The 'Siddhantasundara' of Jnanaraja: A critical edition of select chapters with English translation and commentary

The Siddhantasundara is a comprehensive treatise on astronomy written in Sanskrit by Jnanaraja in the beginning of the sixteenth century CE in what is now the state of Maharashtra in India. In addition to expounding the formulae and algorithms of classical Indian astronomy as well as the theory behind them, Jnanaraja was concerned with the authority of the sacred texts of Hinduism and the rejection of certain elements from these texts in the Indian astronomical tradition. As part of his emphasis on the sacred texts, he sought to remove the contradictions between the the astronomical tradition and the sacred texts. As such, he reinterprets ideas from both traditions as well as adding his own cosmological theories. Jnanaraja's approach was taken up by the following generations of astronomers and helped shape the indigenous response to Islamic (and later Western) astronomy.;This dissertation presents a critical edition of seven sections from the Siddhantasundara based on twenty manuscripts from collections around the world. It also includes an English translation with commentary. As the treatise has not been edited previously, this is the first edition of the Sanskrit text as well as the first English translation.