INDIAN CALENDRICAL SYSTEM

PANCHANGA ELEMENTS REVISION TO BE MADE

Dr. S.BALACHANDRA RAO

Hon. Director,
Gandhi Centre of Science and Human Values,
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,
#43/1, Race Course Road, BANGALORE - 560001

Email Id: balachandra1944@gmail.com

Mobile number: 91-9741411480.
NECESSITY FOR UPDATING THE ASTRONOMICAL PARAMETERS

Devacharya (7th century) in his Karana Ratna says “The karana text
of ancient times yield inaccurate results (slatha) due to following
reasons:

i. Wrong understanding of the student;

ii. Cryptic (brief) statement of the text;
iii. Incorrect parameters (due to passage of time)

Devacharya proceeds further to declare : “They say that the aim of

acquiring the knowledge of astronomy is, to correct and re-establish
(shastra sthapana) the lost methods or to discover and highlight new
methods. Hence this effort of mine.
2. Ganesha Daivajña (c. 1520 CE) points out that the realization
that shastras invariably become slatha is indeed very common. He
describes how a shastra which is tathya (accurate) at one period of
time becomes inaccurate in a later period and needs samsthapana.

3. Neelakanta Somayaji (b.1444 C.E.) : In his Jyotirmeemamsha,

Neelakanta gives an interesting instance. A certain commentator
(Vyakhyata) of Mañjula’s “Manasam” has lamented “The old
siddhantas, like Paitamaha differ from one another. Because of
this, the timings (of tithi, nakshatra etc.) are different according to
different siddhantas. When this happens, the Vedic and civil
activities – which depend on time – go astray and our life becomes
confused. Alas, we have fallen into a great calamity.
Neelakanta proceeds further to reply to the above objection saying,
“O faint-hearted, there is nothing to lament about. After all, what is
there that cannot be known by those who dedicatedly serve at the
feet of their Guru? One has to realize that the Pañcha siddhantas
were correct at a particular time. Therefore, one has to search for a
siddhanta in which there is concordance between the observation
and computation (Drk-ganita-aikya). Such drk-ganita-aikya has to be
achieved by actual observations at the time of Eclipses,
Conjunctions etc.

When existing siddhantas show differences, a new siddhanta has

to be composed which establishes drk-ganita-aikya.
4. Ganesha Daivajña in his very famous text Grahalaghavam made
very great innovation of simplifying the entire procedures of
Eclipses, planetary positions etc., by getting rid of the trigonometric
ratios “sine” and “cosine” (Jya and kotijya) and replacing them by
appropriate numerical approximations.

From ms. of Grahalaghavam

Approximation to “sine θ” in Grahalahavam

The sources of inspiration for this very good algebraic

approximation to “sine” were Ganesha’s predecessors Shripathi
Bhatta (c. 10th century C.E.) and Bhaskara II (b.1114 C.E.). In
turn, the original innovator was Bhaskara I (629 C.E.). In fact, in
his Mahabhaskareeyam, Bhaskara I gives the formula

sinθ = 4(180-θ)θ
40500- (180-θ)θ
where θ is in degrees.

Bhaskara I gets the credit for giving this innovative

approximation for the first time in the world (MBh.VII, 17-19).
 Table 2: Mean daily Motions

Ganesha Daivajña Neelakantha Somayaji Ketkar

Bodies o ’ ” o ’ ” o ’ ”

Ravi 0 59 8.171311 0 59 8.16948 0 59 8.191452

Chandra 13 10 34.86557 13 10 34.86437 13 10 34.8896
Ch.Mandocca 0 6 40.85716 0 6 40.91303 0 6 40.9231
Rahu 0 3 10.80703 0 3 10.79357 0 3 10.77803

Table 3: Solar year and Civil days (Saura Varsha & Savana Dinas)

Ganesha Neelakanta
Daivajña Somajaji Ketkar
Solar year 365.2585715117682 365.2587706874994 365.2564951461894

Civil days
in a kalpa 1577917028931 1577917889370 1577908059032

Note: Candrashekhara Samanta gives the same values for civil days in a Mahayuga as in
the Su.Si.
Table 4: Revolutions in a M.Y. acc. To Candrashekhara Samanta

