The poetic features in the golÀdhyÀya of NityÀnanda’s SarvasiddhÀntarÀja

By : Anuj Misra, Clemency Montelle, K. Ramasubramanian

Page No: 141-156

Abstract
Many astronomical works in India, like those in other intellectual disciplines, were composed in beautiful verses. While most studies focus on the technical contents of these verses, very few have examined the poetic features, here known as alaôkÀra, that the authors employed to add poetic charm to their treatises. We consider the use of such alaôkÀras in the Gola chapter of a seventeenth century work in Sanskrit astronomy, the SarvasiddhÀntarÀja of Nityananda, and, by highlighting several examples, we examine the ways in which specific embellishments have been woven into the text to make the medium of communication as beautiful as the content.