Acyuta Pi??ra?i

(b. Trkka??iy?r [Sanskrit, Ku??apura], Kerala. India, ca. 1550; d. Kerala, 7 July 1621)

astronomy.

Acyuta was a member of the Pi??ra?i community, which is a section of the Ampalav?si community and is traditionally employed in looking after the external affairs of temples. Hestudied astronomy under Jye??hadeva (ca. 1500–1600), a Namb?tiri Br?hma?a of the Par?an?n?o??u family in the village called ?latt?r, who wrote the Yuktibh??? based on the Tantrasañgraha of N?laka??ha Somasutvan. Jye??hadeva and N?laka??ha were pupils of D?modara, the son and student of Parame?vara, who founded the Dr?gga?ita school of astronomy (for an account of this school, see my essay, V A 2). Acyuta’s patron was Ravivarman, King of Ve??attun?d (Sanskrit, Prak??a; 1595–1607). He was a scholar in grammar (his famous pupil N?r?yana Bha??atiri [1560-ca. 1646] refers to him in his Prakriy?sarvasva), poetics, and medicine, as well as in astronomy and astrology. In the field of astrology, there existed in his school a long line of scholars writing in Malayalam.

Acyuta wrote the following works dealing largely with astronomy.

1. Prave?aka. This is an introduction to Sanskrit grammar in about six hundred anu??ubh stanzas. It was edited, with a commentary, by P.S. Anantanarayana Sastri, as Vol. II in Cochin Sanskrit Series (Trippunithura, 1938).

2. Kara?ottama. This is a work on astronomy in five chapters and about one hundred verses; it deals with the computation of the mean and true longitudes of the planets, with eclipses, and with the vyat?p?tas of the sun and moon. Acyuta himself wrote a commentary on it. It was published as Vol. 213 of Trivandrum Sanskrit Series (Trivandrum, 1964).

3. Upar?gakriy?krama. This is a treatise in four chapters on lunar and solar eclipses which was completed in 1593. There is a commentary on it in Malayalam.

4. Sphu?anir?aya. This is a work on astronomy in six chapters, written before the R??igolasphu??n?ti.

5. Ch?y???aka. This is a short astronomical text in eight verses.

6.Upar?gavi??ati. This is a manual in twenty verses on the computation of eclipses. It was published with a Malayalam commentary in Vol. II of the Ravivarma Sanskrit Series (Trippunithura, 1954).

7. R??igolasphu??n?ti. This work in fifty verses is concerned with the reduction of the moon’s true longitude in its own orbit to the ecliptic. Since in this work Acyuta quotes not only the Sphu?anir?aya but also the Upar?gakriy?krama, it is clear that the R??igolasphu??n?ti was written after 1593. It was edited and translated into English by K.V. Sarma as Adyar Library Series, Paper 29 (Madras, 1955); reprinted from Brahmavidy?, 18 (1954), 306–335.

8. Ve?v?rohavy?khy?. This Malayalam commentary on the Ve?v?roha of M?dhava of Sañgam?grama (ca. 1340–1425) was written at the request of Netran?r?ya?a, a spiritual head of the Namb?tiri Br?hma?as. The Ve?v?roha deals with the calculation of the tithis and nak?atras. The text and its commentary have been edited by K.V. Sarma in Vol. III of the Ravivarma Sanskrit Series (Trippunithura, 1956).

9. Hor?s?roccaya. This is an adaptation in seven chapters of the J?takapaddhati of Sr?pati. The relationship to it of a Malayalam commentary on the J?takapaddhati entitled Hor?tantra? Parijbh??a remains uncertain.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Further discussion of Acyuta Pi??ra?i may be found in S. Venkitasubramonia Iyer, “Acyuta Pi??ro?i; His Date and Works,” in JOR Madras, 22 (1952–1953), 40–46; and K. Kunjunni Raja, The Contribution of Kerala ot Sanskrit Literature (Madras, 1958), pp. 122–125, and “Astronomy and Mathematics in Kerala,” in Brahmavidy?, 27 (1963), 158–162.

David Pingree