Keśava

(fl. Nandod, Gujarat, India, 1496)

astronomy.

Keśava; the son of Kamalākara of the Kauśikagotra and a pupil of Vaidyanātha, was the first of a line of astronomers at Nandigrāma (Nandod) that includes his sons Ananta, Rāma, and Ganeśa (b. 1507). and his grandson Nṛsiṃha (b 1548) Ganeśa lists his father’s works in his Muhūrtadipikā, a Commentary on Keśava’s Muhūrtatattva:

1. Grahakautuka

2. Tithisiddhi

3. Jātakapaddhati

4. Jātakapaddhativivṛti

5. Tājikapaddhati

6. Siddhāntopapattipāthanicaya

7. Muhūrtatattva

8. Kāyasthādidharmapaddhati.

Like Ganeśa, then, Keśava wrote on Hindu law as well as on astronomy and astrology.

The Grahakautuka is a a treatise on astronomy, apparently following the Brāhmapaksa (see essay in Supplement), written in 1496. It is accompanied by astronomical tables. Although several manuscripts of this work survive, it has not been studied or published. There is a commentary on it by Viśvanātha (fl. 1612-1634), the son of Divākara of Golagrāma, a pupil of Keśsva’s son Ganeśa.

The Tithisiddhi presumably contained tables for computing tithis, nakṣatras, and yogas. No manuscripts are known.

The Jātakapaddhati or Keśsavipaddhati is short treatise on horoscopy which has been immensely popular in India. It is usually accompanied by a commentary which includes extensive astronomical tables. The commentaries are the following (for editions see the list of editions of the Jātakapaddhati):

1. Vivṛti of Keśava himself.

2. Udāharaṇa of Viśvanātha (fl. 1612-1634), the son of Divākara of Golagrāma.

3. Prauḍhamanoramā of Divākara (1626), the great-grandson of Divākara of Golagrāma. published.

4. Vāsanābhāṣya of Dharmeśvara (fl.ca. 1600-1650).

5. Udāharaṇa of Nārāyaņa (1678).

6. Subodhini of Umāśan̄kara Miśra (1857). Published.

7. Udāharaņa of Apūcha Śarman (Jhā (1858).Published.

8. Sarvamanoramā of Sitārāma Jhā (1924). Published.

9. Udāharaņnadarśini of Gopikānta Śarman. Published.

10. Udāharaņa of Gurudāsa.

11. Udāharaņadipikā of Rāmadhīna Śarmen. Published.

The Jātakapaddhati has frequently been published:

1. Edited with a Marāţhī translation by A.D.S. Vadikara and V. L. J. Kannaḍakara (Bombay, 1872).

2. Edited with a Hindi commentary by B. Prabhuņe (Benares, 1877).

3. Edited with the Prauḍhamanoramā of Divākara by Vāmanācārya (Benares, 1882).

4. Edited with the Subodhinī of Umāśan̄kara Miśra (n.p., 1890).

5. Edited with a Hindī commentary by JagadīśaPrasāda Tripāţhin (Bombay, 1889; 2nd ed., Bombay, 1924).

6. Edited with a Gujarāti commentary by D. K. Mayāśankara (Bombay, 1909).

7. Edited with the Udāharaņadarśini of Gopī of Gopīkānta śarman (Ayodhyā, 1924).

8. Edited with the Udāharaņa of Apūcha Jhā, the Udāharaņadīpikā of Rāmadhīna śarman, and his own Sarvamanoramā by Sitārāma Jhā (Benares, 1925; 2nd ed., Benares, 1948).

The Jātakapaddhativivŗti has been mentioned above. Several manuscripts exist, but it has not yet been published.

The Tājikapaddhati or Varṣaphalapaddhati is a work on annual preductions based on the Islamic doctrine of the revolution of years of the world. It has been commented on by two of the sons of Divākara of Golagrāma, Mallāri (fl. ca. 1600) and Viśvanātha (fl. 1612-1634). There are two editions: one with Viśvanātha’s Udāharaņa (Benares, 1869) and the other with a Telegu translation (Madras, 1916).

The Siddhāntopapattipāṭhanicaya seems to be “a collection of readings on the origin (of statements in) the (astronomical) Siddāntas”; nothing more is known of it.

The Muhūrtatattva is a well-known work on catarchic astrology. There are commentaries by Keśava’s son Gaņeśa (the Muhūrtadipikā), and perhaps by Kŗpārāma. The Muhūrtatattva has been edited twice: at Benares in 1856 and with a Marāṭhi translation by V.V. śāstrī Jośī (3rd ed., Poona, 1927).

The Kāyasthādidharmapaddhati is a work on the religious duties of Kāyasthas (members of the scribal caste) and others. No manuscripts are known.

In addition to these works a Gotrapravartaman-galāṣṭaka has been published by D. A. Sāvanta in Manņgaliāgraha [Belgaum, 1924], as by Keśava the astrologer, but the attribution of this text to Keśava of Nandigrāma is doubtful. The subject of the work is the system of exogamous lineages prevalent in India.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

There are articles on Keśava by Sudhākara Dvivedin in Ganakataran̄ginī (Benars, 1933), repr. from The Pandit, n.s 14 (1892), 53-55 Ś. B. Diksita in Bhāratiya Joytḥiśhāstra (Poona, 1896; repr. Poona, 1931), PP. 258-259 and D. Pingree, Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit, Series A, 2, Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, 86 (Philadelphia, 1971), 65-74

David Pingree