48-505: Vasishtha Siddhanta is one of the earliest astronomical systems in use in India, which is summarized in Varahamihira 's Pancha-siddhantika (6th century). It is attributed to sage Vasishtha and claims a date of composition of 1,299,101 BCE. The original text probably dated to the 4th century, but it has been lost and our knowledge of it is restricted to Varahamira's account. Alberuni ascribes
96-611: A Bhavishya Purana passage according to which the term "Magadha" is a synonym of "Maga" and refers to "those who contemplate on the Maga". According to Shastri, Utpala has used the word "Magadha" to denote the Magas, who had been accepted as Shaka-dvipi (Maga) Brahmins in the Indian society. Shastri theorizes that "Varaha-mihira" may be a Sanskritized form of the Iranian name "Varaza-Mihr", and may refer to
144-555: A cultural area termed " Greater Magadha ", defined as roughly the geographical area in which the Buddha and Mahavira lived and taught. With regard to the Buddha, this area stretched by and large from Śrāvastī , the capital of Kosala , in the north-west to Rājagṛha , the capital of Magadha, in the south-east". According to Bronkhorst, "there was indeed a culture of Greater Magadha which remained recognizably distinct from Vedic culture until
192-687: A legend mentioned in the Mihr Yasht of the Avesta . According to this legend, the god Verethraghna, in the form of a boar ( varaza ), precedes Mihr in his march. Shastri notes that the 5th century Sassanian monarch Bahram V bore the name Mihrvaraza, which is quite similar to Varahamihra. Academic J.E. Sanjana suggests that Varāhamihira was descended from an Iranian Magi priest. Some scholars, such as M.T. Patwardhan and A.N. Upadhye, have identified Varāhamihira with Bazurjmehr, mentioned in Firishta 's writings as
240-566: A minister of the Sasanian king Khusraw Nushirwan (r. 531-578). However, A.M. Shastri dismisses this theory as unconvincing. There are several historically inaccurate legends about the ancestry of Varāhamihira: Kapitthaka, where Varāhamihira studied, was probably his birthplace. While "Kapitthaka" is the most popular reading the place's name, several variants of this name appear in various manuscripts, including Kampilyaka, Kapilaka, Kapishthala, and Kapishkala. Utpala suggests that this village had
288-469: A much larger number of verses to the Sun. His commentator Utpala credits his sharp intellect to a boon by the Sun. Some later writers describe him as an incarnation of the Sun god. Utpala, for example, declares that the Sun descended on earth in the form of Varāhamihira to save the jyotisha-shastra from destruction. The Subhashita-ratna-kosha quotes stanzas that praise Varāhamihira as an incarnation of Vishnu and
336-490: A royal patron. Several scholars theorize that Varāhamihira came from a Brahminized family of the sun-worshipping Magi priests (see Ancestry above). He was a worshipper of the sun god Savitur , and stated that he had received all his knowledge by the grace of this god. For example, in Brhaj-jataka , he states that he was able to compose the text because of a boon by the Sun. While he mentions other deities, he devotes
384-483: A sun temple. According to one theory, Kapitthaka is the modern Kayatha , an archaeological site near Ujjain. Statues of the sun deity Surya (whom Varāhamihira worshipped) dated 600-900 CE have been found there, and kapittha trees are abundant in and around Kayatha. However, no historical source suggests that Kapitthaka was another name for Kayatha. According to another theory, Kapitthaka is same as Sankissa (ancient Sankashya) in present-day Uttar Pradesh: according to
432-433: Is a literary forgery, and is dated variously from 12th-18th century. Varāhamihira definitely did not live in the same century as some of the purported "Navaratnas", such as the much older Kalidasa . Much of the undisputed information about the life of Varāhamihira comes from a stanza in his Brhaj-jataka . According to this stanza, he was a resident of Avanti , was a son of Aditya-dasa, and studied at Kapitthaka through
480-433: Is because according to Amaraja, the author of a commentary on Brahmagupta 's Khanda-khadyaka , Varāhamihira died in 587 CE (Shaka year 509). If Varāhamihira wrote his work in 505 CE even at the young age of 25, he must have been over 105 years old at the time of his death, which seems exceptionally high to these scholars. Consequently, these scholars consider date Varāhamihira's lifespan to 505-587 CE. Other scholars doubt
