Critically Edited and Translated byProf. R. N. Iyengar
महासलिलस्य लोकार्पणं
About the Book
A question that often arises is about positive sciences of India before the Common Era and their links with the Vedas. The present monograph brings out for the first time the Mahāsalila part of the Vṛddhagārgīya Jyotiṣa, critically edited from eleven manuscripts collected from libraries in India and abroad. Salilam is the name of the primordial state of dark-matter called andhaṁ-tamaḥ out of which all creation including the celestial bodies emerged. The Mahāsalilam in prose, introduces observations and quantification in terms of numbers, through a set of nearly one hundred questions and explanations, in a style that is archaic and original as emanating from the Vedic world view. Foundational concepts of astral sciences that over centuries evolved as Indian astronomy and astrology can be traced to this source in seed form. Earliest description of the five planets in terms of their brightness, six monthly lunar eclipse period, classification of comets, a theory of rainfall, instant of full moon as pūrṇatithi, astronomical background of the Vedic sānnāyya, are here. The synchronization of the five-year solar cycle with the sixty-seven sidereal lunar cycle is given. The text belongs to the maghādi era (c 1800-1600 BCE) when the summer solstice was with the maghā nakṣatra, centuries before the śraviṣṭhādi winter solstice calendar of Lagadha.
