The Texts · Ancient & Specialized Classics
Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa
वेदाङ्गज्योतिष
Attributed to Lagadha · Astronomical content describes c. 1400–1200 BCE; the extant text’s composition is disputed and may be centuries later · ganita
On the dating: The winter-solstice position it states dates the observation to roughly 1400–1200 BCE (Kuppanna Sastry, Kochhar read composition as contemporary); Witzel and others date the extant text’s language to the final centuries BCE. The observation is datable; the composition is disputed.
What this text is
The oldest stratum of Indian computational astronomy — yuga-based tithi and nakṣatra arithmetic, the pañcāṅga’s deepest ancestor.
Two recensions (Ṛk, 36 verses; Yajus, 43 verses) of rules for tithi, nakṣatra, solstices and intercalation within a five-year yuga.
Its role in this app
Documentary heritage for the pañcāṅga-limbs lineage — the witness that tithi/nakṣatra arithmetic predates horoscopy entirely. Not an engine source.
Editions our research holds
kuppanna-sastry-kv-sarma
Kuppanna Sastry & K.V. Sarma (INSA 1985).
in copyright — read for verification only, never republished · scan quality: unusable
rk-yajus-recensions
Modern translated edition of both recensions.
copyright status unclear — treated as in-copyright · scan quality: unusable
insa-kuppanna-sastry
INSA offprint, PDF only.
in copyright — read for verification only, never republished
What our reading found
Findings from this project's own verification passes — recorded because a source's defects are part of citing it honestly.
Both full-text files are English-as-Devanāgarī mojibake — the text is effectively PDF-only in our corpus.
Readings on this site cite texts at chapter level, with verse numbers only where our research verified the passage in a named edition. How conflicts between texts are resolved is documented on the conventions page.