The Surya Siddhanta

The oldest and most important treatise of the post-Christian period on Indian Astronomy, that has come down to us is the Surya Siddhanta consisting 14 chapters written in slokas. Alberuni says that Lata was the author of this work. According to the introductory verses Surya, the sub-god, revealed it to Asura Maya in the city of Romaka.It was in 1860 C.E. that Reverend E. Burgess published his famous English translation of the Surya Siddhanta in the Journal of the American Oriental Society. This translation stands out as a model of research work in the field of Hindu astronomy. After sometime Calcutta University published a reprint of this valuable work in 1935 with an Introduction which attempts at tracing the growth and development of the basic text as to its date, authorship and methods.