528-747: Is interpreted as " Dvija (Brahmana) of Magadha"; instead "Magadha" here means Maga , as attested by the Bhavishya Purana . Besides the above-mentioned stanza, Varāhamihira's association with Avanti is confirmed by other evidence: in Pancha-siddhantika , he calls himself Avantyaka ("of Avanti"), and the later commentators such as Utpala and Mahidhara describe him as Avantikacharya (" acharya of Avanti"). Utpala also describes Varāhamihira's son Prthu-yashas as Avantikacharya, in his commentary on Shat-panchashika . Historian Ajay Mitra Shastri , relying on Utpala, believes that "Avanti" here refers to
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#1732854890781576-521: Is often mistakenly thought to be a single work and attributed to Paul of Alexandria (c. 378 CE). However, this notion has been rejected by other scholars in the field, notably by David Pingree who stated that "...the identification of Paulus Alexandrinus with the author of the Pauliṣa Siddhānta is totally false". A number of his writings share similarities with the earlier texts like Vedanga Jyotisha . Some scholars consider Varāhamihira to be
624-580: The Atharvaveda , where they are found listed along with the Angas , Gandharis and Mujavats. The core of the kingdom was the area of Bihar south of the Ganges ; its first capital was Rajagriha (modern day Rajgir ), then Pataliputra (modern Patna ). Rajagriha was initially known as 'Girivrijja' and later came to be known as so during the reign of Ajatashatru . Magadha expanded to include most of Bihar and Bengal with
672-762: The Kīkaṭa tribe—mentioned in the Rigveda (3.53.14) with their ruler Pramaganda—as the forefathers of Magadhas because Kikata is used as synonym for Magadha in the later texts; Like the Magadhas in the Atharvaveda, the Rigveda speaks of the Kikatas as a hostile tribe, living on the borders of Brahmanical India, who did not perform Vedic rituals. The earliest reference to the Magadha people occurs in
720-599: The Magadha region. According to another theory, the word "Magadha" in this context refers to the sun-worshipping Maga cult that Varāhamihira was a part of. In his Brhat-samhita , Varāhamihira mentions that the Magas were the only people suitable for consecrating an image of the Sun god. The Magas, as they came to be known in India, originated from the Magi priests of the Achaemenid Empire . Historian Ajay Mitra Shastri cites
768-874: The Puranas . There is little certain information available on the early rulers of Magadha. The most important sources are the Buddhist Pāli Canon , the Jain Agamas and the Hindu Puranas . Based on these sources, it appears that Magadha was ruled by the Haryanka dynasty for some 200 years, c. 543 to 413 BCE. Gautama Buddha , the founder of Buddhism , lived much of his life in the kingdom of Magadha. He attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya , gave his first sermon in Sarnath and
816-512: The Saptarishis and Garga . According to Shastri, this, combined with the fact that both Dravya-vardhana and Varāhamihira lived in Avanti, suggests that Dravya-vardhana was the royal patron of Varāhamihira. Shastri theorizes that Dravya-vardhana was a successor of Yashodharman alias Vishnu-vardhana, who may have also been a patron of Varāhamihira. Some other historians identify Dravya-vardhana with
864-583: The first Buddhist council was held in Rajgriha . Several Śramaṇic movements had existed before the 6th century BCE, and these influenced both the āstika and nāstika traditions of Indian philosophy. The Śramaṇa movement gave rise to diverse range of heterodox beliefs, ranging from accepting or denying the concept of soul, atomism, antinomian ethics, materialism, atheism, agnosticism, fatalism to free will, idealization of extreme asceticism to that of family life, strict ahimsa (non-violence) and vegetarianism to
912-691: The sramana traditions and include Jainism , Buddhism and Ājīvika . Buddhism and Jainism were the religions promoted by the early Magadhan kings, such as Srenika, Bimbisara and Ajatashatru , and the Nanda Dynasty (345–321 BCE) that followed was mostly Jain. These Sramana religions did not worship the Vedic deities , instead of practicing some form of asceticism and meditation ( jhana ) and tending to construct round burial mounds (called stupas in Buddhism). These religions also sought some type of liberation from
