The oldest and most important treaitse of the post-Christian period on Indian Astronomy that has come down to us is the Surya Siddhanta consisting 14 chapters written in slokas. Alberuni says that Lata was the author of this work. According to the introductory verses Surya the sun-god revealed it to Asura Maya in the city of Romaka.
Surya Siddhanta of Varaha as given in his panca Siddantika are almost the same as those of the khandakhadyaka, it is clear that the old surya siddhanta was made up to date by Varaha by replacing the old constants in it by new ones from Aryabhata I's midnight system.
Indian astronomical texts give the coordinates of the yogataras or junction stars of nakshatras. These coordinates have been interpreted as polar coordinates, which depend on the position of the north celestial pole. Polar coordinates of a star should change with time due to precession. However, different astronomical texts written over many centuries give same coordinates for most yogataras. This has resulted in Indian astronomers being called incompetent, who did not observe the positions of the stars with accuracy. In this book it is proposed that Indian astronomers were using sidereal ecliptic coordinates, which do not change with time to a significant extent. This understanding has led to the discovery of the original boundaries of nakshatras. Based on these boundaries of nakshatras and the changing position of sun in the background of nakshatras during solstices, the dates of astronomical text Vedanga Jyotisha and astronomer Varahamihira have been reexamined. Based on the zero points of Vedic astronomy, the values of ayanamsha have been calculated.
The Siamese Manuscript holds the distinction of being the very first document relating to Indian Astronomy to reach Europe in a pristine form. Some fragments of Indian Astronomy had undoubtedly reached Europe in earlier times, but those tidbits were likely received in a highly altered form due to difficulties in translation, and the so-called cultural barrier. The Siamese Manuscript helped overcome this barrier by being a compendium of Indian astronomical knowledge in plain Siamese. The timing of the arrival of the manuscript in Europe was significant. After a couple hundred years the Renaissance was finally bearing fruit, and European intellectual prowess was at a peak. The deeper principles of Indian Astronomy, which had gone over the heads of the Greeks and the Arabs who first encountered them, could now be fully understood and appreciated for the first time by people outside India.
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