The Surya Siddhanta Is Timeless and Universal

In the *Pancha-Siddhantika* 1/3¹ of Varahamihira, one of the nine gems (*navaratnas*) of Vikramaditya, the *Surya-Siddhanta* is designated as the “Saura” Siddhanta, and in *Pancha-Siddhantika* 1/4² it is called the “Savitra” Siddhanta. Therefore, according to Varahamihira, Savitr, the Vedic deity of the Gayatri Mantra, is himself the propounder of the *Surya-Siddhanta*, and among all the *siddhantas* (foundational astronomical treatises) available in his era, he declared the *Surya-Siddhanta* to be the most precise.

In *Pancha-Siddhantika* 1/2³, Varahamihira wrote that he would elucidate the secret of *bija* (astronomical correction factor) according to the doctrines of earlier acharyas. The very title of this section is *Karanavatara*, which signifies the *karana-prakriya* (practical computational procedure derived from a *siddhanta* to simplify calculations). However, in the extant *Pancha-Siddhantika*, the *karana-prakriya* is not explicit; the complete original text could not be preserved. Based on the principles and computational methods followed in the *Surya-Siddhanta*-based *karana-granthas* (practical manuals) and the medieval tables (*sarinis*) derived from them for constructing a *panchang* (traditional almanac) across various regions of India, software based on the *Surya-Siddhanta* was developed for an entire *kalpa* (cosmic cycle of 4.32 billion years) in the year 2000 CE, which was prepared for publication in early 2004 CE.

The Makarandiya *karana-prakriya* has been the most popular throughout India. In the *Makaranda-Sarini*, composed in Kashi for Shaka 1400, it is designated as “Śrī-Sūrya-Siddhānta-matena” (according to the system of the venerable *Surya-Siddhanta*), which is accurate. Only the *bija* for Mars was omitted therein, which was subsequently supplied from other sources. No one to date has published the secret of *bija*; only the mathematical values of these corrections exist in medieval tables. Planetary calculations are performed using integer *mahayuga-bhagana* (revolution counts in a great epoch) values, after which the *bija-samskara* (correction process) is applied to determine the *madhyama-graha* (mean planetary position). Burgess was the first person who, out of ignorance, rejected the *bija-samskara* in the *Surya-Siddhanta*. In the manuscript of the *Surya-Siddhanta* available during the time of Acharya Ranganatha, there was indeed a "Bijopanayana-Adhyaya", but someone corrupted the *bija* process in an effort to make it conform to Islamic planetary astronomy, and upon failing in that attempt, abandoned it incomplete. Burgess was unaware that hundreds of tables and *karana* procedures of the *Surya-Siddhanta* were extant, with whose aid the *Bijopanayanadhyaya* could be reconstructed.

It is precisely upon the secret of the *bija* that the mutual relationship between the *Surya-Siddhanta* and the *Brahma-Siddhanta* is established. The mathematics governing the total lifespan (*paramayu*) of Brahma constitutes the *Brahma-Siddhanta*, while its *kalpa*-level mathematics is known as the *Surya-Siddhanta*. The *Brahma-Siddhanta* manifests only at the dawn of creation. The *Surya-Siddhanta* manifests in every *mahayuga*—at the close of Satya Yuga. In Satya Yuga, there is no necessity for fruit-bearing disciplines (*phala-kami vidyas*), and after Satya Yuga, no one possesses the capacity to assimilate the complete *Surya-Siddhanta*; thus, at the end of Satya Yuga, the *Surya-Siddhanta* is revealed for the remaining three *yugas*. In Kali Yuga, along with all the Vedas and Vedangas, the *Surya-Siddhanta* also comes to be disrespected. The *Surya-Siddhanta* exists for those who continue to hold fast to the single remaining foot of dharma in Kali Yuga.

