1884.] G. Thibaut —Varaha HiJdra’s FancJiasiddhdntiJcd. 261 
into a clearer light by a short consideration of the class of books to 
which the Pahchasiddhantika belongs. 
The Panchasiddhantika is a so-called karanagrantha. The only 
definition of the term “ karana ” by a European scholar of which I know 
is the one given by Professor Kern, who says (preface to the Brihat 
Samhita, p. 24) that a karana differs from a Siddhanta in this respect, 
that while in the latter the calculations refer to the beginning of the 
Yuga, in the former they refer to the S'aka era. This statement is quite' 
correct, but not full enough to give an adequate idea of the nature of a 
karana. A karana may be defined as a practical treatise on astronomy, 
e., a treatise which enables the astronomer to execute the common 
astronomical calculations known to the Hindus with the greatest possible 
ease and despatch. While a Siddhanta explains the general principles 
of the Hindu astronomical system, and thereby enables the attentive 
student to construct for himself the rules which are to guide his calcu¬ 
lations, a karanagrantha exhibits those rules ready made and reduced 
to the most practical and succinct shape without, however, explaining the 
theory on which they are based. A karanagrantha is thus sufficient for 
all practical purposes, but not really intelligible without the study of the 
Siddhanta from which its rules are derived. That it takes for the 
starting-point of its calculations not the beginning of the Yuga or kalpa 
but that of the S'aka era is of course merely a consequence of the desire 
to render all calculations as easy and short as possible. The most im¬ 
portant books of the karana class are the Grahalaghava by Ganesa 
Daivajna, the Bhasvati by S'atananda, the Karanakutiihala by Bhaskara 
and, among more ancient works, the Khaiidakhadyaka by Brahmagupta 
and, holding the first rank in importance, the Panchasiddhantika. 
This latter work has, however, a wider scope than an ordinary 
karanagrantha. It does not form the practical complement of one Sid¬ 
dhanta only, as for instance the karanakutiihala does with regard to the 
Siddhanta Sfiromani, but as its name indicates, it gives rules in accord¬ 
ance with five different Siddhantas. These Siddhantas are, as we now 
may see from the introductory verses of the Panchasiddhantika itself, 
while formerly our information regarding them was derived from the 
Brihat Samhita and its commentary, the Saura, Pauliia, Bomaka, 
Vasishtha and Brahma or Paitamaha Siddhantas. Of these five Sid¬ 
dhantas only the Saura or Siirya Siddhanta is known to exist at present. 
The Paulisa, Bomaka, Paitamaha Siddhantas appear to be lost; I am 
doubtful whether the Vasishtha Siddhanta to which Varaha Mihira refers 
has come down to our time or not. We are thus on the whole not in a 
position to elucidate the highly condensed and often altogether enig¬ 
matical rules of the Panchasiddhantika by referring to the Siddhantas on 
