MAKARANDA

(fl. Benares, India, 1478)

astronomy.

Makaranda wrote at Kāśī (Benares) an extremely influential set of astronomical tables, entitled Makaranda (see essay in Supplement), based on the Saurapakṣa. These tables are calendaric (for tithis, nakṣatras, and yogas), planetary, and for eclipses; their epoch is 1478. Their extreme popularity is indicated by the facts that there are almost 100 extant manuscripts (mostly from northern India) and that some twenty commentaries are known; the dated commentaries are by Harikarṇa of Hisākara (1610), Viśvanātha of Benares (1612–1630), Divākara (1627), Puruṣottama (1631), Krpārāma Miśra of Ahamadabad (1815), Jīvanātha of Patna (1823), and Nīlāmbara Jhā of Koilakh, Mithilā (nineteenth century). The continued popularity of the Makaranda at the end of the last century is proven by the several editions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Makarada was published at Benares in 1869 with the commentaries of Gokulanātha, Divākara, and Viśvanātha; the next with the first two commentaries was repub. in Aruṇodaya, I, pt. 15 (Calcutta, 1891). The Makaranda appeared alone also at Benares in 1880 and again in 1884. The tables in a number of MSS have been analyzed by D. Pingree, “Sanskrit Astronomical Tables in the United States,” in Transactions of the American Philosphical Society, n.s. 58 , no. 3 (1968), 39b–46b; and in his “Sanskrit Astronomical Tables in England,” in Journal of Oriental Research (Madras).

David Pingree