Bodies Surya Siddhanta Siddhanta

Darpana of
Samanta

Ravi 43,20,000 43,20,000

Chandra 5,77,53,336 5,77,53,336
Ch. Mandocca 4,88,203 4,88,118
Rahu 2,32,226 2,32,298

Samanta Candrashekhara Simha (1835-1904) of Orissa occupies a place

of special importance in the tradition of siddhantic astronomy, being the
last link in the long chain of Indian astronomers. The greatness of the
Samanta lies mainly in his quasi heliocentric model. This is similar to the
one given nearly 500 years earlier by Neelakanta Somayaji (1500 C.E.).
 NEELAKANTA SOMAYAJI
1. It is remarkable that Neelakanta Somayaji and other Kerala
astronomers belonged exclusively to the Arya Paksha. They improved
upon Aryabhata’s assumption that all the mean planets were at
Meshadi at the beginning of Kaliyuga.

2. He gets the unique honour in the world history of astronomy

for being the first in evolving a helio-centric like model of
planetary motion.

3. In the traditional siddhantic texts, for the superior planets, Kuja,

Guru and Shani their shighrocca is taken as the mean Sun. But in the
case of the inferior planets Budha and Shukra two special points called
their shighroccas are considered.
On the other hand, Neelakanta recommends that the mean Sun
should be taken as the common shighrocca for all the five taragrahas.

4. Again for the first time he clearly explained the difference between
the heliocentric latitude (Surya Kendra Shara) and the geocentric
latitude (Bhu Kendra Shara) while Copernicus failed in doing it.
 GANESHA DAIVAJÑA
The positions of the Sun’s and the Moon’s mandoccas (apogee) obtained from
this text (GL) are equivalent to those according to Surya Siddhanta (SS). By
subtracting 9¢ (nava kala) from the Moon (as per GL) we get the SS value. The
positions of Kuja, Guru and Rahu are equivalent with those of the Aryapaksha.
Budha’s shighrakendra is the same as that of the Brahma paksha. By adding o 5
to Shani’s position (GL), we get the value according to the Arya Siddhanta.
Shukra’s shighra kendra (of GL) is half the sum of the values obtained from the
Arya and the Brahma pakshas.
PARAMESHVARA (1360-1455)
Parameshvaracharya was one of the foremost astronomers of Kerala and the
founder of the famous drk siddhanta. His prashishya (grand-student) Neelakanta
Somayaji pays glowing tributes to his paramaguru and says,“(Parameshvara)
having observed and critically examined eclipses and planetary conjunctions
for 55 years composed his text “Samadrugganitam” –
Parameshvara suggests that in course of time the parameters change and hence
the necessary samskaras must be thought over and incorporated by the best of
mathematical astronomers:
 IMPORTANT PARAMETERS TO BE UPDATED

1. Numbers of Civil Days (Savanadina) in a Mahayuga (MY)

or a Kalpa; This defines the length of a solar year
(Sauravarsa). The bhagana of Ravi in a MY is 43,20,000.
Then

Solar year = CivilDaysin MY

Ravi Bhagana in MY

E.g.: According to Surya siddhanta,

Solar year =1,57,79,17,828 = 365.258756481 days
43,20,000

= 365 days, 6h, 12m, 36.56s

= 365 dina, 15gh, 31.5233 vig.
 Civil days, Solar year and Sun’s true daily motion

According to modern astronomy the true daily motion of

Nirayana Ravi, SDM = 3548”.1928098 (Ketkar has taken it as
3548”.19282473868). From this Nirayana Saura varsa =
365.2563627378105 days (Ketkar has taken it has 365.2563612).

