The Corrected Treatise of Brahma

(Brahmasphutasiddhanta)

Accompanied by the "Scientific Commentary" (Vijnanabhashya) including its proofs and explanatory notes.

Chapter on Mean Planetary Motions

To begin, the Master Brahmagupta—sovereign of all calculators, beholden to no other system, peerless, and expert in the methods of observing the planets—performs the auspicious invocation in the form of remembering his chosen deity, the Great God Mahadeva/Shiva, to ensure the completion of this book without obstacles:

Victorious is the Great God, whose feet are streaked with the radiance of the gems in the crowns of bowing gods and demons; the creator of the world’s origin, maintenance, and dissolution. || 1 ||

We honor with humble compositions the Elephant-Faced Lord Ganesha, whose tusks possess a splendor that seems to scatter the essence of the Moon, Sun, and stars across the ten directions as they rise in constant brilliance; who is the destroyer of the mountains of obstacles, whose feet are raised in an auspicious dance, and who glows with the luster of vermilion. || 1 ||

Having joyfully placed in his heart the planets—the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn—along with the Goddess of Speech Saraswati, the scholar Ramasvarupa offers this "Raft of the Scientific Commentary" as a gift for the service of the wise who desire to cross the ocean of the Brahma-treatise. || 2 ||

Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Varahamihira, Bhaskara, and other masters of the three branches of astronomy; the illustrious Kamalakarabhatta; the two scholars known as Srisena and Lalla; and that King named Jayasimha, who was a modern architect of astronomical instruments—these and others, such as Munishvara, are our highest objects of faith. || 3 ||