entendre, in his Sphutanirnaya, 1.2 (see below, p. 2), and in the beginning of his grammatical work Pravesaka, in the verse :
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लक्ष्म्या प्रकाशविषयं रञ्जयन्निजया निजम् । |
Acyuta's works
All the known works of Acyuta are on Jyotisa, except one, viz., Pravesaka. This latter work, in about 600 verses, is a masterly presentation of the fundamentals of Sanskrit grammar, with the rules clearly explained and lucidly illustrated. Among his works on astronomy, the Sphutaniraaya, edited here with his own commentary, is of prime importance. Manuscripts of the work do not mention the name of the author and this omission has induced some scholars to doubt the correctness of the ascription of the work to Acyuta. However, the direct statement in the Rasigolasphuțānīti, 47.:
तत्प्रकारश्चाच्युतेन कीर्तितः ‘स्फुटनिर्णये' ।
followed by the citation of verse 42 of our Sphutanirnaya, viz., patonasya vidhos tu etc., and the reference to the author's patron King Ravi Varma in Sphutanirnaya 12, leave no doubt about the correctness of the above ascription.
Acyuta's Rasigolasphutaniti, mentioned above, is a very interesting work which sets out, in 50 verses, the rationale of the Reduction to the ecliptic” in planetary computation. Another important work of Acyuta is the Karanottama, which, as he himself states in his own commentary to the work, had been composed with a view also to record the traditional astronomical methodologies and procedures, of course, as improved upon by him, lest they be lost to posterity ; cf. परमेश्वरादि-परीक्षकाचार्यपरम्परया गोप्यत्वेन स्वग्रन्थेष्वनिवेशितस्यापि न्यायविशेषस्य स्वगुरुमुखाद् गृहीतस्य बुद्धेर्वििस्मरणधर्मित्वात् कालान्तरे लोपो मा मूदिति प्रबन्धविशेषात्मकत्वेन कियत इति भाव: The work comprises of 119 verses, distributed in five chapters, entitled, respectively, Madhyama, Sphuta, Chaya,
1. Critically ed. with Trans. and introduction, by K.V. Sarma, Adyar, 1955.
2. Ed. with Acyuta's own commentary, by K. Raghavan Pillai, Trivandrum, 1964: Trivandrum Skt. Series, No. 213.
3. Ibid..., P, 2.
