RNI.

MAHMUL 02935/2011

GLOBAL ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Half Yearly Research Journal

ISSN 2249- 4081

Vol. I, Issue : III, April 2012 to Sept. 2012

102

INDIAN MATHEMATICIAN VARAHAMIHIRA

S.B. Kohle
Shivaji College , Kannad, Dist Aurangabad

P.S. Avhale
Dept. of Mathematics , Shivaji College , Kannad, Dist Aurangabad

R.V. Waghmare
Dept. of Mathematics, Shivaji College , Kannad, Dist Aurangabad

16

RESEARCH PAPER - MATHEMATICS

ABSTRACT Varahamihira was an Indian Astronomer, Mathematician and Astrologer in Gupta era. His famous treatises are Pancha-siddhantika and Brihat-Samita. He wrote the Mathematics and Astrology in poetic and metrical styles, no one try after and before such style. Varahamihiras writing give a comprehensive picture of 6th century of India, his real interest lay in astronomy and astrology. He repeatedly emphasized the importance of astrology Introduction Varahamihira is also called Varaha, or Mihira. Varahamihira was born in Kapitthaka in India in the year 505 AD. According to his own statement in the penultimate verse of his Brhajjataka he was a native of Avanti (Western Malawa) the son of Adityadasa (servant of sun) and in strutted by him having obtained the blessing of the sun-god at Kapitthaka . According to Utpala, Kapittha was a village where there was a sun-temple. It is usually identified with modern Kayatha, a small village about 20kms from Ujjan on the Ujjain-Maski Road. There is no doubt that Varaha belonged to a family of sunworshippers. Not only does he pay homage to the sun in almost all his works, but he

RNI. MAHMUL 02935/2011

GLOBAL ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Half Yearly Research Journal

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himself was regarded as an incarnation of the Sun-god. He was devotee of demons especially Mareecha, Subahu & astrologer who lived in Ujjain. He also describes himself as Avantyaka and him commentator Bhajjataka Utpala styles him Svantikacarya. His son Prthuyasas, also an astronomer, invokes the Sun-god in the opening verse of his Satpancasika. He received his early education at Kapitthaka. He lived and worked at Ujjan for most of his life. Ujjain was an important place for learing mathematics before the Varahamihira around 400AD. Works Varahamihira is remembered for his famous work the panchasiddantika (PS). He wrote Panchasiddantika in 575 AD, gives us information about Indian texts which is now lost. This work is a compilation of the summary of major achievements of the Hindu astronomers before the time of Aryabhatta and a compendium of Greek, Egyptian, Roman and Babylonian origin. The work is a treatise on mathematical astronomy. Varahamihira wrote on all the three branches of Jyotisa which are following 1) Tantra or Siddhanta or Mathematical astronomy. 2) Hora or horoscopy of wedding (vivaha) and nuptials (jataka) and prognostics (Sakuna), for Journeys (yatra). 3) Samhita or mudane astrology He wrote Vatakanika is a work on omens exclusively, but it exists only in a fragmentary form as quoted in other works on travels or what may be called military astrology he wrote Brhadyatra, Svalpayatra and Yogayatra. Panchasiddantika He was the first one to mention in his work Panchasiddhantika that the ayanama or the shifting of the equinox is 50.32 second. It is a compendium of Vedanga Jyotisa as well as Hellenistic astronomy (including,Greek,Egyption and Roman element) The Pancasiddhantika also contains many examples of the use of a place value number system. There is however quite debate about interpreting data from Varahamihiras astronomical texts and from other similar works.Some believe that the astronomical theories are Babylonian in origin, while others argue that the Indians refined the Babylonian models making observations of their own.

