of Bhaskara II (b. 1114) is ascribed to Krsna, but it is
probably a confusion with the Bijänkura (CESS A2, p. 55b). However, there
cannot be any doubt that Krsna wrote a commentary on the Lilavati, for he
himself refers to it in the following words.
I take great pride in writing the preface to this
publication of the Institute, Bijapallava of Krsna Daivajña, critically studied
by Dr. Sita Sundar Ram. She was awarded the Ph.D. degree by the University of
Madras for the same, prepared and submitted under my supervision, in the year
2008. The thesis was much appreciated by the examiners and Dr. T. Hayashi, one
of the examiners (also has written the Foreword here) strongly recommended the
publication of the thesis at the earliest. Accordingly, it was taken up for
publication by the Institute. The Institute has been publishing, from its
inception, critical editions of texts related to Indian mathematics and
astronomy. The Journal of Oriental Research, Madras, published by the Institute
also contains articles pertaining to these subjects. Savants like Prof. T.S.
Kuppanna Sastri, Prof. D.D. Kosambi, Dr. David Pingree, Dr. Arka Somayaji, Dr.
K.V. Sarma and Dr. George Abraham, were involved in such academic endeavours of
the Institute. Presently, Dr. M.S. Rangachari, Dr. S. Kannan, Dr. S. Madhavan,
Dr. Takao Hayashi, Dr. M.D. Srinivas and others are also associated with the
Institute. The text Sadratnamālā of Sankaravarman, on Indian astronomy and
mathematics, with English translation and notes by Dr. S. Madhavan (Former
Prof. of Mathematics, University College, Thiruvananthapuram), was published by
the Institute, recently in 2011. Bijapallava of Krsna Daivajña is a landmark in
this continued research activity on the part of the Institute in the field of
Indian mathematics and astronomy. Ir was possible for Dr. Sita to produce such
a work, since she is a graduate in Mathematics and post graduate in Sanskrit.
The knowledge of both the subjects helped her a lot in understanding the
mathematical texts in Sanskrit. Registered for the Ph.D. in 2001 at the
Institute under my supervision. Dr. Sita studied the text more than once with
me In some places we met with the difficulty of presenting our understanding of
the text in mathematical language Consultations with Dr. M.S. Rangachari
(Former Director and Head, the Ramanujan Institute for Advanced Study in
Mathematics, University of Madras), helped us a lot in synchronising the
ancient mathematical methods with the modern ones. He always had the idea that
Dr. Sita's thesis should definitely be published and accordingly suggested
changes and modifications in the thesis to suit the publication. I am indeed
grateful to him, both as Supervisor of Dr. Sita's thesis and as the Director of
the Institute. I am deeply beholden to Dr. Takao Hayashi (Professor of History
of Science, Doshisha University, Kyoto, Japan), who had very willingly accepted
to write the Foreword to the book on our request and also for his valuable
suggestions.
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