Aryabhatta Pratham - History of Astrology

The history of astrology that we find today in scriptures is written by Aryabhatta Pratham. Aryabhatta has also mentioned astrologers before his time in his scriptures. The names of all the scriptures written by the astrologers of that time, including the outline of their principles, have been mentioned by him in his scriptures. Aryabhata was a man of talent in subjects like mathematics, astronomy and astrology.

Aryabhatta’s period began in 473 and ended in 550. The details of his period can be inferred from his scriptures. As per the books, his birthplace was Kusumpur and birth time Saka Samvat 398. According to some other views, he was born in the Ashmak region of Maharashtra. He has written several texts on mathematics and astrology. In the Aryabhatta text, many theories of astrology are explained.

Importance of Aryabhatta Scriptures

Aryabhatta’s scriptures have the letters ‘क, ख, ग,’ instead of numbers. Some scholars believe that these Hindi letters were derived by him from Greek scholars. Aryabhatta invented the use of squares, square root, cube, cube root etc. and has explained these formulas beautifully in the scriptures. There are a total of 121 Shlokas in the Aryabhatta text. The text is divided into 4 parts - Gitikapad, Ganitpad, Kaal Kriyapad and Golapad.

In this section, the division of Yuga, the time of movement of the planets, the zodiac and its different parts are explained. This part is further divided into 2 which are - ‘Dashgitika’ and ‘Arya Ashta Shat’.

This section covers mathematics. Under this section, equations of square root, cube root, triangle, area, etc. are given. Concepts of the diameter of the circle and its circumference are also explained.

This section covers all information about various Hindu months. Adhik Maas, the position of Tithis, Shaya Tithi, Adhik Tithi, speed of the planets, the importance of every day etc. are explained in detail.

This section covers astronomy. Existence of heavenly bodies like the Sun, the Moon, Rahu-Ketu etc. are explained. Theories on the shape of Earth, sunrise and sunset as per different country’s timings, rise of zodiac signs, eclipses etc. are some other major topics that are discussed in this book.

Scriptures written by Aryabhatta

The text written by Aryabhatta is known as ‘Aryabhatiya’. Apart from this, he has explained many formulas related to mathematics, trigonometry and astronomy in other scriptures. In these, the stability of the Sun and stars, the speed of earth and the occurrence of day and night has been explained. The total axle of the earth has been stated in his scripture as 4967. He has also explained the scientific reasons for solar and lunar eclipses in Aryabhatiya Shastra. According to him, eclipses occur due to the light of the Sun. Aryabhatta derived the formula for measuring a shadow. Brahma Siddhanth is one of the most important theories he has given to us.

Aryabhatiya scripture interpretation

There are a total of 60 chapters in this scripture and there are 9,000 Shlokas in it. It is a large book in which he discusses the path of life an astrologer must follow. He has set out rules concerning food habits, ways of living, conversations, simplicity for anyone who wants to become an astrologer.

Aryabhatta was an expert at solving questions based on a person’s body parts. The problem of the questioner was resolved based on the body part touched by him. Shakun Shastra that is used in present times is based on this.