Beeja Correction (Samskaara)This is a featured page

© Copyright Material click SITEMAP
[ Some material on this page is already published original research , which may be cited in part or whole with acknowledgement. ]
"Beeja" always meant "corrections" applied to "crude" mean motions of planets in order to obtain to accurate MEAN motions . For computing planetary positions, integers were used for computing from the zero-date, and the omitted fractional parts were applied as beeja . Beeja-correction it is a handy device to facilitate computations, because computations involving large irrational quantities was not possible without computers for panchanga makers. Let me illustrate with an example from Suryasiddhanta.

Suppose a planet (Mercury) makes 17937060 revolutuions per mahayuga plus 0.00000031215202568112958844149 degrees per year. Is it not convenient to make computations on the basis of integral part 17937060 first, and then apply the correction due to the fractional part later ? 1955888288 years (on Mesha Samkranti of AD 2009) have passed since the start of Creation. Fractional part of annual motion is 0.00000031215202568112958844149327143568 degrees per year. Hence the magnitude of beeja correction is 6.105345 degrees for Mercury at present, which ought to be added to the result obtained from computation based on integer 17937060. The value of this beeja correction changes with time, hence it had to be revised from time to time. That is why Suryasiddhanta says (verse 9, chapter 1) that Suryasiddhanta has to be revised from time to time ( Burgess correctly interpreted this verse in terms of beeja-corrections from time to time). Some ignorant people mistook this verse to imply that drastic revisions in integral part of planetary revolutions were made from time to time. But it is impossible, because if 17937060 is changed even to 17937061 in any particular year, the panchanga of that year will not be in tune with the panchangas of previous years.

If (for Mercury) 6.105345 degrees of beeja correction is needed in 1955888288 years, magnitude of beeja will be half in 1955888288 / 2 years. The Suryasiddhantic rate of beeja is one second of arc in approximately 88988 years . Since panchangas do not need accuracy of more than half a second of arc, and other planets need smaller beeja corrections in comparison to Mercury, it is easy to see that there was no need of revising beeja corrections for 44492 years (which is time when Mercury's beeja changes by 0.5") !! Thus, the 9th verse of first chapter in Suryasiddhanta implies that beeja corrections ought to be revised after periods no less than ~45000 years !! It makes no sense to modern scholars who cannot think in terms of so large time scales. Hence they ignore to mention these points, and if someone points out at these meanings, it is alleged that beeja correction was a later concept and original Suryasiddhanta did not mention it. But let us debunk this falsehood on the basis of documentary evidences.

Western historians say that the Panchsiddhantika of Varaha Mihira contains Old Suryasiddhanta, while the existing Suryasiddhanta is New Suryasiddhanta. The reason behind this view is that existing Suryasiddhanta is a complete text while Panchsiddhantika contains only fragments of Suryasiddhanta as well as fragments of other siddhantas, about which Thibaut commented that the main purpose of Varaha Mihira was to compare eclipses on the basis of existing theories ; that may be why Varaha Mihira did not elaborate all topics of a standard Siddhanta text. Another possibility is that either portions of Panchsiddhantika have been lost . Third possibility is that complete Suryasiddhanta was not available to Varaha Mihira. There cannot be any fourth possibility. But all Western scholars unanimously declare that existing Suryasiddhantais a later development and Panchsiddhantika's Suryasiddhanta is old. If that is so, the mention of "beeja" as a concept used by early teachers ("poorva-aachaaryas") in second verse of Panchsiddhantika proves that beeja is not a later development but existed in Suryasiddhantafrom ealiest times of poorvaachaaryas. It is not possible to explain this beeja as precession of equinoxes, because beeja has no connection with ayanamsha according to any Indian or Western scholar of ancient or modern ays. The difference between Saayana and Nirayana was never termed Beeja by any ancient scholar, it was called Ayanamsha.
There is another clear proof that Varaha Mihira not only used beeja in this sense of correction in mean motion, but also made available ready made tables (now lost ) for use in which he had already made beeja corrections. It becomes clear when we compare the mahayuga-bhaganmaanas (planetary revolutions per Great Age of 4320000 years) of so-called OSS (Old Suryasiddhanta of Panchsiddhantika ) and NSS (New Suryasiddhanta). MT stands for Old Makarand Tables ,
PlanetsNSSOMTOSSOSS =
Mercury17937060+16-60Paulish
Venus7022376-12+12Paulish,
Aryabhatiya
Sun432000000all
Mars2296832(+4)-8none
Jupiter364220-80Paulish
Saturn146568+12-4none

which were constructed in 1478 AD on the basis of Suryasiddhanta, but now have become somewhat outdated, hence were updated and converted into softwares based on it which KSD Sanskrit University, Bihar State Sanskrit Academy of Bihar's HRD Ministry and many other institutions are using for panchangas and research projects. In OMT, beeja of Mars was absent, in new MT beeja of Mars has been introduced which is highly accurate but here rounded off to +4 for simplicity (in OMT it was zero due to some original error or slip).

