Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Author(s): H. Kern
Source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 20 (1863), pp.
371-387
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25581256 .
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There arc few names iu the history of Indian science which have
acquired a celebrity eepialling that eif Aryabhatta. lie is?to use
the words eif Ceilebrooke?" the* earliest author known to have
1 Ind. 2nd vol., p. 1136. Prof, Lassen concludes, from the somewhat
Alterth.,
words of Iteinauel, Memoire sur VInde, pp. 321 and 322, that Ilio
equivocal
ib spoken of hy Albfrfml. So far as f can sec, AlJifreinf inti
Aryabhattfyam
could he reehiewl to
mates only that the Indian astronomical Bystcms (mcthodr/t)
the Arynbhatta, anil the Arkanel. R is an inference of
throe, the Siiiflhinel,
that the called is identical with the Aryabbatttyam,
ltcinaud system Aryabbatta
which, to WIiibIi, is not a treatise on astronomy, but on arithmetic and
accoreiing
mathematics.
1 own words:
The date in full is given in IJtpala's
mere blunders being omitted, are: 1) ^J^ffY Vllc\ for *Is[rU ""***
^Tf
jpsrerftfwgwT *%*vt*c^4??VfTi: ll
"
The terrestrial a of earth, water, fire, and
globe, compound air,
entirely round, encompassed by a girdle [the equator], stands in the
air, in the centre of the stellar sphere. Like as the ball formed by
the blossoms of the Nauclea Kadamba is on every side beset with
flowerets, so is the earth-globe with all creatures terrestrial and
Mount Meru, a
aepiatic. measuring only yojana, being wholly
round, and consisting of gems, spreading lustre, and surrounded by
the snowy mountain, is in the midst of Paradise.1 Heaven and
Mount Meru are in the midst of the land; hell and the
Vadavamukha are in the midst of the waters. The gods and tho
demons, of necessity, deem each other to be undermost."
The general of this geographical
features system agree with
that of the Siirya-siddhanta (chapter 12), and other astronomical
works. hell, naraka, is intended the abode of the demons; anel
Ry
Vaelavamukha, in popular belief, as well the submarine
done*ting,
fire as a kind of Charybdis and abyss, is here, as it will appear
more from another passage of AryabhaUa, the supposed
clearly
abode of the dead. We find here, about the division of our planet
into land and water, the same notion that not
nearly prevailed,
in other text-books of Indian astronomy, but also with
only
Greek as Eratosthenes and Strabo, that the
geographers, namely,
northern hemisphere only is a continent and inhabited, and that
the southern half consists of water, and is uninhabitable, at least for
men. A peculiar feature of this piece of AryabhaUa's geographical
Morgenlandes, 1802).
^
rl^T fl<K*Hl<5n*T II
Tligir5T^rTO*ft
"The earth is round like a wheel (eir disk), produced by the
Creator at the end of darkness. It cemsists of five elements. In
the midst of it is the Meru
of the gods."
It will be seen at once, that the shapo of the earth being com
pared to a wheel or disk implies a much lower degree of geogra
phical science than is met with in any Indian book on scientific
astrone)iny.
To
revert to Aryabhavva, I subjoin the original of a passage
already noticed and translated by Colebrooke in his Algebra,
NotclV?
J
Hero both co])ica concur in reading ff^JT "^T^T^fHT*' intending, very
likely,
^T^IWF2.-A **W^R ?T, 15
TPg^RW0.
the emelof Virgo, is situated in the* north ; the either half, from the
eif Libra to the e*nel eif Pisces, is iu the seuith."
beginning
The following two passages bear upon the* relative distance of
the the sun and moon, from the earth, the
planets, including sup
posed centre of the celestial sphere, and upon the relative dimen
sions of the plauctury orbits: ?
iwrorg *?*rsn?iT11
*jpwfajcnr
"Relow the fixed stars are, successively, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars,
the Sun, Venus, Mercury, and the Moon; below all tlmse is the
Earth, being in the mielst eif the ether."l
Concerning the relative dimensions eif the orbits, AryabhaUa
has taught thus:?
*a has b ^tt^i4^t^.
^T^r^r4*riN.
