ŚATāNANDA

(fl. India, 1099)

astronomy.

The only certain biographical data concerning Śatānanda are that he was the son of Śākara and Sarasvarī and that he wrote the Bhāsvatī in 1099 on the basis of Varāhamihira’s (fl. ca. 505) summary in the Pañcasiddhāntikā (I, 14; IX; X; XI [?]; and XVI) of Lātadeva’s (fl. 505) recension of the Sūryasiddhānta according to the Ārdhrātri-Kapaksa (see essay in Supplement) of Āryabhata I (b. 473). The last verse of the Bhāsvatī, it is true, refers to the divine utterance of Purusottama, and some have mistakenly concluded therefrom that Śatānanda lived at Purusottama or Puri, in Orissa; but the only Indian locality referred to by Śatānanda is Ujjayinī. In any case, the Bhāsvarī, containing only eighty-one verses, was instrumental in spreading this version of the sūryasiddhānta throughout northern and, especially, eastern India, as can be seen from the existence of numerous manuscripts (nearly a hundred), commentaries, and editions. The commentators include the following:

1. Aniruddha (b. 1463), who wrote a ṭīkā in Benres in 1495 (see D. Pingree, Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit, ser. A. I [Philadelphia, 1970], 43b).

2. Acyuta (fl. 1505–1534), who wrote a Bhāsvatīratnadīpikā in Bengal (see D. Pingree, op. cit., I, 36a–36b).

3. Gaṇapati Bhaṭṭa (fl. 1512), who wrote a vivrti in Bengal (see D. Pingree, op. cit., vol. II [Philadelphia, 1971], 89a).

4. Mādhava Miśra (fl. 1525), who wrote a vivarana at Kanauj.

5. Balabhadra (b. 1495), who wrote a Bālabodhinī in 1543 in Bengal.

6. Kuvera Miśra (fl. 1685), who wrote a tīkā, probably in Bengal (see D. Pingree, op cit., II , 47b).

7. Ga¯̄gādhara (fl. 1685), who wrote a ṭīkī probably in Rājasthān (see D. Pingree, po. cit., II , 85a).

8. Rāmakṛṣṇa (fl. 1738), who wrote a Tattvaprakāsikā.

9. Kamalanayana (fl. 1740?), who wrote an udāharaṇa in Mithilā (see D. Pingree, op. cit., II , 20a).

10. Yogīndra (fl. 1742), who wrote an udāharaṇa probably in Mithilā.

Those commentators who cannot be dated include Cakravartin (Bhāsvatīpaddhati): Cakravipradāsa (tīkā): Dharmāditya (Bhāsvatītilaka): Gopāla (Vivarana: see D. Pingree. op. cit., II, 130b): Gopīnātha Sudhī (Bhāsvatīprakāśikā: see D. Pingree, op cit., II, 137a): Keśava (?) (udāharana: see D. Pingree, op. cit., II, 64a): Madhsūdana (Subodhinī): Rāmeśvara (tīkā): Vanamālin (Hindī tīkā): Viśvaranātha (vyākhyā): and Vrndāvana (udāharaņa).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The BhāsvatĪ has been published several times: at the Akhavāra Press (Benares, 1854): with vivarana of Mādhava Miśra in Aruņadaya, I (1890–1891): with his own Sanskrit tīkā, Chātrabodhinī, and his own Hindī explanation by Mātrprasāda Pāņdeya (Benares, 1917): and with his own tīkā, Manoramā, and several appendices by Tīkārāma Dhana¯jaya (V̄ṝas̄, N.D.).

There are short biographical notices on Śatānanda in S. Dvivedin, Gaņakataraāgiņī (Benares, 1933), 33–34, repr. from The Pandit, n.s.14 (1892); and in Ś. B. Dīḳsita. Bhāratīya Jyoṭhūàstra (Poona, 1896, repr. Poona, 1931). 243–245.

David Pingree