Haridatta I
Haridatta I
(fl. India, 683)
astronomy.
Haridatta, who probably lived in south India, composed in 683 the Grahac?ranibandha, the principal text of the parahita system of astronomy (see essay in Supplement), which is based on the ?ryabha??ya of ?ryabha?a I and which prevailed in Kerala until the fifteenth century. An important feature of this work is its versified table of the planetary equations employing the ka?apay?di method of expressing numerals. The Grahac?ranibamdha was published by K. V. Sarma (Madras, 1954), Haridatta therein refers to his Mah?m?rganibandhana in which, he discussed the calculation of tithis; this work is lost. Various opinions of Haridatta regarding astrology are cited by Govindasv?min (fl. ca. 850) in the Praka??rhad?pik?, a comimentary on the Uttarakha??a of pseudo-Par??ara’s Hor???stra.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Aside from K. V. Sarma’s introduction to his ed. of the Grahac?ranibandha mentioned above, the only discussion of Haridatta is by K. Kunjunni Raja, “Astronomy and Mathematics is Kerala,” in Brahmavidy?, 27 (1963), 118–167, esp. 123–126.
David Pingree
