The Surya Siddhanta

The Hindu scientific astronomical works are divided into two classes. Some of these are works of distinguished astronomers like Aryabhata I (499 A.D.), Latadeva (505 A.D.),,* Varahamihira (550 A.D.),1- Brahmagupta (628 A.D.), Lalla (748 A.D.),: Manjula (932 A.D.), Sripati (1028 A.D.) and Bhaskara II (1150 A.D.), whose works are :

Works.

The Aryabhatiya and another Tantra The Romaka and the Pauliba Siddhantas The Panca Siddhantika The Brahmasphuta Siddhanta and the Khandakhadyaka The Sisyadhivrddhida The Laghumanasa and the Brhanmanasa The Siddhanta Sekhara The Siddhanta Siromani

Authors.

Aryabhata I Latadeva § (Expounder) Varahamihira

Brahmagupta Lalla

Manjula Sripati Bhaskara II

These works and their authors are now well known. Of these Latadeva II was a direct pupil of Aryabhata I. There is now no doubt as to the times when they lived and composed their works.

Some again of the Hindu astronomical works are alleged as revelations, which means that their authors have hid their names and their times with the definite motive of making their ait1.3- comical systems and calculations acceptable to the people of Hindu India, by representing them as direct transmission from their gods. To this class belong the following Siddhantas :-

1. Surya Siddhanta. 2. Paitdmaha Siddhanta. 8. Vyasa Siddhanta. 4. Vasistha Siddhanta 5. Atri Siddhanta. 6. Parasara Siddhanta. 7. Kasyapa Siddhanta. 8. Mirada Siddhanta. 9. Garga Siddhanta.

10. Marici Siddhanta. 11. Manu Siddhanta. 12. Angira Siddhanta. 13. Lomasa (Romaka ?) Siddhanta. 14. Paulisa Siddhanta. 15. Cyavana Siddhanta.. 16. Yavana Siddhanta. 17. Bhrgu Siddhanta. 18. Saunaka Siddhanta.

Their name is eighteen * to match the Puranas of which also the name is eighteen ; so revelation is eighteen ways stated. The versifier might have easily pushed up the number to twenty which is the number of the authors of the Dharma Sastras. But at the time of Varaha only five of these Siddhantas were known, viz., the Paulisa, Romaka, Vasistha, Saura and the Paitamaha Siddhantas. Even at the time of Bhaskara II, the well-known ones were five,§ and regarded as ganitas or treatises on astronomy. Some of these eighteen works are known from the quotations made from them by Bhattotpala (966 A.D.) in his commentary on the Brhat Samhita of Varahamihira, while the rest are known in name only. Some of these, again, were purely astrological treatises. The Surya Siddhanta is at the top of this class of revelations. It was revealed to Maya an Asura, in all probability an Assyrian or rather a Babylonian.