Grahaṇamaṇḍana of Parameśvara by K. V. SarmaReview by: David PingreeJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 87, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1967), pp. 337-339Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/597744 .

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Reviews of Books 337

rukopisiami has had the amazing success of appear- ing in five editions since it was written in 1945. And a second edition is something seldom achieved in the Soviet Union by works other than the solid classics of Russian literature and of the party literature.

Let us hope that the success of Academician Krachkovskii's book is a reflection of the public's enthusiasm for this genre, and that it presages a great and deserved success for Professor Heissigs book.

JAMEs EVMT BossoN UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

Critique of Indian Realism. By DH. N. SHASTRI.

Agra: AGRA UNIVESITY, 1964. Rs 35/-

It is the author's thesis that we must distinguish three distinct phrases in the history of the Nyaya- Vaiseeika school, i. e., 1, the period up to Digndga, 2. the period of conflict with the Digndga school, and 3. the period of decay beginning " in the eleventh century, when the Buddhists disappeared from India, and their disappearance synchronises with the stagnation and sterility of Indian in- tellect." This is plausible in itself, and for a long time the Buddhists must surely have been in the ascendancy in India, when we consider that their opponents absorbed their theories to such an ex- tent that Safikara, himself accused of being a pracchanna-bauddha, taxes the Vaisesikas with being ardha-vainJ-ika, i. e. semi-Buddhist. What the author has shown is that for six centuries there were many controversies between Buddhists and Vaisesikas and his lucid account of these contro- versies is the most valuable part of his book. What he has failed to show is that the Vaiseeikas substantially modified their views under the influ- ence of the Buddhists, or that "their school had

undergone some significant changes in the course of its development." And that was the theme of his book and its justification.

On the negative side we may further state that the book is incredibly repetitive, and its 560 pages could with advantage have been cut down to 100. Shastri's knowledge of Buddhist logic is exclu- sively based on the often controversial exposition of Stcherbatsky, and he is clearly unaware of the vast number of texts on Buddhist logic which have been published since 1935. He also has no conception of the development of Buddhist thought, or of the distinctive features of the vari- ous schools, and the muddle has to be seen to be believed. Why is it, I wonder, that Indian scholars who write in English nowadays almost invariably produce books which show no acquaintance with recent research, and which do not advance our knowledge by even one iota. What has become of the Dasguptas, Radhakrishnans, Coomaraswamys and Murtis of former days? We must assume that at present the good scholars write in Hindi or Sanskrit.

EDWARD CONZE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLU

Grahanamandana of Paramedvara. Edited and translated by K. V. SARMA. Pp. xviii and 44. Hoshiarpur: VISHVESHVARANAND VEDIC RE-

SEARCH INSTITUTE (V. I. Series 34). 1965. Rs. 5.

The Grahanamandana is one of three works on eclipses written by the leading astronomer of Kerala in the early fifteenth century,' Parames- vara of the house Vatasseri (Sanskritized as

1 See K. Kunjunni Raja, "Astronomy and Mathe- matics in Kerala," Brahmcavidyd 27, 1963, 118-167.

Vatasrenii) in the village of Alatt-fr (Sanskritized as A~vatthagrama) on the north bank of the river NilA at its mouth. It is the editor of the present text, K. V. Sarma, who has given us critical editions of the other two treatises: of the Grahamia- #aka in JORMadras 28, 1958-59, 47-60, and of the Grahananyayadipikd2 as VIS 35, Hoshiarpur 1966. All three works cover the standard problems en- countered in computing solar and lunar eclipses, though of course the eight verses of the GrahaWua- #aaka do not provide opportunity for going very far beyond the fundamentals.

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338 Journal of the American Oriental Society, 87. S (1967)

Paramesvara's contribution to eclipse-theory as to other branches of mathematical astronomy lies in his adjustments of the parameters of the Para- hita system, which is based on the Aryabhatiya and which was the system in common use in South India in the medieval period, so that com- putations would be in better agreement with ob- servations; his new system with the adjusted parameters he calls the Drgganita. In order to establish the position of the Grahanamandana in the history of the development of the Drgganita system it may be useful here to explore further some chronological problems involving Parames- vara that are only briefly and partially touched on by Sarma.

Paramesvara composed the basic text-book of the Drgganita system, entitled fittingly enough Drgganita, in Saka 1353 (AD 1431); it also has been edited by K. V. Sarma (VIS 30, Hoshiarpur 1963). A sort of appendix to this work (2, 47-50) gives corrections to be applied to the mean motions of the Sun, the Moon, the Moon's apogee, and the Moon's node in the Grahanamandana; this estab- lishes a terminus ante quem for that work. The lower limit for the date of the Grahanamandana is determined by its khanda (epoch), which is 15 July 1411 (vs. 5). This early date is corro- borated by the fact that the original 87-verse version of the Grahanamandana (vs. 3 fn.; Sarma prints the revised 100-verse version as his main text) refers to Paramesvara's commentary on the Laghubhuaskaritya of Bhaskara I (ed. ASS 128, Poona 1946); the terminus post quem of this commentary is Saka 1330 (AD 1408), which is mentioned on Laghubhaiskarlya 2, 16.

