Sisyadhi Vrddhida Tantra of Lall (Set of 2 Books)

The gisyadhivrddhicia-Tantra CA treatise for increasing the intellect of students) is an authoritative text of Indian astronomy, written by Lalla, a prominent astronomer of the 7th century A.D. Divided into 22 chapters, the work forms a neat depiction of the Aryabhatan School of astronomy, in which Lalla has incorporated his new findings. In Son. I, being the Mathematics Section, the author deal with the Sun, Moon and the Planets, the eclipses, cusps of the Moon, the conjunction of stars and planets, and the rationale of corrections. In Son. ii, dealing with Spherics, he sets out the construction of the armillary sphere, a graphical representation of the motion of planets, false notions held in the Purina’s and astronomical instruments.

The work is issued in two Parts, Pt. I contain the Text and an old commentary thereon, and Pt. H contains its Translation with Mathematical Notes and a number of useful Indices, including a Glossary of Technical terms.

Dr. (Mrs.) Bina Chatterji, M. A., D. Phil. (Oxon) had a brilliant career as a student, teacher, scholar and administrator. She stood second in order of merit in the Matriculation Examination (1922), received the University Gold Medal for standing first in Mathematics in her B A. examination (1926), and stood first in M.A. (1928) in Mathematics from the Banaras Hindu University. She was awarded an international fellowship (1941-42) by the International Federation of University for Women, Washington (USA) She served as Secretary, U. P. S. C., Director, and National Archives and in many other capacities. Despite her heavy administrative duties, she maintained her academic interest and made a valuable contribution to the study of ancient Indian Astronomy and Mathematics. She published Brahmagupta's Kharida-khadyaka (2 vols.) with Bhutto-gala s commentary, English translation and Mathematical notes The present work. in two volumes, was completed by her in manuscript form during her tenure of Fellowship in the Indian National Science Academy (1971-75).

The publication of original texts in Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian etc. and their translation into English is one of the main objectives of the National Commission for the Compilation of History of Sciences in India. Texts like Aryabhatiya with commentaries (3 vols.) and Rasarnava-kalpa are some of the prestigious publications of the Commission in this direction. The present text, the syadhivrddhida Tantra CA Treatise for Increasing the Intellect of Students') by Lalla, a very important work in astronomy in the pre-Bhaskara (II) period, belongs to this category of texts.

The work of editing and translating into English of sisyadhivrddhida with critical annotations was taken up by the late Dr. (Mrs) Bina Chatterji whose scholarship in this field is already well known. While the work of printing was in progress, and 32 pages had been printed, Dr. Chatterji passed away in January 1978. After her demise, we took the help of two other scholars in the field, namely, Prof. K. S. Shukla and Prof. K. V. Sarma towards the publication of the work. They have taken utmost care in their work and have given dedicated service towards the press-processing, printing, proofreading, preparing indices etc. of the work. The Academy is indeed very grateful to these two scholars for their valuable cooperation in the work. Without their help, the work could not have been published so early. We hope that this publication also will receive the approbation of scholars like the other publications of the Commission.

The first time I had a glimpse of Lalla's Sisyadhi-vrddhida was in 1937 when I began studying Indian astronomy and mathematics with Pandit Muralidhar Thakur. Since then, while at Oxford preparing a critical edition of the Khaidakhadyaka by Brahmagupta, I cherished the intention of editing the Sisyadhivrddhida after completing the work in hand. Under the auspices of the International. Federation of University Women, whose Fellowship I held from 1941-43, my main subject for study was Indian and Greek trigonometry and planetary motions. However, I managed to glance through the Sisyadhivrddhida as well, though perfunctorily.

The Khaodakhadyaka was published by me in October 1970 and, soon after, my study of the Sisyadhivrddhida commenced. This plan was facilitated by the timely financial assistance extended to me by the Indian National Science Academy with effect from November 1971, for which I am extremely grateful to the Academy.

The Sisyadhivrddhida had already been published by Sudhakara Dvivedi in A.D. 1886, but that edition was based only on one manuscript and could not, therefore, be called a critical edition. The present edition has been prepared after collating twenty manuscripts, of which one is from the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and another from the Statsbibliothek, Berlin (W. Germany). The remaining manuscripts are from different libraries in India. The present edition gives also the commentary by Malliknrjuna Sari, available only for the First Part. The translation provided is intended to give an intelligible rendering of the text and the Notes to interpret, in terms of modern science, the mathematical calculations involved in the textual verses.

I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Professor David Pingree, Brown University, U.S.A., who after learning that I desired to bring out an edition of the ..isyadhivrddhida, very kindly sent me a list of the manuscripts of the work, I thank all the libraries which extended their cooperation not only by sending me copies of the manuscripts required but also by making it possible for me to visit those institutions to collect materials for my study. I am also grateful to Dr. K. S. Shukla, Professor of Mathematics, at Lucknow University, who was always ready to help me to solve my difficulties with the text. I must also mention with gratitude the assistance offered by Dr. M. L. Sharma, Head of the Department of Astronomy, Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishvavidyalaya, Varanasi, in the matter of checking some of the examples in the commentary. My thanks are due also to Dr K.V. Sarma, Director-Professor of the Vishveshvaranand Institute, Hoshiarpur, for the wholesome suggestions and advice he gave me towards the presentation of the volume.