We noted above that the magnitude of beeja is only 0.00000031215203 degrees per year for Mercury. But the table here shows +16 revolutions as the value of beeja for Mercury. It needs explanation, otherwise the "mystery" of beeja, as Varaha Mihira put it, cannot be understood. Unfortunately, no modern native or foreign commentator of any ancient Indian siddhanta has ever explained the mechanism of beeja, because they were more interested in belittling ancient siddhantas than in understanding and explaining those siddhantas. Following is the explanation of the mechanism of beeja, based on medieval Sanskrit texts which Burgess &c either neglected or could not find.

As we saw above, current value of Mercury's beeja is equal to 0.00000031215202568 degrees per year X 1955888288 years since the start of Creation (on Mesha Samkranti of AD 2009 ) = 6.105344911051965846429704642691 degrees.
If we assume that there was no beeja till the onset of Kaliyuga, and modify the value of beeja subsequently in such a way that the total beeja for our period remains accurate, then what we should do ? Since there are 17937060 revolutions in 4320000 years, we must change the number of revolutions after Kaliyuga's onset so that results for our age remains accurate. the magnitude of beeja needed now is 6.10534 degrees, which is 943.43564 times less than 5760 degrees. Hence, if we increase the amount of beeja 943 times during the period after Kaliyuga's onset, we will get correct beeja for the year 4320000 / 943 = 4579.0087 years after the onset of Kaliyuga, which is 1478 AD when Makaranda Tables were constructed. The fractional part 0.0087 is actually an error because we had computed the net magnitude of current beeja for 2009 AD instead of the unknown year 1478 AD.

Thus we find that if we compute for once the heavenly position of Mercury at the start of Kaliyuga according to integral part of its mahayuga bhagan-maana, ie, assuming it to be 17937060 and omit the fractional component, which will give Mercury's mean position at zero of Mesha at the start of Kaliyuga, we can get rid of the arduous process of computing everytime from the start of Creation and the needed beeja for our time can be added through following mechanism. Assume that after the onset of Kaliyuga, mahayuga bhagan-maana is 17937060 + 16 = 17937076, and then compute from the onset of Kaliyuga. Thus, we will get correct mean mercury for AD 1478. This is the so-called tantra method of Ganita-Jyotisha (mathematical astrology).

But if we want this tantric method for 2009 AD, which is 5109 years after the Kaliyuga, the tantric beeja which was 16 bhagans (revolutions) for 1478 AD (4579 years after Kaliyuga's start) must be reduced by 5109 / 4579 times , from 16 to 14.34 bhagans.

This tantra method is not difficult, but in actual practice tantric tables, eg Makaranda Tables are almost magical. They are so constructed that it is a herculean task for great mathematicians to unravel their inner mechanism. Here, only some simple mechanism has been explained. Even the users of MT do not know their real mechanism, they only learn how to use these tables for making panchangas. That is why Burgess failed to understand the significance of MT, and regarded them as non-Suryasiddhantic tables invented arficially by Makarandacharya of Varanasi. But it was dishonesty on the part of Western scholars to distort real history for concealing their own incompetence. Since 1478, all panchanga makers and other pandits regarded these tables as Suryasiddhantic. The first verse of MT states it to be Suryasiddhantic. The extant text of Suryasiddhanta also contained 22 verses of beeja correction, which Burgess did not even publish because he was unable to get these verses translated by any pandit. This is the real meaning of Varaha Mihira when he said that beeja is very easy but a mystery. Unable to understand beeja, Burgess excluded them from the text, although they formed a part of the earlist existing manuscripts of Suryasiddhanta. It was tantamount to tampering with historical data.
------------- --------------
Following websites give links to some works related to Makaranda Tables, all propagating false views about it :

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=CQ8iAVwA-yEC&pg=PT28&lpg=PT28&dq=Makaranda+Tables&source=web&ots=F6-g4F-Q6E&sig=Uod8uzGSlt8pGJO_vdolxkdDvm0&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result



http://www.ChangingLINKS.com


vinay_jha
vinay_jha 		Latest page update: made by vinay_jha , Jan 17 2009, 5:34 AM EST (about this update About This Update vinay_jha Edited by vinay_jha

23 words added

view changes
- complete history)
Keyword tags: Beeja Corrections
More Info: links to this page

Threads for this page

There are no threads for this page.  Be the first to start a new thread.