Varāhamihira ( 20/21 March 505 – 587), also called Varāha or Mihira, was an ancient Indian mathematician, astrologer-astronomer who lived in or around Ujjain in present-day Madhya Pradesh, India.

Date

Unlike other prominent ancient Indian astronomers, Varāhamihira does not mention his date. However, based on hints in his works, modern scholars date him to the 6th century CE; possibly, he also lived during the last years of the 5th century.

In his Pancha-siddhantika, Varāhamihira refers to the year 427 of the Shaka-kala (also Shakendra-kala or Shaka-bhupa-kala). Identifying this calendar era with the Shaka era places Varāhamihira in the 505 CE. Alternative theories identify this calendar era with other eras, placing him before the 5th century CE. However, these theories are inaccurate, as Varāhamihira must have lived after Aryabhata (born 476 CE), whose work he refers to. The particulars of the date mentioned by Varāhamihira - Shukla pratipada of the Chaitra month of the Shaka year 427 - align accurately with 20–21 March 505 CE. Al-Biruni also places Varāhamihira in 505 CE.

In accordance with the contemporary tradition, 505 CE was most probably the year in which Varāhamihira composed Pancha-Siddhantaka or began planning it. However, some scholars believe that it was the year of Varāhamihira's birth or of another important event in his life. This is because according to Amaraja, the author of a commentary on Brahmagupta's Khanda-khadyaka, Varāhamihira died in 587 CE (Shaka year 509). If Varāhamihira wrote his work in 505 CE even at the young age of 25, he must have been over 105 years old at the time of his death, which seems exceptionally high to these scholars. Consequently, these scholars consider date Varāhamihira's lifespan to 505-587 CE. Other scholars doubt the accuracy of Amaraja's statement, since he lived a thousand years after Varāhamihira.

According to a historically inaccurate tradition, Varāhamihira was associated with the first century BCE legendary emperor Vikramaditya. This tradition is based on Jyotirvid-abharana, a work attributed to Kalidasa, which states that Varāhamihira (along with Kalidasa) was one of the navaratnas ("nine gems") at Vikramaditya's court. However, this text is a literary forgery, and is dated variously from 12th-18th century. Varāhamihira definitely did not live in the same century as some of the purported "Navaratnas", such as the much older Kalidasa.

Early life

thumb | 1399 CE manuscript of the [[Brihat Jataka|Brihajjataka]]

thumb | 1279 CE manuscript of the [[Bṛhat Saṃhitā|Brhat-samhita]]

Much of the undisputed information about the life of Varāhamihira comes from a stanza in his Brhaj-jataka. According to this stanza, he was a resident of Avanti, was a son of Aditya-dasa, and studied at Kapitthaka through the boon of the sun god.

Ancestry

Varāhamihira's father Aditya-dasa likely trained him in jyotisha (Indian astrology and astronomy), as suggested by the Brhaj-jataka stanza and the opening stanza of Pancha-siddhantika.

Varāhamihira's commentator Utpala calls him "Magadha-dvija". According to one interpretation, this means that Varāhamihira was Brahmana (dvija), whose ancestors belonged to the Magadha region.

According to another theory, the word "Magadha" in this context refers to the sun-worshipping Maga cult that Varāhamihira was a part of. In his Brhat-samhita, Varāhamihira mentions that the Magas were the only people suitable for consecrating an image of the Sun god. The Magas, as they came to be known in India, originated from the Magi priests of the Achaemenid Empire. Historian Ajay Mitra Shastri cites a Bhavishya Purana passage according to which the term "Magadha" is a synonym of "Maga" and refers to "those who contemplate on the Maga". According to Shastri, Utpala has used the word "Magadha" to denote the Magas, who had been accepted as Shaka-dvipi (Maga) Brahmins in the Indian society.