" To its
(the celestial sphere's?) so-called upper pole this wheel
is fastened with cords of air; the (points of) rising and setting of
the stars the wind are
propelled by always revolving."
This is another instance of the inferior epiality of the science
expounded by Pulisa. Another authority appealed to by Utpala is
the Brahma-siddhanta, an extract from which is here subjoined:
" The
circle of asterisms
(the (ecliptic) connected with the two
poles revolves, beung propelled by the provector wind; tei the gods
(being at the north jieile) it is in the horizon, and moves from left to
right,1 but, to the demons, from right to left. Everywhere else the
sphere is elevated, ami the pole is depressed. For Lanka {i.e., for
a place of no latitude), however, the circle of asterisms goes from
the east point of the horizon to the west point, and there the pole
is in the horizon."
Utpala might have selected more unobjectionable passages than
this, which commits the unwarrantable inaccuracy of confounding
the ecliptic with the equator. A thirel authority opposed to
it is neit a little to learn this?is
Aryabhatta-?anel surprising
Aryabhatfa himself. For Utpala cites from him as follows:?
" The cause of the rising anel setting is, that the circle of
asterisms, with the planets, being always propelled by the pro
vecteir wind, moves to the west."
straight
This may have been one of those on which Rralima
passage
gupta founded his charge of inconsistency against his renowned
(sec Colebr., Algebra, Note G, and As. Res., xii,
predecessor
p. Rut, without more eif the context, wc dare not
213). knowing
assert Aryabhatta to have been really inconsistent: the foregoing
stanza elocs not prove what Utpala supposes it to prove. Nor is it
necessary to assume that this stanza is from another work of
1 For the sense of the terms savyaga and apamvyaga, sec Sdryn-siddhfinta,
ch. 12, vs. 66, auel the valuable translation of it by tbe Hov.Mr. Burgees and Prof.
Whitney.
1 Uoth MSS. have W*U which here is devoid of sense, and more
^irSf?
ls *s
over eliaturha tho metre. Further, A has ^Tp(jR^> B
^e^^TO^.
* B has
^TSJT for ^J^SfT* and 3<^ I4!- The latter ia unobjectionable,
the decimal system was not yet fully developed; although he rightly
urges, ou the other hand, that the discovery of an alphabetical
notation does not involve an entire ignorance of the ciphers (see
lud. Alterth., 2nd veil., p. 1131), aud Thomas, iu his edition of
Prinscp's Indian Antiquities, 2nd vol., pp. 80-84). Assuming the
Samvat-yviiv to mean the year of the Vikramaelifya-era, it remains
still to be* proved, first, that AryabhaHa lived before or about JJ80
or 82') of the and, that the use of a
Vikramaelitya-cra, secouell^,
certain notation iu one monument involves the currency
general
eif the same notatiein, for every use, the whole of India.
throughout
Thus we may safely conclude, 1 think, that the great algebraist
has made use, in his calculations, of the system handed down to us
the work."
If Bhaskara nowhere mentions the alphabetical notation,
Albfriini knew nothing of it (see Memoire sur VInde,
decidedly
p. 299); which would be rather strange, if, by the third of the three
astronomical systems, Siiidhiud, Arkaud, and AryabhaHa* the
really was intended. Rut I have already stated
Aryabhatiyam
my grounds fen*not believing this work to be identical with the
system of AryabhaHa.
The above of AryabhaHa are not of a nature, at
fragments
least to my idea, tei afford new data for fixing his age. The
last extract, exhibiting Aswayuja as the name of the first year in
revolution, makes, indeed, the impression that he considered
Jupiter's
Aswini to be the first asterisiu; but it is no more than an hypo
Bhavva Utpala, after giving the rules for finding the lord of
the day, month, year, &c., to intimate that learned
proceeds
authorities are at variance the commencement of the
touching days
of the week (and consequently about that of the creation);
some from others from others from
reckoning sunrise, midday,
sunset, and others, again, from midnight.
