Makarandasāriṇi is a Sanskrit astronomical table text composed by the Indian astronomer-mathematician Makaranda (c.1438-1478) hailing from Varanasi. In the Sanskrit astronomical literature such table texts are referred to as sāriṇi-s or koṣṭhaka-s. (The word sāriṇi may be loosely translated as “stream, path, line”.) It is one of the most popular such texts ever composed in Sanskrit.[1]
Makarandasāriṇi follows the Saurapakṣa. This is the midnight-epoch system embodied in a recension of the Sūryasiddhānta dating to around the eighth century.[1] This is reflected in the choices of the values of the fundamental parameters, like the values of the celestial bodies’ revolution-numbers and consequent mean velocities. Another unique feature of Makarandasāriṇi is the use of vegetation-themed Sanskrit technical terms for its various tables. The table giving the mean position increments has been called vāṭikā (garden) and the table giving calendar day/time for mean time unit has been called guccha (blossom, flower). There are tables named valli-s (creeper) and saurabhaṃ-s (fragrance, perfume). In comparison to most other sāriṇi-s or koṣṭhakā-s, Makarandasāriṇi has no accompanying set of verses except for an invocatory stanza at the beginning of the text.[1]
Among other things, the book has tables relating to the following:[2]
There are a large number of commentaries on Makarandasāriṇi in circulation. These commentaries provide detailed instructions on how to use the tables sometimes with elaborate worked examples. The following is only a partial list of these commentaries.[1]