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GLOBAL ECONOMIC RESEARCH

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Suraya siddhanta: Suraya siddhanta was written in Sanskrit in the form of poetry. It is divided into fourteen chapters, which are following 1. Places of the Planets 2. The Motions The of the Planets 3. Direction, Place and Time 4. The Moon and Eclipses 5. The Sun and Eclipses 6. The Projection of Eclipses 7. Planetary Conjunctions 8. Of the Stars 9. Risings and Settings 10. The Moons Risings and Settings 11. Certain Malignant Aspects of the Sun and Moon 12. Cosmogony, Geography, and Dimensions of the Creation 13. The Gnomon 14. The Movement of the Heavens and Human Activity Time cycles The astronomical time cycles contained in the text were remarkably accurate at the time. The Hindu Time Cycles, copied from an earlier work, are described in verses 1123 of Chapter 1: When computed, this astronomical time cycle would give the following results: The average length of the tropical year is 365.2421756 days, which is only 1.4 seconds shorter than the modern value of 365.2421904 days (J2000). The average length of the sidereal year, the actual length of the Earths revolution around the Sun, as 365.2563627 days, which is virtually the same as the modern value of 365.25636305 days (J2000). This remained the most accurate estimate for the length of the sidereal year anywhere in the world for over a thousand years. Planetary Diameters The Surya Siddhanta also estimates the diameters of the planets. The estimate

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GLOBAL ECONOMIC RESEARCH

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for the diamete r of Mercury is 3,008 miles, an error of less than 1% from the currently accepted diameter of 3,032 miles. It also estimates the diameter of Saturn as 73,882 miles, which again has an error of less than 1% from the currently accepted diameter of 74,580. Its estimate for the diameter of Mars is 3,772 miles, which has an error within 11% of the currently accepted diameter of 4,218 miles. It also estimated the diameter of Venus as 4,011 miles and Jupiter as 41,624 miles, which are roughly half the currently accepted values, 7,523 miles and 88,748 miles, respectively. 2.1.3 Trigonometry The Surya Siddhanta contains the roots of modern trigonometry. It uses sine (jya), cosine (kojya or perpendicular sine) and inverse sine (otkram jya) for the first time, and also contains the earliest use of the tangent and secant when discussing the shadow cast by a gnomon in verses 2122 of Chapter 3: Of [the suns meridian zenith distance] find the jya (base sine) and kojya (cosine or perpendicular sine). Consider a circle of radius R, with centre O. let AOA and BOB be two diameters intersecting at right angles, one being horizontal and the other vertical. Let AC be an arc such that AOC= . Then the arc AC is measured by

Draw CD perpendicular to OA. Then CD is called the and OD is called Then CD=R sin.and OD=Rcos.One can easily verify that and consequently We shall prove the following result found in Pancasiddhantika:

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Let B be the centre of a circle and AB, DB radii and ABD=2. The bisector of ABD meets AD at E and the circle at F.Draw AC perpendicular to DW and AG perpendicular to diameter through B perpendicular to BD.
We have DE=R sin Now, AC=Rsin2 Therefore, and

and therefore,

Therefore,

Varahamihira took R=120 whereas Aryabhata took it as 3438 From these we can infer that Varahamihira was aware of the following:

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GLOBAL ECONOMIC RESEARCH

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Important contribution to trigonometry was his sine tables where he improved those of Aryabhata I giving more accurate values. Calendrical uses The Indian solar and lunisolar calendars are widely used, with their local variations, in different parts of India. They are important in predicting the dates for the celebration of various festivals, performance of various rites as well as on all astronomical matters. Vasishtha siddhaanta Vasishtha Siddhanta is one of the earliest astronomical systems in use in India, which is summarized in Varahamihiras Pancha-Siddhantika (6th century). It is attributed to sage Vasishtha and claims a date of composition of 1,299,101 BCE. Pitamaha Siddhanta or Brahma-siddhanta Three wings of astrology are the three parts of astrology, among which Siddhnatha astrology is prominent. Above mentioned 18 ancient saints have contributed towards Siddhantha astrology. Shastras of these saints are named after them. Pitamaha Siddhanta is one of these shastras composed by Rishi Pitamaha. Pitamaha Siddhantha was composed in the historical period of 8300 BC to 3000 BC. Many great saints contributed to the field of astrology during this time. Following are the names of those saints: Siddhanta Jyotish : Name of 18 Rishi Surya Pitamaha Vyaso Vashishthaoatri Parashara Kashyapo Narad Garg Maarichimnu Angira Lomash Polishashcahiva Chayawano Yavano Mrigu Shoneko ashthadashadhaite jyoti Shastra Pravartaka. Hence, following are the names of the saints that took astrology to its height: RishiSurya, Rishi Pitamaha, Rishi Vyaso, Rishi Vashishthaoatri, Rishi ParasharaKashyapo, Rishi Narad, Rishi Garg ,Rishi Marichi, Rishi Manu, Rishi Lomash, Rishi Polish, Rishi Chawana. Rishi Yavan, Rishi Mrigu 5 verses about the Brahma Siddhanta have survived till today in Varahamihiras compilation, explanation and treatise PanchaSiddhanthika.). 1. Pitamaha Brahma computed that 5 years would cause a yuga of the Sun,