Paramesvara also refers to the Grahanamandana in his Grahanany~ayadipikda, which purports to be but an extension of it (vs. 1). But in the Grahananyayadipikca (vs. 84) he also refers to his Siddhantadipika, a commentary on Govinda- svamin's Bhasya on the Mahaibhaskariya of Bhas- kara I (ed. T. S. Kuppanna Sastri, Madras GOS 130, Madras 1957). This indicates that he was able to utilize in composing the Grahananyaya- dipikA corrections derived from all the observa- tions of solar and lunar eclipses which he records in the Siddhantadipika' on the Bhasya on Maha- bhaskariya 5, 77 (pp. 321-331). There he states that he began observing eclipses in Saka 1315 (AD 1393), and he notes particulars regarding the following observations:

9 Nov. 1398; solar eclipse. 19 Oct. 1408; solar eclipse. 31 Jan. 1413; solar eclipse. 22 Jan. 1422; solar eclipse at NavAk~etra. 17 Dec. 1423; lunar eclipse. 10 Nov. 1425; solar eclipse at Gokarna. 25 Nov. 1425; lunar eclipse. 20 Mar. 1429; lunar eclipse. 19 Aug. 1430; solar eclipse at Gokarna. 28 Jan. 1431; lunar eclipse looked for but not seen.

8 Aug. 1431; solar eclipse. 17 Jan. 1432; lunar eclipse.

1 Feb. 1432; solar eclipse.

The Grahanamandana, then, and the Grahana- nyayadtpika represent two stages in the develop- ment of Parames'vara's eclipse-theory, a de- velopment which took place in the light of his continuous comparisons of computations with ob- servations. Paramesvara is quite unique in the history of Indian astronomy in that he has pro- vided us with the material whereby we may trace such a development in many of its details.

The observations of Paramesvara were regarded with awe and respect by his successors. Nilakantha Somayajin, a pupil of both Paramesvara himself and of his son Damodara, quotes the verses con- cerning eclipse-observations from the SiddMnta- dipika in his Bhhsya on Golapadda 48 of the Aryabhatttya (TSS 185, Trivandrum 1957, pp. 155-158), but adds to them several other verses, including one in which Paramesvara states that he observed the planets for 55 years in order to make corrections in the Parahita system. The pres- ent reviewer would count these years forward from Saka 1315 (AD 1393) rather than backwards from Saka 1353 (AD 1431) as do Kuppanna Sastri and Sarma. Thus Paramesvara's observational activity extended from 1393 to at least 1448 (Nllakantha reports an observation of 1445; see Grahanaman- dana, p. xiv), and his life from c. 1380 to 1460. His last dated work is the second Goladpikad, which was written in Saka 1365 (AD 1443) (ed. K. V. Sarma, Adyar Library Pamphlet Series 32, Madras 1957), but Nilakantha, who calls him "asmadacarya " on Golapa'da 11 (p. 27), was born on c. 14 June 1444.2 The teacher-pupil relation-

The ahargana from the beginning of the Kaliyuga is 1,660,181; a different length for the sidereal year would cause a shift of a few days from 14 June, but it is diffi- cult to see how Sarma arrived at his answer of Dec. 1442 (see his edition of Nilakanitha's Siddhdntadarpana,

Adyar Library Pamphlet Series 30, Madras 1955, p. 9, and Grahanamandana, p. xiv fn. 2), especially since, in the former place, he correctly indicates that the ahar- gana corresponds to a date in the Kali year 4545.

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Reviews of Books 339

ship could easily have existed if Paramesvara lived on until Nllakantha was about 16.

The only other addition that this reviewer has to make to Sarma's generally excellent work is to note that Paramesvara's Vivarana on the Su2rya- siddhdnta, which he asserts to be unpublished (p.

xv), has in fact been edited by K. S. Sukla (Lucknow, 1957). Sarma's failure to be aware of this is indicative of the lamentable lack of intercommunication among historians of Indian science.

DAVID PINGREE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE, CHICAGO

Ancient India. A history of its culture and civili- zation. By D. D. KOSAMBI. Pp. 243, 98 pl. New York: PANTHEON BooEs, 1965. $6.95.

This book deals with the Hindu portion of Indian history, with emphasis on its early and formative periods. Professor Kosambi speaks as one having authority, and not as the scribes. One is impressed with the resourcefulness of his mind, and his willingness to take an original and above all synthetic approach; no single technique can recover early Indian history. The book is full of illuminating suggestions (given as facts), and perhaps its greatest ultimate use will be to prod scholars into asking new questions and seeking new methods. Our admiration does not permit us to say that this book gives the final word, but it offers many interpretations well worth sympa- thetic discussion.

The style is attractive, forceful, often humor- ous, and impatient. Professor Kosambi is most impatient with his own people, and is so as a Marxist materialist, however unorthodox. A satis- factory review of this book would need a very long article; many interesting and alluring assertions are made without the actual evidence being given. Part of the charm of the book is its authoritative style, from which excessive footnotes would de- tract, and we have a good deal of sympathy for a protest against their modern proliferation. But though the book is written for a general public who do not want footnotes, still one cannot take what is novel solely on authority: one wants to be able to concur rationally.

Even when not right in detail or particular, the author is stimulating; the faults and errors are those of exaggeration rather than fundamental mistake. The chief exaggeration is the immediate reduction of phenomena to facets of production; Buddha and his social consciousness are idealized. This is necessary to explain the degeneration of Indian society, for which Marxism with its in- evitable stages has no room. There is also the Marxist tendency to regard society as a consciously concocted plot, but unbridled cynicism is not likely to be commonplace before Mahdpadma Nanda- it is too individual for Indian society.

As an example of what may be wrong in detail but right in principle we may give Professor Kosambi's interpretation of the punch-marked coins. In Magadha only the Saisundgas (with Ksatraujas in 544) and the Mauryas represent change of dynasty; coins which show change of dynasty may then also belong to conquered king- doms. Of the pre-Mauryan coins the most numer- ous class should probably be assigned to Mah5- padma Nanda for the length of his reign and extent of his control.

On almost every page of Professor Kosambi's book there is something that merits discussion or elaboration, and unfortunately it too often happens that the evidence is slow in getting out of India by delays in publication or book- and periodical-distribution. We are glad to record our admiration of this book.

R. MORTON SMITH UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

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