Garga-samhita (Garga and Bharadvaja)
Garga-samhita (IAST: Garga-saṃhitā), is an Indian Sanskrit-language text on jyotisha (ancient Indian astrology and astronomy), written as a dialogue between the sages Bharadvaja and Garga. Although attributed to Garga, it was definitely not composed by the ancient astrologer of that name, and can be dated to 6th-7th century CE.
Date and manuscripts[edit]
The text is of uncertain date, but was definitely composed after Brahmagupta's Brahma-sphuta-siddhanta (6th-7th century CE).[1] Based on its mathematical contents, Michio Yano dates Garga-samhita to 6th-7th century CE.[2]
The text is known from a manuscript kept at the Vishveshvaranand Vedic Research Institute (VVRI), Hoshiarpur.[3] The VVRI manuscript 2069 was copied by Thakura Datta Joshi and collated by Hariprasada Sharma at Hoshiarpur in 1960.[4]
Content[edit]
The text is also known as the "astronomical Garga-samhita" to distinguish it from the "astrological" Gargiya-jyotisha, an earlier text which is also known as Garga-samhita.[5]
Written in the style of the Puranas, the text features a dialogue between the sages Bharadvaja and Garga.[6] It contains 20 chapters: the first four chapters feature Puranic cosmology, and the subsequent chapters discuss mathematical astronomy.[7] The 20 chapters and their topics include:[8]
- Kālasva-rūpa-vidhāna: time
- Puruṣa-kṛtyā-disṛṣṭ-ividhā
- Sakala-jagad-graha-sṛṣṭi-vidhāna: dimensions of the seven worlds (including Jambu), the seven oceans, and the seven underworlds
- Mṛtyu-graha-cakra-vidhāna: mythological accounts of planets
- Graha-kaṣyādibhagaṇotpatti-vidhāna: decimal places, circumference of planetary orbits (Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn)
- Graha-madhya-vidhāna: computation of accumulated days since the epoch of the current kalpa
- Jīvā-janma: derivation of 36 sines
- Jīvā-vidhā: values of sines and versine
- Graha-sphuṭī-karma: changes in the size of epicycles according to the quadrant
- Jīvā-prakalpana: a table of 12 sine values with radius=3438, almost same as the one given by Aryabhatta
- Laghu-sphuṭa-vihāna: manda (slow) and śīghra (fast) equations
- Untitled
- Untitled, explanation of irregular motions of planets using the fast apogee and the slow apogee; description of synodic arcs of five planets
- Untitled: longitudes of the chief star in the nakshatra
- Untitled
- Untitled: Maximum latitudes in minutes for various planets
- Chāyā-vidhāna: several topics usually dealt with a chapter titled Tri-praśnā-dhyāya in other astronomical texts. For example, raidus of the great circle, longitude of the sun, equinoctial noon hypotenuse etc.
- Untitled, the conjunction of planets
- Sūrya-grahaṇa: solar eclipses, longitudinal and latitudinal parallaxes
- Chedaka: graphical representation of the three-dimensional objects on to a plane surface; briefly discusses lunar eclipses
References[edit]
- ^ Marko Geslani et al. 2017, p. 173.
- ^ Marko Geslani et al. 2017, p. 183.
- ^ Marko Geslani et al. 2017, p. 153.
- ^ David Pingree 1971, p. 118.
- ^ Marko Geslani et al. 2017, p. 152.
- ^ Marko Geslani et al. 2017, p. 173-174.
- ^ Marko Geslani et al. 2017, p. 174.
- ^ Marko Geslani et al. 2017, pp. 174–182.
Bibliography[edit]
- David Pingree, ed. (1971). Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit Series A. Vol. 2. American Philosophical Society.
- Marko Geslani; Bill Mak; Michio Yano; Kenneth G. Zysk (2017). "Garga and Early Astral Science in India". History of Science in South Asia. 5 (1): 151–191. doi:10.18732/H2ND44.