INTRODUCTION xxv demanded. The scriptures and the DharmaSastra texts also come in for citation. 1 And, so also the Puranas 2 like the Bhagavata z and the Visnu* As for Jyotisa works, Nllakantha exhibits a surprising familiarity with a large number of them, from the Vedahga- Jyotisa down to the treatises of his own times. He cites all types of jyotisa texts, Ganita, SafnhitH and Hors, but as became his subject of specialisation, his quotations are mainly from texts dealing with astronomy proper. Some of the more important texts of all-India prevalence that Nilakan$ha quotes are : Vedahga-Jyotisa, Aryabhatiya, Varahamihira's Pancasiddhs- ntika, Brhajjataka and Brhatsamhitd, the Saryasiddhanta, Srlpati's Siddhantasekhara and Munjala's Laghumanasa. Of texts common only in Kerala may be mentioned the Parahitaganita or Grahacdranibandhana of Haridatta, Bhasya by Bhaskara I on the Aryabhatiya, and Bhaskara's Laghu and Maha-Bhaskariyas, Govindasvamin's Bhasya on the latter and Paramesvara's super-commentary thereon ; other works of Paramesvara like his Aryabhatlya-vyakhya also come in for citation as also passages from his own teacher Damodara. Another Kerala author whom Nllakantha quotes profusely h Madhava, often styled 'Golavid', 5 who was a reputed astronomer of the times. Manuscripts of several works quoted by Nllakantha are yet to be unearthed. Indeed, a detailed study of the numerous authorities quoted by Nllakantha is bound to throw much light on the history of Hindu astronomy. Acknowledgements As indicated earlier, all the manuscripts used for the present 1. See Com. on Siddhantadarpana, verse 1 ; the Grahana work, pp, 48, 49 ; and ABh. Bhasya, GolapSda, verse 48, where the Taittinya- upanisad, Kalanirnaya of Sayana, Manusmrti, etc. are quoted. 2. See Com. on Siddhantadarpana, verse 1. 3. Cf., ABh.Bhasya, TSS 110, pp, 16, 26. 4. Cf„ ibid., p. 8. 5. On this Madhava, (c. 1340-1425), who was a teacher of Drgganita-Paramesvara, see the present writer's Introduction to his edition of Madhava's Venvaroha (Trippunithura, Cochin, 1957), and Sphuacandraptih (Hoshiarpur, 1973). Candra. 4
