Makarandasarini


Makarandasāriṇi is a Sanskrit astronomical table text composed by the Indian astronomer-mathematician Makaranda hailing from Varanasi. In the Sanskrit astronomical literature such table texts are referred to as sāriṇi-s or koṣṭhaka-s. It is one of the most popular such texts ever composed in Sanskrit.

Important features

Makarandasāriṇi follows the Saurapakṣa. This is the midnight-epoch system embodied in a recension of the Sūryasiddhānta dating to around the eighth century. This is reflected in the choices of the values of the fundamental parameters, like the values of the celestial bodies’ revolution-numbers and consequent mean velocities. Another unique feature of Makarandasāriṇi is the use of vegetation-themed Sanskrit technical terms for its various tables. The table giving the mean position increments has been called vāṭikā and the table giving calendar day/time for mean time unit has been called guccha. There are tables named valli-s and saurabhaṃ-s. In comparison to most other sāriṇi-s or koṣṭhakā-s, Makarandasāriṇi has no accompanying set of verses except for an invocatory stanza at the beginning of the text.

Contents

Among other things, the book has tables relating to the following:
  1. the ending moments of tithi, and yoga
  2. the mean longitudes of the Sun, the Moon and the five tārāgraha-s viz, Kuja, Budha, Guru, Śukra and Śani,
  3. the mandaphala of each of the heavenly bodies,
  4. the equation of the conjunction of the five planets,
  5. the moments of solar ingress into the rāśi-s and nakṣatra-s
  6. the Sun’s declination
  7. the latitude of the Moon
  8. the angular diameters of the Sun, the Moon and the Earth’s shadow-cone for computing lunar and solar eclipses.

Commentaries

There are a large number of commentaries on Makarandasāriṇi in circulation. These commentaries provide detailed instructions on how to use the tables sometimes with elaborate worked examples. The following is only a partial list of these commentaries.Makarandapañcāṅgopapatti of Ḍhuṇḍhirāja Makarandavivaraṇa of Divākara Makarandapaddhatikārikā of Harikarṇa Abhinavatāmarasa of Purus.ottama Bhaṭṭa Makarandodāharaṇa of Viśvaātha Makarandaṭippaṇa of Moreśvara Subodhikā of Kṣemaṅkara Miśra Makarandakārikā of Kṛpārāma Miśra vāsanā of Nīlāmbara Jhā udāharaṇa of Jīvanātha Jhā

Additional reading

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