The Small Mind-Center (Laghumanasa)

Accompanied by the Commentary of Paramesvara

Chapter One

On the Mean Motions of Planets

I, the best of the twice-born A term for the Brahmin caste of the Bharadvaja lineage, famous as the Sun in the city of Prakasha, shall speak of this other "Small Mind-Center," which provides a short, unprecedented, and accurate method for calculation. || 1 ||

Having bowed to the Crowned One The Sun God or Vishnu, who is dawn-colored and by whom this entire universe is pervaded, I am composing this commentary on the "Small Mind-Center."

The connection of the words is as follows: I, the best of the twice-born of the Bharadvaja clan, famous like the Sun in the town named Prakasha, shall speak of another "Small Mind-Center" distinct from the "Great Mind-Center" referring to Munjala's larger, lost work, the Brhadmanasa. "Unprecedented-accurate" means that such accuracy did not exist previously. "Short" and "unprecedented-accurate" combined means a short yet unprecedentedly accurate method. This refers to a scientific treatise containing such a method. || 1 ||

Having determined the weekday, the solar transit, the lunar day, the constant positions Dhruva: fixed astronomical parameters used as a starting point for calculations, and the lunar apogee at the beginning of the month of Chaitra, and having determined the others at the start of the solar year, one should calculate from that point for the rest of one's life. || 2 ||

He explains that one should calculate the positions of the Sun and other planets after establishing the "constants" for the desired year. At the beginning of Chaitra The first month of the Hindu lunar calendar, specifically at midday on the first lunar day of the bright fortnight, one must know the weekday, the solar transit, the lunar day, the mean position of the Sun, the mean position of the Moon, and the lunar apogee, along with the constant Shaka era years The Shaka era began in 78 CE; it is the standard epoch for Indian astronomy. Furthermore, one must know the others—the mean positions of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, the "fast-apogees" Shighrocca: the point used to calculate the anomaly for inner planets of Mercury and Venus, and the ascending node (Rahu)—at the start of the solar year (the end of the Sun's mean motion cycle). One should then calculate these for the duration of one's life. The phrase "with the constants" should be applied to all of them. The "constants" are the Shaka years. If one asks how these are to be understood, it is said: they are understood through the rules to be described hereafter, based on the constants established by the Teacher. We shall show those constant values here:

1. Manuscript variant: "having made..."

2. Manuscript variant: "and the node..."

3. Manuscript variant: "this is..."

4. Manuscript variant: "the constants..."