" The lord of the day of the week begins, with some, at sunrise,
with others at with others at with a fourth
midday, again sunset,
school at midnight. So says also the Achdrya." The title dchcirya,
by itself, invariably means, with Utpala, and the
Varaha-mihira;
following extract exhibits, in every the famous
respect, astrologer's
style, being defective in precision and clearness;?
1
B, tbe MS. formerly in the of omits
possession Colebrooke,
^ I*i | *^?Tl^I3iL which may account for his knowing only three schools,
S **!
instead of four. See Algebra, Dissert., p. viii. As.
Cf, however, Davis, Ites., ii,
p. 2C1.
^TWTf^i3nrfim*T*!rrsfa f%^r^rrcnfrrs: i
^TZT^T^Tt^ *RTgTS *4t^PT **T II'
? A has
cTT^pgT^UT.-B cTT^R
? B omits
^nf.-A cf^WT:.
3 A out of the question.
"^T^T^r^Tl"** winch is wholly The reading of
read "^T^RTZ"!, & form not infrequent in MSS., and in favour of which might
*a B ^rm ^ rr%r[ i
TRrrfw5! 1^ ^^rN?
^TrI^Tf%l^ ^T^lt rTTTt^.
2 1) 2
^^T
^ ^T^ ^T^^4 f^^frl^^ II
^
cTW^ftfaFT^TTTTfblrTrrt: IttfH II
^frqr%i tit^V f^^K ^Rq^: ^tits^-t i
1A
Tjfr^i?.
5
The meaning of this obscure stanza seems to he, that there is no general
rule for determining the commencement of tho days of the week, this depending
not only upon longitude, but also on the particular custom of a country.
What, can be brought under scientific
nevertheless, rules, is the correspondence
of time. In other words, the rules are
only theoretic, yathdulstnnn.
3 IJ'nariitia and its synonym Kinardtra are wanting in the dictionaries.
"With the aid of we can make out that tho niyht, or nearly
etymology, they mean
Ram, the Moon, the Sun, the half-years, the seasons, the daily
motion of the stars, the start at must be irekenied
nights, {i.e.,
the same moment in the commeiie*.einent of the ymja. It
from)
is not the same if you count the freim Romaka
longitude
anel from nor is it alike, if you
country Yavana-city; begin
from at Lanka and from sunrise there. Neither elo wc,
midnight
when determining freim sunset the lend of the day feir every situa
have oral evhlonoo, nor is there any menus for
tion, trustweirthy
inference. In one place it is twilight, elsewhere day, or night; in
short, for every small distance there is a different lord of the elay.
the lord of the day is an entangled The
So, ascertaining epiestiem.
case stands the same for the return eif the hords; for the hard is
the first (hour) e>fthe lord of the elay: the latter not being fully
how can the lord of the hard be sei? Generally, poe>ple
ascertained,
here their concerns on a eif the week, withemt con
regulate day
such the learned preinounce it to be right,
sidering questions;
when one takes the day tei coincide with the limits of the
not the mean) lunar day."
apparent {i.e.,
Besides the name of AryabhaUa, or Aryahhata, we are indebted
to this for one more into the* geographical system
quotation glimpse
of this astronomer and two others, La is toll a ry a and Sinhae-harya.
It appears, from the worels of the text, that flu'se three agreed
with each other. their with the doctrine of
Comparing eipiniems
the vs. 37-40 and vs. we find the
Siirya-siddhanta (ch. 12, 70),
samo As Albirunf seems to give a somewhat different
agreement.
as ami
account, 1 will quote*
his words, translated by M. Reiuauel,
examine the weight tei be attached to them:1 "11 est dit elans
le Paulisa-Siddhunta, Panics le (Jroc, que la terrc et la
compete; par
incr sont une nominee Tilknschu,* o'ost-a-dire,
ceiupt'*es par lignc
the synod icai lunar month of thirty tithis ib less than thirty solar
so, by which
elays. The number
of tithis continually gaining upon that of the polar elays, tho
will amount, in a little more than two mouths, to a whole lithi, which
difference
lie ex itmirdtra is rendered by tithinaya; it properly
must pun gee!. Therefore,
being the cause of the latter becoming necessary.?The elays of tho planets mean
here, I think, the elays of the week.
1Mtm. snr Vlndc, p. 341.
