Descriptive list of manuscripts pertaini

Descriptive list of manuscripts pertaining to Mathematics and Astronomy in the Thunchan Manuscripts Repository, University of Calicut.

Dr. N. K. Sundareswaran notable manuscript libraries in Kerala. It contains more than 12,000 manuscripts written in different scripts like Grantha, old Malayalam, and Tamil. The contents of these manuscripts also vary widely, ranging from cookery and dietetics to

á¡stric

disciplines Ny¡ya

,

Vy¡kara¸aand JyotiÀa.

The services of Prof. N. V. P. Unithiri in procuring a majority of these manuscripts are here noteworthy. The services rendered by Prof. Purushothaman Nair and Edamana Kesavan Namboothiri in preparing the catalogues of these manuscripts are also to be remembered.

At present, there are four catalogues, two of which are in printed form and the remaining in paper transcript, the details of which are given below. But still, a complete catalogue with a thorough descriptive analysis is a desideratum. Here in the following pages, a detailed descriptive list of manuscripts pertaining to Mathematics and Astronomy is furnished.

Details of existing catalogue

1.

Catalogue of Manuscripts

, Dr .M.S. Menon (Gen. Ed.) & N.V.P. Unithiri (Ed.), Department of Sanskrit, University of Calicut, 1985.

2

4.

List of Palm leaf Manuscripts

, an unpublished work of Dr. M. M. Purushottaman Nair.

5. An untitled and unpublished work of Edamana Kesavan Namboothiri. Notable Findings Made

The following are the notable findings which emerged during the preparation of this list:

1. There are two hundred manuscripts pertaining to mathematics and astronomy, thirty four of which deal with mathematics. There are a lot of manuscripts of

Muh£rttapadav¢

and

K¡lad¢pakam

. Eight manuscripts have the subjects of

Ka¸akkus¡ram

and

Ka¸akkatik¡ram

.

2. It is noticed that many of the manuscripts have a different subject from the one recorded in the available catalogues. For details, see the remarks in the entry numbers in the present list. Here is an example:

Ga¸itakriy¡kramam

is recorded as

Ga¸anaprak¡ram Ma¸iprav¡½am

in written catalogue edited by Dr. M. M. Purushottaman Nair.

3. There are two manuscripts of Va¶a¿¿eri Parame¿varan_’s commentary of

L¢l¡vat¢

which were hitherto unnoticed.

4. Mah¢dhara’s

Vivara¸a

commentary on

L¢l¡vat¢

is the lone mathematical work written by an author outside Kerala.

5. The manuscript number 3556 (Entry no.6 in the present list of astronomical works) is that of Gha¶¢gopa_’s Malayalam commentary on

Ëryabha¶¢ya

.

6. There are two Malayalam commentaries on

Tantrasa´graha

, the celebrated work of N¢laka¸¶ha Somayaji and one of these two seems to be

Yuktibh¡À¡

of Jye˦hadeva. 7. The manuscript number X99 (Entry no.16 in the present list of mathematical works)

is titled as

K¤tsnaga¸ita

by Edamana Kesavan Namboothiri. But it is discovered to be that of

Yuktibh¡À¡

.

3 About The Present List

In the present descriptive list of manuscripts, there are ten columns. The first column is serial number. The last column contains the detailed remarks about the condition of the manuscript, new findings regarding the subject, details regarding whether the text is complete or not etc. The remaining columns (i.e. from second to the ninth) contain the title, the manuscript number as is given in the outer cover of the manuscript, size, number of folios, number of lines in each folio, number of letters per line, script and the language of the manuscript.