16 so that MBAN LONGITUDE OF A PLANET revolution-number of a planet circumference of the sky length of the planet's orbit Hence we have mean longitude of a planet (circumference of the sky) X ahargana (civil days in a yuga) x (length of the planet's orbit). Introduction to the topic discussed in the succeeding eighteen stanzas: 21. After a careful study of the ocean of the Asmakiya sāstras (sāstrārnavam aśmakiyam) I reveal the planetary proce- dure, the secret there, (hitherto) unnoticed by the other follow- ers of the Asmakiya (aśmakiyaiḥ) by means of simplified rules (laghu-tantra). Asmakiyam (literally meaning a book written by one born in or belonging to the Aśmaka country') refers to the Aśmaka-tantra (i.e., Aryabhatiya) mentioned in stanza 3 above. āśmakiyāḥ means "the follo- wers of the Asmakiya", or, as the commentator Parameśvara says, "the pupils (or followers) of Aryabhata I”¹. The stanza under consideration shows that Bhäskara I, the author of the present work, was the earliest Aśmakiya ("follower of Aryabhata I") to give the method of the pratyabda-suddhi stated in the next eighteen stanzas. The method was, however, not invented by him. In his commen- tary on the Aryabhatiya he himself writes that it was already in use amongst the followers of the Romaka-siddhanta. It occurs in the Brahma- sphuta-siddhanta also. ¹ "āśmakiya āryabhaṭaśiṣyāḥ” (Parameśvara) 2 See comm, on A, iii, 10.
