22. The Date of Varaha Mihira’s Birth. 
By Brasa Lat MuKersi, M.A. 
It is the practice with the Hindu atronomers to mention 
the date of their birth in their works. It is believed, however, 
that the great astronomer, whose name appears at the top 
of this short note, has not followed this practice, although he must 
have known that such was the usage, and that such usage was 
being followed by other Hindu astronomers who had just pre- 
ceded him. In his work, however, known as the Pajica- 
siddhantika, Varaha Mihira makes mention of a certain epoch 
which has been suggested to be the date of the said work. 
We are referring to the following verse :— 
an fqazdel WRRITAUT SaaS | 
gated ut aaagt atafeaare | 
ainda aarafes anreaseaaua: | 
aaidatstuare fermeuteataaat fez: | 
( wafeatfrar ) 
In this verse we are taught a method of finding the Ahar- 
gana (i.e. the sum of civil days which had elapsed from an ini- 
tial epoch up to a given date). It has been ascertained by Dr. 
Thibaut and Pandit Sudhakara Dvivedi, that Varaha Mihira’s 
calculations start primarily from the beginning of the Kalpa, 
and Saka 427 is only a stage in the calculations of the Ahargana. 
Dr. Thibaut has also proved that all calculations in the Pafica- 
siddhantika start from Saka 427. We find no difficulty in 
establishing the identity of this Saka with that which com- 
menced from a.D. 78. (We ditfer trom Bhattotpala who says 
that Sakakala means the time when Saka kings were defeated 
by Vikramaditya). On referring to Varaha Mihira’s rule for 
finding the Shashthyabda, and to Pandit Sudhakara’s verifica- 
tion of the Sun’s ksepa on the basis of the Ahargana rule, 
we find that the Saka used by Varaha Mihira began from a.D. 
78. Without reserve, therefore, we accept that Saka 427 is .p. 
505. Dr. Thibaut has with his great ability examined all the 
ksepas given in the Pajcasiddhantika and he finis that all 
figures in that work refer themselves to 4.D. 505 The question 
to be decided now is, what is this a.p 505? Is it the date of 
the Pafcasiddhantika? Learned writers and able orientalists 