Shastri theorizes that "Varaha-mihira" may be a Sanskritized form of the Iranian name "Varaza-Mihr", and may refer to a legend mentioned in the Mihr Yasht of the Avesta. According to this legend, the god Verethraghna, in the form of a boar (varaza), precedes Mihr in his march. Shastri notes that the 5th century Sassanian monarch Bahram V bore the name Mihrvaraza, which is quite similar to Varahamihra. Academic J.E. Sanjana suggests that Varāhamihira was descended from an Iranian Magi priest.

Some scholars, such as M.T. Patwardhan and A.N. Upadhye, have identified Varāhamihira with Bazurjmehr, mentioned in Firishta's writings as a minister of the Sasanian king Khusraw Nushirwan (r. 531-578). However, A.M. Shastri dismisses this theory as unconvincing.

There are several historically inaccurate legends about the ancestry of Varāhamihira:

  • Jain writers Merutunga (14th century) and Rajashekhara-Suri claim that his original name was Varaha, and he was a brother of the Jain patriarch Bhadrabahu. He gained knowledge because of a favour by the Sun, because of which the suffix "Mihira" ("Sun") was added to his name. .
  • Another 20th century legend, purportedly based on "some old Gujarati text" claims that Aditya-dasa's wife was called Satya-vati alias Indu-mati: Varāhamihira was born to them in their fifties by the boon of the Sun. He was originally known as Mihira, and was given the prefix "Varaha" by King Vikramaditya when he correctly predicted that a boar (varaha in Sanskrit) would kill the king's son.
  • A tradition associates Varāhamihira with Berachampa in West Bengal, where a mound called "Varāhamihira's house" is located. This seems to be the result of an attempt to associate the locality with a famous figure. A legend from the Bengal region claims that Varaha and Mihira were a father-son duo at Vikramaditya's court, and the poet Khana was Mihira's wife. This legend is of no historical value. "Varaha" and "Mihira" were alternative names for the same person - Varāhamihira, as attested by the later astronomical works.
  • Another legend claims that the Mimamsa teacher Shabara-svamin had four wives, one from each varna, and Varāhamihira was his son from his Brahmin wife. Some scholars, such as S.K. Dikshit, have theorized that Aditya-dasa (or Aditya-deva) was another name of Shabara-svamin, but no historical evidence supports this tradition.

Birthplace

Kapitthaka, where Varāhamihira studied, was probably his birthplace. He was a worshipper of the sun god Savitur, and stated that he had received all his knowledge by the grace of this god. For example, in Brhaj-jataka, he states that he was able to compose the text because of a boon by the Sun. While he mentions other deities, he devotes a much larger number of verses to the Sun. His commentator Utpala credits his sharp intellect to a boon by the Sun. Some later writers describe him as an incarnation of the Sun god. Utpala, for example, declares that the Sun descended on earth in the form of Varāhamihira to save the jyotisha-shastra from destruction. The Subhashita-ratna-kosha quotes stanzas that praise Varāhamihira as an incarnation of Vishnu and the Sun, presumably because of two parts of his name (varaha referring to an avatar of Vishnu, and mihira meaning sun).

Sun worship seems to have been his family's religion, as his father Aditya-dasa's name literally means "servant of the Sun". Kutuhula-manjari, a later text, suggests that Varāhamihira was born to Aditya-dasa by the blessings of the Sun. Varāhamihira's son Prthu-yashas also invokes the Sun in the opening stanza of his work Shatpanchashikha.

Varāhamihira was well-versed with the Vedic tradition. He recommends the performance of several ancient Hindu rituals such as Punyaham and chanting of Vedic hymns.

Varāhamihira praises Vishnu in the chapters 42 and 104 of Brhat-samhita, leading A.N.S. Aiyangar and K.V.R Aiyangar to speculate that he came in contact with the Shrivaishnava saints (Alvars); however, A.M. Shastri dismisses this theory, describing the praise for Vishnu as an example of religious eclecticism.