* This worel is certainly wrong. For 'j one may read j,and pronounce
a
nord. Quand lc sedeil se leve sur la ligne epii va de Lanka
Mcrou, il est midi it Yama-Kola, minuit a Romaka et six heures
du soir a Siddhapoiir." Rcinaud proceeds thus: " Albyrouny ajoute
que la mcmc avait etc* emise elans les Siddhfuitas compels
opinion
par Aryabhatta, Vasishtha ed Lat; main il fait observer avee raison
que, d'aprcs les tonnes iiiciucs, il ne* pent lades epiatre points
s'agir
eardinaux, niais eh*s ejuaelraus ele 1 cannot mis
IVepialour." help
trusting here the ae'euraey of the Arabian astremeuiier. The
doctrine eif the Paulisa-Siehlhanta, absurd as it is, is consistent
with the false assmnptieni eif the Earth's the of a wheed
having shape
eir disk, as we have seen abeive. Tluu-cfore this Siddhanta must
have inteueh*d the* feiur cardinal On the other hami,
really points.
it is quite imjKissihle that Aryabhatta, or any one else who supposed
the Earth to be a took the same view eif the course eif the
ghdie,
Sun. The weirds of Varaha-mihira, as well as those e)f the Siirya
siddhanta, leave nei doubt as tei the author's of
meaning quaelrants
the equator, and not the cardinal wo know
points. Moreover, that,
according to Aryabhatta, at the* north pole was situated Mount
Meru, and, at the south Hell. 1 fear that Albi'runf has been
pole,
too in passing his criticisms..
hasty
I shall conclude with a remark the occurrence of
suggested by
the names of Romaka and
country Yavana-city.
It is intimated, that, iu the country eif the Yavanas, the time
te) sunrise at Lanka, that in the morn
corresponding is, six o'clock
not the object of the present paper to do this; and 1 fear 1 have
made too a
already long digression.
ADDITIONAL NOTE.
Since the reaeling of the foregoing paper, 1 have been enabled,
by the kindness eif Prof. Weber, tei ascertain, that all the quotations
of with the eif one half-stanza, oe:cur in a MS. eif
Utpala, exception
the Berlin Library. In the ceileiphon of that weirk the title is given
as feillows: "Ity Aryabhata-siddhauta-vyakhyane Bhutapradipe
The stanza is ceiinmu
Dasagiti-bhashyain sunuiptam." conolueling
nicateel in the Jourii. Ainer. Or. Soc, fil.h Vol., p. 5(11, hy IVof.
u
with the translation : Bhula-Vishnu hath
Whitney, feilleiwing (?)
lcuriie*d it by the* favour of
thusconqireheiisively explained?having
his teacher?the text-boeik e?fwry obscure
Dusagiti (Dasagiti-sutram),
llluitta." It is evielent that
meaning, formerly promulgated by
must have considered this Dasagiti-bhashyain either as a
Utpala
eir as an authoritative; para
composition by AryabhaUa himself,
and substitute. It is somewhat that, at the end of
phrase puzzling
"
the* 3rd eif the Berlin we finel the words: Iti emnael
chapter MS.,
siddluinta golapmlas chalurthah."
acharyaryabhatavirachite (r.-te)
"
In the sccoriel the author his own elate*:
chapter gives shustynh
danain cha iadhika vinsatifr
shashtir yaela vyatitas trayas yugopadnh
tad ilia mama The metre eif the second
a)bdas jannialei'li'tali."
half-stanza an emendation : we arc to reael tadeha,
reepiires perhaps
in lien of tad tha. But still there remains a dilliculty as to the
"
of adhikd vinsatir. The stanza may mean : Whe*n three
meaning
eif the four and are then there are
Ages, 3,000 years, past, past
more than freim iny birth." If (his be the* sense,
twenty years1
the date wouhl be the y<*ur 478 from the beginning of the
Christian era. it is not clear whether the date of
Unfortunately,
is meant, eir that of llhutavislmu. However it may be,
A'ryabhaHa
certain it is, that one stanza in the large extract which I have
ascribed to Varnha-niihira, is to be found in the Dasagfti-bhashyam,