Siddhanta school
Pancha-Siddhantika · पञ्चसिद्धान्तिका
A comparative summary of five earlier astronomical systems.
Attributed to
Varahamihira
Approximate period
c. 550 CE
Rights status
source_text_public_domain
What it covers
Side-by-side treatment of five siddhantas, their methods, constants and relative accuracy.
Digest of five earlier astronomical siddhantas, key to the history of ayanamsha and computation.
Signature methods
- Comparison rather than a single doctrine
- Preserves systems otherwise lost
- Explicit about differences in accuracy
What makes it different
It is the clearest classical statement that computation methods disagreed and had to be judged against observation.
How the Siddhanta school reads a chartChapter-by-chapter summary
Pancha Siddhantika is set in 18 chapters summarising five earlier astronomical schools. Several chapters survive incompletely, and editions differ in how they reconstruct them.
How to work through Pancha-Siddhantika
- 1Read it as a comparison of five systems, not as one method — note which siddhanta each rule belongs to.
- 2The eclipse and parallax chapters are its most complete technical material.
7 entries covering the full text
These summaries describe what each chapter covers in Astravya's own words. No verses are translated or reproduced.
Glossary
- Siddhanta
- An established astronomical system or doctrine.
- Karanaकरण
- A practical handbook of shortcut computations (distinct from the Panchang karana).
Published rules cited from this text
No rules from this text have been published yet. Entries appear here once a reviewer releases them.
Sanskrit source text is public domain; Thibaut & Dvivedi (1889) translation is also public domain.
Every summary on these pages is Astravya's own wording of a classical principle. Sanskrit verses are not reproduced unless the source wording is out of copyright or licensed, and each published rule records its chapter, verse and rights basis.