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GLOBAL ECONOMIC RESEARCH

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Moon and Dhanishta Nakshatra. (See Also: How many kinds of Yugas arethere?) 2. After 30 months an adhikamasa (extra month) and after 62 days a loss of a day (avama kshaya tithi). (It is necessary to add and drop months and days periodically just as leap days are added in leap years as a correction to the calendar.) 3. Varahamihira tells us that if we subtract 2 from the Saka Year of his reference, we come to the beginning of a Paitamaha Yuga. Then we divide it by 5 and the remainder gives us the number of years since the beginning of the paitamaha yuga. Now we can compute the Ahargana or the count of days. , starting from the Sukla Paksha of the Magha Masa. (See : Varahamihira Really 427 of Saka Era? : PanchaSiddhantika,KalahanasRajatarangini:DateofMahabharataWar and How many kinds of Sakas (Eras) are there?) 4. Since the Paitamaha yuga contains 1830 savana (solar) days and 1860 tithis, (see Date of Sri Rama as per Balakanda for explanation on tithis), you can get the tithis by 1860/1830 times ahargana = 62/61 times ahargana. 5. The sun passes through each of the 27 nakshatras, 5 times in a yuga of 1830 savana days. So in the ahargana, the sun passes through (ahargana/1830) * 27 *5 nakshatras = (9/122)*ahargana 6. One paitamaha yuga contains 67 sidereal (star-based) revolutions of the moon. So the moon passes through 27*67 nakshatras in a yuga. Therefore (ahargana/1830)*27*67 = 603/610*ahargana = ahargana (ahargana*7/610). Romaka Siddha and Paulisa Siddhanta The The Romaka Siddhanta(Doctrrine of the romas)and the Paulisa Siddhanta (Doctrine of paul) were the works of Western origin which influenced Vara hamihiras thought. Though this view is controversial as there is much evidence to suggest that it was actually vedic thought indigenous to India which actually first influenced Western astrologers and subsequently came back to India reformulated.

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Hera In Hora, he wrote many treatises on shakuna(augury) as well as the Brihajjataka (great Birth) and Laghu jataka(short Birth). He was also an astrologer and write on all the three main branches of jyotisha astrology. Samhita Samhita or Brihat-Samhita is the second most famous treatise of varahamira. It includes the topics of human interest such as astrology, eclipses, transits of planets, comets, gems, pearls, rituals architecture, iconography, omens, cosmetics, water-driving, rain fall, clouds aphrodisiacs, horticulture, growth of plants, manufacture of perfume, matrimony, domestic relations, species of men and woman, weather forecast, details of Indian geography etc. Conclusion Varahamihira also made important contributions to the mathematics. He was young contemporary of the senior Aryabhata (born in 476 AD) and also well known exponent of Indian astronomy. Though not an originator in astronomy or mathematics, he was a prolific writer and produced several works, big and small, which had a tremendous impact on later astronomers particularly astrologers.

References
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Ancientindians.wordpress.com/tag/pitamaha Astrobix.com/.../surya-siddhanta-history-of-astrology-ancient-indian. En.wikipedia.orgwikiVarhamihira . Pendit Bapu Deva Sastri Translation of the surya siddahanta. Prof.S.Madhavan Triuvanthapuram;Varahamihira:A Versatile Genius Shashi .S. Sharma Mathematics & Astronomers of Ancient India www.astrojyoti.comvarahamihirainfo.htm. www.britannica.comEBcheckedtopic623232Varahamihira. www.enotes.com/topic/vasishta-siddhanta. www.gap-system.org~historyBiographiesVarahamihira.html . www.jatland.comhomeVarahamihira.