INTRODUCTION ii The codex can be dated by the chronogram sevyo dugdhabdhi- talpah, viz., the 1699847th day of the Kali era, given as the date of transcription of one of the works contained herein. This date works out to A.D. 1551, being almost contemporaneous with the author Nilakantha Somayaji who passed away in about 1545 A.D. Assessment of the manuscripts The tendency found in technical manuscripts to go corrupt and the ease with which errors find their way into them have not seriously affected the manuscripts used in the present edition. In fact, the text and the commentary as preserved in our manuscripts are mostly accurate and free from errors. The variants are few and just one or two alternate readings are indicated. Possibly, these emendations go back to the author himself. The lone manuscript of the commentary does not carry the concluding verse and its exposition. Since the manuscript does not indicate any break here, it is likely that this verse, which does not contain any technical matter, has not been commented upon by the author. Appendices Ms. No. 5862-B contains, in continuation of the commentary, an expanded version of verses 28 and 29, in three verses with an additional correction. After this is found directions, in the Malayalam language, for a geometrical demonstration of verse 19, paramapa- kramakotya etc. Since these two fragments are related to Candracchaya- ganita edited here, they have been added as Appendices I and II, towards the end of this publication. Nilakantha, the author Our author is generally referred to with the title Somayaji, Somasut, Somamtvan or Comatiri, the last being the Malayalam derivative of the Sanskrit word. A detailed colophon occurring at the end of his Bhasya on the Ganitapada of the Aryabhatiya contains a good deal of information about him : ffa «ft-5mnnfcT triiitzu 3n**?n**T
- tt<£;t %TOrontMg^T ^-^m^5rm-q^?:^«iiTrg^^T«[cTr^^ *nffta-