In all humility, I place this work before the learned world and fervently hope that in spite of its shortcomings, it will still be of some use to the study of the history of Indian astronomy.

Sisyadhivrddhtda-Tantra of Lalla, who probably hailed from the Litadeia and lived about the 8th century. A.D. is one of the major comprehensive treatises on Indian astronomy. The only edition of the work so far published is by Sudhakara Dvivedi in 1886. This is, however, based on one faulty manuscript, and cannot, therefore, be said to be a critical text. This is referred to in the present edition as D. A critical edition, based on all the manuscript material available, has been a desideratum. The present edition is intended to meet this requirement.

I. MANUSCRIPT MATERIAL

The under-mentioned manuscripts have been collated for the zciestitution of the text and the commentary for this edition.

1. Al. Ms. 5199 of the Anup Sanskrit Library, Bikaner, 315 coo. X 11 cm,, Devanagari, paper, folios 104, 10 to 11 lines per page. Undated.

This MS is incomplete. It extends up to the end of, .t.ligonnaty-stir-2.;.-ika, (ch. ix), and carries Bbaskara 1I's commentary on the work. I MS gives only the incipits (pratikas) of the verses. Occasionally, is not given even the incipits, though the commentary is there. 2. A2. Ms. No. 5198 of the Anup Sanskrit Library, Bikaner. Zicm..X 11 cm., Devanagari, paper, 27 folios, 9 lines per page. Undated.

A3, Ms. No. 4513 of the Anup Sanskrit Library, Bikaner. 24'5 cm X 11 cm., Devanagari, paper, 13 folios, 13-14 lines per page; the last but one page carries only 11 lines and the last page is blank. Undated.

This MS does not have Gavitadhyaya but gives the complete text of the Goladhyaya. 4. B. Ms. No. 9321 of Oriental Institute, Baroda. Devanagari, paper, 32 folios. Scribe: Moreivara. Written in A.D. 1642.

5. Be. Ms. from the Statsbibliothek, Berlin. Devanagari, paper. Undated.

This MS contains the Gatzitadhaya only. 6. Boi. Ms. No. 360 of the University Library, Bombay. 13" X 51", Devanagari, glazed yellow paper, 19 folios, 10 lines per page. Undated.

This MS contains the Gavitadhyaya only. 7. Bog. Ms. No. 361 of the University Library, Bombay. 13k" X Devanagari, thick glazed yellowish white paper, 13 folios, 16 lines per page; the last page has 17 lines. Written in A.D. 1777. This MS contains the Ganitadhoya only. At the end of the last chapter is written: 8. Bod. Ms. No. Chandra Shum Shere d. 806 of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Devanagari. Undated.

This MS gives both Gattitadhyaya and the Goladhyaya.

9. M. Ms SB 608 of the Oriental Research Institute, Mysore. Kannada, 19 cm. X 14 cm., paper, 93 folios, 30 lines per page. Undated.

This MS contains only the sasyisadhyaya but contains the commentary of Mallikarjuna Suri.

10. M2. Ms No. of the Oriental Research Institute, Mysore. Grantha, 37.5 cm. X 3.5 cm., palm leaf, Sritala, 188 folios, 6 lines per page. Undated.

This MS contains only the Gaoitadhyaya, but with commentary by Mallikarjuna Suri.

11. M3. Ms. No. SB 607/2 of the Oriental Research Institute, 11,jsore. Kannada, 19.5 cm X 15 cm., paper, 18 folios, 23 lines per page, with only 3 lines on the last page. Undated. This MS gives the text of Gartitadhyaya only. 12. S1. Ms. No. 9365 of the Scandia Research Institute, Ujjain. Devanagari, 32.5 cm. X 12 cm., paper, 57 folios, 14 lines per page. Undated.

This MS gives the text of the sastatadhydya up to, wrngonnatyakara (ch. ix) only. Instead of complete verses, only the incipits are even. It also contains Bhaskara's commentary. It is a very inaccurate MS. 7 and 4, 4' and an etc. are confused. Conjunct letters are written incorrectly.

13. S2. Ms. No. 9407 of the Scandia Research Institute, Ujjain. Devanagari, 35 cm. X 11 cm., paper, 16 folios, though written 17 the MS, since folios 14 and 15 are written on the same folio. 11-12 ._:as per page, with only 5 lines on the last page. Undated. This MS contains the Gartitadhoya only. Omissions and corrections are written in the margin in the same hand. Occasionally -_-Le verses are wrongly numbered. 14. S3. Ms. No. 12951 of the Scandia Research Institute, ain. Devanagari, 33.5 cm. X 10'5 cm., paper, 3 folios, 10 lines err pace, with only 21 lines on the last page. Undated.