960-435: The 11th-century writer Kshemendra describes him as a great poet. He apparently wrote a set of two works - detailed and short - in the following areas: The chronological order of some of these works can be determined based on the internal evidence and Utpala's commentary. In order or earliest to latest, these works are: Laghu-jataka states that it was written after Brhaj-jataka , and Utpala's commentary states that it
1008-662: The 6th century CE; possibly, he also lived during the last years of the 5th century. In his Pancha-siddhantika , Varāhamihira refers to the year 427 of the Shaka-kala (also Shakendra-kala or Shaka-bhupa-kala ). Identifying this calendar era with the Shaka era places Varāhamihira in the 505 CE. Alternative theories identify this calendar era with other eras, placing him before the 5th century CE. However, these theories are inaccurate, as Varāhamihira must have lived after Aryabhata (born 476 CE), whose work he refers to. The particulars of
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#17328548907811056-542: The 7th-century Chinese traveler Xuanzang , this town was also known as Kah-pi-t'a. Historian Ajay Mitra Shastri notes that Kah-pi-t'a is phonetically similar to Kapittha or Kapitthaka. Based on the term "Magadha-dvija" (see above), Sudhakara Dvivedi suggests that Varāhamihira was born and brought up in Magadha, and later migrated to Ujjain. Ajay Mitra Shastri disputes this, noting that Utpala describes him as "Avantikacharya" ( Acharya of Avanti ) and "Magadha-dvija": these two terms cannot be reconciled if "Magadha-dvija"
1104-469: The Pali language was Magadhi Prakrit , and that because pāḷi means "line, row, series", the early Buddhists extended the meaning of the term to mean "a series of books", so pāḷibhāsā means "language of the texts". Nonetheless, Pali does retain some eastern features that have been referred to as Māgadhisms . Magadhi Prakrit was one of the three dramatic prakrits to emerge following the decline of Sanskrit. It
1152-544: The Sun in the opening stanza of his work Shatpanchashikha . Varāhamihira was well-versed with the Vedic tradition . He recommends the performance of several ancient Hindu rituals such as Punyaham and chanting of Vedic hymns . Varāhamihira praises Vishnu in the chapters 42 and 104 of Brhat-samhita, leading A.N.S. Aiyangar and K.V.R Aiyangar to speculate that he came in contact with the Shrivaishnava saints (Alvars); however, A.M. Shastri dismisses this theory, describing
1200-425: The Sun, presumably because of two parts of his name ( varaha referring to an avatar of Vishnu, and mihira meaning sun). Sun worship seems to have been his family's religion, as his father Aditya-dasa's name literally means "slave (or servant) of the Sun". Kutuhula-manjari , a later text, suggests that Varāhamihira was born to Aditya-dasa by the blessings of the Sun. Varāhamihira's son Prthu-yashas also invokes
1248-453: The accuracy of Amaraja's statement, since he lived a thousand years after Varāhamihira. According to a historically inaccurate tradition, Varāhamihira was associated with the first century BCE legendary emperor Vikramaditya . This tradition is based on Jyotirvid-abharana , a work attributed to Kalidasa , which states that Varāhamihira (along with Kalidasa) was one of the navaratnas ("nine gems") at Vikramaditya's court. However, this text
1296-400: The boon of the sun god. Varāhamihira's father Aditya-dasa likely trained him in jyotisha (Indian astrology and astronomy ), as suggested by the Brhaj-jataka stanza and the opening stanza of Pancha-siddhantika . Varāhamihira's commentator Utpala calls him "Magadha-dvija". According to one interpretation, this means that Varāhamihira was Brahmana ( dvija ), whose ancestors belonged to
1344-601: The city of Ujjayini in the Avanti region of central India. Scholar Dániel Balogh, however, notes that Avanti here may refer to the city of Ujjayini or the Avanti region in general: there is no concrete evidence that Varāhamihira lived in the city; he may have lived elsewhere in Avanti. Varāhamihira likely lived in the Aulikara kingdom, as the Aulikaras ruled Avanti in the 6th century CE. Varāhamihira's Brhat-samhita states that on
