Crown of Treatises: Chapter on Mathematics

The subjects have been included in the Romaka Siddhanta A mathematical astronomical treatise influenced by Greek/Roman systems. First Latadeva, and after him Shrishena, revised the Romaka system.

Brahmagupta wrote in his own treatise:

"The Yugas, Manvantaras, and Kalpas Cycles of cosmic time are considered the measures of time. Because these are not present in the Romaka, it stands outside of sacred tradition."

Because the original Romaka did not mention the Yuga An age or epoch or Manvantara The lifespan of a Manu, a cosmic period, it did not gain wide acceptance. In his commentary on the Brihat Samhita, Bhattotpala provided evidence from the Paulisa and others, but nowhere did he cite the Romaka. However, in Shrishena’s revised Sanskrit Romaka, there is discussion of the Yugas—this proves that two types of Romaka existed during Brahmagupta’s time. Mr. Dikshit has written in "Indian Astronomy" that according to the calculations of the Romaka, the Sun and Moon were not together at the Beginning of Kaliyuga The current dark age in Hindu cosmology; what’s more, even the lunar month was not complete. The original Romaka was very inaccurate. Be that as it may, the original Romaka was composed after Hipparchus † and before Ptolemy—that is, at the beginning of the Christian Era.

Paulisa Siddhanta.—The mathematics of the Paulisa is also not precise. In this, the calculation of Solar and Lunar eclipses is very crude. Al-Biruni is of the opinion that it was composed based on the Greek treatise of Paulus of Alexandria (Paulus Alexandrinus). Dr. Kern, while not considering this opinion entirely correct, still believes some Ionian Greek text to be the source. ✱

† The Greek astronomer Hipparchus lived 150 years before Christ; his work is lost—Ptolemy wrote his book near that same period. However, there is no uniformity between that book and the Romaka.

* original: "We have no right whatever to infer that (Paulus Alexandrinus) and Paulica are one and the same..." "We have no right whatever to infer that (Paulus Alexandrinus) and Paulisa are one and the same, for identity of name is too slender a ground, especially when the name happens to be a common one." —Dr. Kern's Preface to his Brihat-Samhita.