All other *arsha* (seer-composed) *siddhantas* are merely epoch-specific *tantra-granthas* (astronomical texts reckoning from the start of an epoch) and *karana-granthas* revealed across different eras of the *Surya-Siddhanta* itself. The extant *Surya-Siddhanta* is, in addition to being a *siddhanta*, also a *tantra-grantha*, because it prescribes calculations beginning from the planetary alignments at the end of the previous Satya Yuga. However, someone in the medieval era corrupted the chapter on the *bija-samskara* of that epoch. A procedure reckoning from the inception of a *yuga* is termed a *tantra-prakriya*, while a process operating via the *bija* of any other point in time is called a *karana*. Without a computer, no human can construct a *panchang* directly using a *siddhanta* text alone. If a computer is available, there is no need for a *karana* or *tantra*; one can compute directly through the *siddhanta*. Nonetheless, even in computational programming, adopting the *karana-prakriya* enhances speed.

Burgess provided flawed explanations of *mandaphala* (equation of the center) and *shighraphala* (anomaly of the fast motion / parallax-longitude correction) because he lacked knowledge of Meru-centric solar mathematics. The correct mathematics is preserved in ancient tables such as *Makaranda*, which Burgess ignored. However, those tables contain only results, not the underlying formulae. The formulae reside in the text of the *Surya-Siddhanta*, whose mathematical exposition has not been written by any mathematician to date. I received the mathematical exposition of the *Surya-Siddhanta* through the grace of Dr. Lakshman Jha (honorary former Vice-Chancellor of L. N. Mithila University, a lifelong celibate ascetic).

The essence of the *karana-prakriya* is that, through the *siddhanta* text, one first computes and records the *madhyama-graha* positions up to a proximate past epoch, and thereafter computes and adds only the increment from that baseline to the desired time. The *Makaranda-Sarini* was constructed for Shaka 1400 or 1478 CE, meaning that every year one only needed to compute the motion subsequent to the *graha-spashta* (true planetary longitude) established for that baseline. However, like other authors of *karanas*, Makaranda followed a procedure structured so that after a few decades or a century, the *karana* text would have to be reconstructed. Due to foreign subjugation, the renewal of canonical *karana-granthas* ceased after Shaka 1400.

In the *Parashari Hora*, the planets are declared to be deities (*devatas*) who manifest to deliver the fruits of action (*karmaphala*) to living beings. But according to the *Drik-pakshavadis* (adherents of the empirical observational school), physical celestial bodies themselves dispense *karmaphala* and are propitiated through ritual worship! Modern scientists are better than this, for they do not ascribe divine agency to physical matter. The planetary deities of *jyotisha* (traditional astronomy and astrology) are invisible and dwell in *Bhuvarloka* (the intermediate subtle realm). What is seen with the physical eyes are mere objects of sensory perception, not deities. The validity of *jyotisha* rests upon the verification of its predictions (*phaladesha*), not on the physical observation of constellations. Materialists will believe in a deity only if they can test it in a test tube and verify its mass, magnetism, and other physical properties. Physical entities possess physical attributes, while immaterial principles possess immaterial attributes.

सन्दर्भ:-
^१ पौलिश-रोमक-वशिष्ठ-सौर-पैतामहास्तु पञ्च सिद्धान्ताः।
(The five Siddhantas are Paulisha, Romaka, Vasishtha, Saura, and Paitamaha.)
^२ पौलिशतिथिः स्फुटो अस्तु तस्यासन्नस्तु रोमकप्रोक्तः। स्पष्टतरः सावित्रः परिशेषौ दूरविभ्रष्टौ।।
(The tithi calculated by the Paulisha is accurate; that stated by the Romaka is close to it. The Savitra is far more precise, whereas the remaining two have strayed far from correctness.)
^३ पूर्वाचार्यमतेभ्यो यद् यच्छ्रेष्ठं लघु स्फुटं बीजम्। तत्तदिहाविकलमहं रहस्यमभ्युद्यतो वक्तुम्।।
(Whatever concise, distinct, and superior bija is found in the doctrines of the earlier acharyas, that very secret I now undertake to set forth here in its entirety.)