In Brhat-samhita, Varāhamihira discusses the iconography of several Brahmanical deities, including Vishnu, Baladeva, Ekanamsha, Shamba, Pradyumna, consorts of Shamba and Pradyumna, Brahma, Skanda, Indra, Shiva, Surya, the divine mothers (Matrikas), Revanta, Yama, Varuna, and Kubera. These were presumably the popular gods worshipped during his period. He also describes the iconography of two non-Brahmanical faiths, that of the Buddha and the Jinas. He appears to have been religiously liberal, as he reveres the Buddha as "the father of the world" and devotes an entire stanza to Buddha's iconology (compared to shorter descriptions of several Brahmanical deities). A verse in the Brhat-samhita describes the iconography of Ganesha, but this verse appears only in one or two manuscripts, and is likely a later interpolation. Similarly, a Tikanika-yatra verse in which the author reveres Ganesha (among other deities), is likely spurious; this verse appears only in one manuscript.

Works

Varāhamihira is credited with writing several authoritative texts on astronomy and astrology. He was also known for his poetic skills, and the 11th-century writer Kshemendra describes him as a great poet.

He apparently wrote a set of two works - detailed and short - in the following areas:

{| class="wikitable"

! Area

! Detailed work

! Short work

|-

| Mathematical astronomy (tantra)

| Pancha-siddhantika

| Now lost, known from Utpala's commentary

|-

| Horoscopy (hora): nativity

| Brhaj-jataka

| Laghu-jataka

|-

| Horoscopy: marriage

| Brhad-vivaha-patala

| Svalpa-vivaha-patala

|-

| Horoscopy: journeys

| Brhad-yatra and Yoga-yatra

| Svalpa-yatra

|-

| General astrology (samhita)

| Brhat-samhita

| Samasa-samhita

|}

The chronological order of some of these works can be determined based on the internal evidence and Utpala's commentary. In order or earliest to latest, these works are:

  • Pancha-siddhantika
  • Brhaj-jataka
  • Brhad-yatra
  • Yoga-yatra (according to Utpala, Varaha-mihira wrote this because he was dissatisfied with Brhad-yatra)
  • Brhad-vivaha-patala
  • Brhat-samhita

Laghu-jataka states that it was written after Brhaj-jataka, and Utpala's commentary states that it was written after the abridged version of Pancha-siddhantika. However, its order with respect to the other works is not certain.

Later authors also mention or quote from some other works composed by Varaha-mihira. Manuscripts of some other works attributed to Varaha-mihira exist, but these attributions are of doubtful nature.

Influences

The Romaka Siddhanta ("The Doctrine of the Romans") and the Paulisa Siddhanta were two works of Western origin which influenced Varāhamihira's thought. The Pauliṣa Siddhānta is often mistakenly thought to be a single work and attributed to Paul of Alexandria (c. 378 CE). However, this notion has been rejected by other scholars in the field, notably by David Pingree who stated that "...the identification of Paulus Alexandrinus with the author of the Pauliṣa Siddhānta is totally false". A number of his writings share similarities with the earlier texts like Vedanga Jyotisha.

Some scholars consider Varāhamihira to be the strong candidate for the one who understood and introduced the zodiac signs, predictive calculations for auspicious ceremonies and astrological computations in India.

Varāhamihira's works contain 35 Sanskritized Greek astronomical terms, and he exhibits a good understanding of the Greek astronomy. He praised the Greeks (Yavanas) for being "well trained in the sciences", though impure in ritual order.

Legacy

Varāhamihira gained reputation as the most eminent writer on jyotisha after his death, and his works superseded nearly all the earlier Indian texts in this area. Several later Indian astrologer-astronomers speak highly of him, and acknowledge his works among their main sources. The 11th-century writer Al-Biruni also greatly admires him, describing him as an excellent astronomer.

See also

  • List of Indian mathematicians

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • The Brihat-samhita; complete translation by N. Chidambaram Iyer Online edition with glossary
  • Pancasiddhantika, Brihat Jataka, Brihat Samhita and Hora Shastra Various editions in English and Sanskrit. (PDF)
  • The Brihat Jataka (1905) (PDF) – archived from Wayback Machine