Page 14

Introduction

Now I shall speak, following the teachings of Mihira referring to Varahamihira, which is equal to the Surya Siddhanta a foundational Sanskrit astronomical treatise in brief.
The sum of the years of the Shastra the era used for calculation multiplied by ten, increased by the fires symbolic number 3 and the mountains symbolic number 7, and divided by eight hundred.

At the end of the book it is written—

When 4220 years of the Kali Yuga had passed, by the divine command of Lord Purushottama, the illustrious Shatananda, the son of Saraswati and Isha, composed this work.

Seeing the phrase "following the teachings of Mihira" written by Shatananda, Mr. Bentley concluded that Varahamihira was Shatananda's teacher and therefore he lived in 1060 AD. But, dear readers! You should well remember that Bentley did not understand the meaning of this.

Ganesha Daivajna, the son of Keshav Samvatsar, composed the Grahalaghava or Siddhanta-Rahasya in the Shaka year 1442 approx. 1520 AD. The writing of this gentleman is extremely complex.

Up to this point, the chronology of the astrologers has been determined. Although we only intended to determine the time of Varahamihiracharya, several matters were critiqued as the context arose. The book named Brihat Samhita is such that by reading it, a person becomes skilled in all tasks. It was a matter of wonder that such an excellent book did not have a Hindi commentary and was not printed in Bombay. However, considering the current times, a simple Hindi commentary of this book was prepared with great labor, which was immediately printed and published by our most benevolent devotee of Vishnu, Seth Gangavishnu Shrikrishnadas, at his Lakshmi Venkateshwar Press. The full rights of this linguistic translation have been surrendered to the said Seth; therefore, no gentleman should attempt to edit or alter this translation. My venerable elder brother, the world-renowned and most learned "Ocean of Knowledge" Pandit Jwalaprasad Mishra, has purified this book from beginning to end; for this reason, heart-felt thanks are given to him repeatedly.

In the work of this translation, help was received from several books which are mentioned below, namely: the Sanskrit commentary of Bhattotpala, the commentary of Panchanan Tarkaratna published by the Bangabasi Office, and the Arunodaya commentary published from the Dravidian South Indian region. The publishers and translators of these are also thanked repeatedly. If the transmission of knowledge occurs in the heart of even one person by reading this commentary, I will consider my labor successful. I request the kind-hearted readers to look upon the translation of this book with a favorable eye. Aside from this, the fault-finders will surely see defects in every part. Goswami Tulsidas has truly written:

Those who see the faults of others with a thousand eyes; their minds are like flies in the ghee clarified butter of others' welfare.
They abandon their bodies for the sake of others' harm; just as hailstones melt away after destroying the crops.
They are like Rahu the eclipse demon to the full moon of the glory of Hari and Hara Vishnu and Shiva; and like Sahasrabahu the thousand-armed king in causing harm to others.

Wherever any error might have remained, the readers should correct it themselves while reading.