1392-556: The conquest of Vajjika League and Anga , respectively. The kingdom of Magadha eventually came to encompass modern Bihar , Jharkhand, Orissa , West Bengal, eastern Uttar Pradesh , and the areas that are today the nations of Bangladesh and Nepal . The ancient kingdom of Magadha is heavily mentioned in Jain and Buddhist texts . It is also mentioned in the Ramayana , the Mahabharata and
1440-600: The cyclic rounds of rebirth and karmic retribution through spiritual knowledge. Beginning in the Theravada commentaries, the Pali language has been identified with Magadhi , the language of the kingdom of Magadha, and this was taken to also be the language that the Buddha used during his life. In the 19th century, the British Orientalist Robert Caesar Childers argued that the true or geographical name of
1488-576: The date mentioned by Varāhamihira - Shukla pratipada of the Chaitra month of the Shaka year 427 - align accurately with 20-21 March 505 CE. Al-Biruni also places Varāhamihira in 505 CE. In accordance with the contemporary tradition, 505 CE was most probably the year in which Varāhamihira composed Pancha-Siddhantaka or began planning it. However, some scholars believe that it was the year of Varāhamihira's birth or of another important event in his life. This
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1536-605: The earlier Aulikara ruler Drapa-vardhana . Shastri disputes this, arguing that Varāhamihira describes Dravya-vardhana as a maharajadhiraja (emperor), while the Rīsthal inscription describes Drapa-vardhana as a senapati (commander). Balogh disagrees with Shastri, noting that Varāhamihira actually uses the term nrpo maharajadhiraja-kah ( nrpa or ruler "connected to the emperor") for the king, which Shastri has misunderstood as maharajadhirajah (emperor). Only one manuscript reads maharajadhirajah , which can be discarded as it doesn't fit
1584-423: The iconography of Ganesha , but this verse appears only in one or two manuscripts, and is likely a later interpolation. Similarly, a Tikanika-yatra verse in which the author reveres Ganesha (among other deities), is likely spurious; this verse appears only in one manuscript. Varāhamihira is credited with writing several authoritative texts on astronomy and astrology . He was also known for his poetic skills, and
1632-499: The initial Magadha kingdom thus corresponded to the modern-day Patna and Gaya districts of the Indian state of Bihar . The region of Greater Magadha also included neighbouring regions in the eastern Gangetic plains and had a distinct culture and belief. Much of the Second Urbanisation took place here from ( c. 500 BCE ) onwards, and it was here that Jainism and Buddhism arose. Some scholars have identified
1680-510: The kingdom. According to Indologist Johannes Bronkhorst , the culture of Magadha was in fundamental ways different from the Vedic kingdoms of the Indo-Aryans . According to Bronkhorst, the śramana culture arose in " Greater Magadha ," which was Indo-Aryan, but not Vedic . In this culture, Kshatriyas were placed higher than Brahmins , and it rejected Vedic authority and rituals. He argues for
1728-426: The metre; three others have maharajdhiraja-jah . Thus, the actual title of Drapa-vardhana was nrpa , which is much closer to senapati in status. Utpala also interprets the term maharajadhiraja-kah to mean "born in the dynasty of the (or an) emperor". Hans Bakker interprets the term to maharajadhiraja-kah as a governor installed at Ujjayini by the contemporary Gupta emperor. Balogh believes that Dravya-vardhana
1776-446: The most eminent writer on jyotisha after his death, and his works superseded nearly all the earlier Indian texts in this area. Several later Indian astrologer-astronomers speak highly of him, and acknowledge his works among their main sources. The 11th-century writer Al-Biruni also greatly admires him, describing him as an excellent astronomer. Magadha (Mahajanapada) Magadha was an ancient Indian kingdom, region and one of
1824-445: The permissibility of violence and meat-eating. Magadha kingdom was the nerve centre of this revolution. Jainism was revived and re-established after Mahavira , the last and the 24th Tirthankara , who synthesised and revived the philosophies and promulgations of the ancient Śramaṇic traditions laid down by the first Jain tirthankara Rishabhanatha millions of years ago. Buddha founded Buddhism which received royal patronage in