Accordingly the no. of Civil days in a Mahayuga is

1,57,79,07,487. We recommend to use these modern parameters
for our Pañcanga reformation. Summarizing we have:

i) Sidereal (Nirayana) solar year : 365.2563627378105 days.

ii) Civil days (Savana dina) in MY : 1,57,79,07,487 days
iii) True daily motion of Nirayana Ravi : 3548”.1928098.
2. Number of revolutions (bhagana)
The mean daily’s motions (madhyama) dina gati of the
Sun, the Moon and the planets are given in terms of their
bhaganas in a MY (or Kalpa).
Madhyama Dina Gati= Bhagana ×3600
Civil Days

Eg.: According to Surya siddh¹nta the Moon’s bhagana

= 5,77,53,336.
Therefore, Moon’s Madhyama Dina Gati
= 5,77,53,336 ×360o
1,57,79,17,828

=130 .176352146= 130 10’ 34” .8677

In the following Table 1, we compare the bhaganas of the Sun, the
Moon, Moon’s Mandocca (Apogee) and Moon’s pata (Rahu) as also
Savana dina according to the traditional Surya siddhanta and our
proposed drk values.
Table 1: Civil Days & Bhaganas of Moon, Mandocca and Pata
Parameters Civil Days Moon Moon’s Mandocca Moon’s Pata

Surya Siddh. 1,57,79,17,828 5,77,53,336 4,88,203 2,32,238

Nav»na Drk 1,57,79,07,487 5,77,52,986 4,88,118 2,32,269
Difference – 10,341 – 350 – 85 + 31

Table 2: Bhaganas of Planets (Tara grahas)

Parameters Kuja Bu.shighrocca Guru su.shigrocca shani
Surya Siddh. 22,96,832 1,79,37,060 3,64,220 70,22,376 1,46,568
Naveena Drk 22,96,876 1,79,37,034 3,64,195 70,22,260 1,46,656
Difference +44 – 26 – 25 –116 + 88
3. Mandoccas of the Moon and the Planets

The Mandoccas of the planets (Taragrahas) were taken as fixed

by many ancient Indian astronomers. But, Surya siddhanta considers
them as having very slow motion and gives the Bhaganas of the
Mandoccas for a Kalpa (of 432 crore years). In Table 3, we provide
our proposed naveena drg bhaganas for the planets and compare
the same with the values according to the Surya siddhanta:

Table 3: Bhaganas of Madoccas of Ravi & Taragrahas in a Kalpa

Tara Graha. Kuja Budha Guru shukra shani Ravi
Surya Siddh. 204 368 900 535 39 387
Naveena Drk 53,367 19,134 25,671 1,439 67,486 38,777
4. Moon’s latitude (Chandra shara)

i. According to the siddhantas, Moon’s latitude (shara) is

given by β = 270’in(M − R).
where M and R are respectively the mean Moon and Rahu.
0
The gunaka (co-efficient), 270’= 4 .5 is the inclination of
the moon’s orbit with the ecliptic i.e. Paramashara.

ii. Ketkar in his Grahaganitam gives the expression for the

0
Chandra shara as sinβ= sin(5 9’ )× sin( M—R). In addition
to this he has given Surya-karshana samskara as
Shara samskara = 8’sin(2 tithi − vipata candra)
= 8’sin(2(M − S) − (M − R))
iii. According to modern computations
β =18461”sin F +1010”sin(GM + F) +1000”sin(GM − F)
− 624”sin(F − 2D) + ...

where GM = Moon’s Manda Kendra (from perigee)

F = M − R, the argument for the Moon’s latitude.
D = M − S , Moon’s elongation from the Sun.
 Epochal Positions at the Kali Beginning
(1) Nirayana Mandoccas at Kali beginning І (2) Patas at Kali beginning
Year: – 3101, Month: Feb, Date: 18
Time : 6h 27m (IST)

Chandra 1160 46’ 16” Chandra 1880 46’ 45”

Ravi 610 44’ 47” Budha 340 46 ’44”
Budha 2240 47’ 36” Shukra 770 28’ 11”
Shukra 2860 33’ 55” Kuja 560 52’ 45”
Kuja 1080 44’ 52” Guru 1450 30’ 27”
0 0
Guru 238 29’ 16” Shani 158 56’ 10”
Shani 3160 42’ 07”

0
Ayanamsha : − 46 35’01”
Order Passed by His Holiness Srimat Shankaracharya of Sri Sharada Mata of
Dwaraka Peetha to follow only the Sayana (Tropical) Pañchanga
(and not the Nirayana system) for all Hindu religious observances.
Thank you