1872-510: The popular gods worshipped during his period. He also describes the iconography of two non-Brahmanical faiths, that of the Buddha and the Jinas . He appears to have been religiously liberal, as he reveres the Buddha as "the father of the world" and devotes an entire stanza to Buddha's iconology (compared to shorter descriptions of several Brahmanical deities). A verse in the Brhat-samhita describes
1920-401: The praise for Vishnu as an example of religious eclecticism. In Brhat-samhita , Varāhamihira discusses the iconography of several Brahmanical deities, including Vishnu , Baladeva , Ekanamsha , Shamba , Pradyumna , consorts of Shamba and Pradyumna, Brahma , Skanda , Indra , Shiva , Surya, the divine mothers ( Matrikas ), Revanta , Yama , Varuna , and Kubera . These were presumably
1968-601: The sixteen Mahajanapadas during the Second Urbanization period, based in the eastern Ganges Plain . Magadha played an important role in the development of Jainism and Buddhism . The territory of the Magadha kingdom proper before its expansion was bounded to the north, west, and east respectively by the Gaṅgā , Son , and Campā rivers, and the eastern spurs of the Vindhya mountains formed its southern border. The territory of
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2016-549: The strong candidate for the one who understood and introduced the zodiac signs, predictive calculations for auspicious ceremonies and astrological computations in India. Varāhamihira's works contain 35 Sanskritized Greek astronomical terms, and he exhibits a good understanding of the Greek astronomy. He praised the Greeks ( Yavanas ) for being "well trained in the sciences", though impure in ritual order. Varāhamihira gained reputation as
2064-465: The time of the grammarian Patañjali (ca. 150 BCE) and beyond". The Buddhologist Alexander Wynne writes that there is an "overwhelming amount of evidence" to suggest that this rival culture to the Vedic Aryans dominated the eastern Gangetic plain during the early Buddhist period. Orthodox Vedic Brahmins were, therefore, a minority in Magadha during this early period. The Magadhan religions are termed
2112-555: The topic of omens ( shakuna ), one of the works he consulted was that of Dravya-vardhana, the king of Avanti. Dravya-vardhana likely belonged to the Aulikara dynasty, several of whose members bore names ending in -vardhana . Historian Ajay Mitra Shastri notes that Dravya-vardhana is the only person for whom Varāhamihira employs the honorific Shri , although he mentions several other notable people. Moreover, he mentions Dravya-vardhana's work before he mentions reputed authorities such as
2160-572: The work to Vishnuchandra . There is a modern work bearing the title Vasishtha Siddhantika . This astronomy -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Varahamihira Varāhamihira ( c. 20/21 March 505 – c. 587), also called Varāha or Mihira , was a Hindu astrologer-astronomer who lived in or around Ujjain in present-day Madhya Pradesh , India. Unlike other prominent ancient Indian astronomers , Varāhamihira does not mention his date. However, based on hints in his works, modern scholars date him to
2208-417: Was based on; according to Balogh, this actually makes it more likely that the king lived at a time earlier than Varāhamihira, who did not have access to the older work of Bharadvaja. According to Balogh, Varāhamihira likely lived during the reign of the Aulikara kings Prakasha-dharman, Yashodharman, or an unknown successor of Yashodharman. However, unlike Shastri, Balogh believes that Varāhamihira did not have
2256-429: Was probably same as Drapa-vardhana: "Dravya" may be a variant arising from a mistake in a medieval manuscript, which is the source of later manuscripts. Balogh disputes Shastri's assertion that Varāhamihira shows a particularly reverential attitude to the king, and even if he did, this is no evidence that the two were contemporaries. Varāhamihira consulted the king's work instead of the original work of Bharadvaja that it
2304-625: Was written after the abridged version of Pancha-siddhantika . However, its order with respect to the other works is not certain. Later authors also mention or quote from some other works composed by Varaha-mihira. Manuscripts of some other works attributed to Varaha-mihira exist, but these attributions are of doubtful nature. The Romaka Siddhanta ("The Doctrine of the Romans") and the Paulisa Siddhanta were two works of Western origin which influenced Varāhamihira's thought. The Pauliṣa Siddhānta
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