---
type: Concept
bundle: jyotisha-kala
bundle_version: 0.12.0
id: siddhanta
title: Siddhānta
iast: Siddhānta
devanagari: सिद्धान्त
description: 'The genre of complete astronomical treatises, Sūrya Siddhānta to Siddhānta Śiromaṇi: systems computing mean and true positions, eclipses, and time from a fixed epoch; NOT scripture, NOT astrology books, NOT a single fixed canon.'
darshana:
- Jyotiṣa
text_source: Pañcasiddhāntikā; Siddhānta Śiromaṇi
tags:
- siddhanta
- astronomy
- ganita
- treatise
- jyotisha
not:
- term: 'scripture'
  why: 'Siddhāntas argue, derive, and correct their predecessors’ constants; Bhāskara revises earlier parameters and says so. Reading them as revelation misses their most striking feature: they behave like a self-correcting technical literature.'
  instead: 'Render siddhānta as astronomical treatise or system and keep the Sanskrit term.'
- term: 'astrology books'
  why: 'Siddhānta is the gaṇita skandha: computation of positions, eclipses, risings, and time. Horā (charts) and saṃhitā (omens) are the other two branches. Shelving the siddhāntas under astrology erases the tradition’s own taxonomy.'
- term: 'a single fixed canon'
  why: 'Varāhamihira’s Pañcasiddhāntikā already compares five rival siddhāntas in the sixth century and ranks their accuracy. Plurality and revision are the genre’s normal condition; “the Siddhānta” in the singular is a modern flattening.'
related:
- /concepts/ganita.md
- /concepts/hora.md
- /concepts/ayanamsha.md
- /concepts/graha.md
timestamp: '2026-07-09'
okf_version: '0.2'
license: CC BY-SA 4.0
---

# Siddhānta -- सिद्धान्त

**Not:** scripture, astrology books, a single fixed canon

## What It Actually Means

A siddhānta (settled conclusion, established system) is a complete astronomical treatise: definitions of time units from the fine to the cosmic, mean motions from a fixed epoch, corrections to true positions, eclipse computation, risings and settings, and instruments. The Sūrya Siddhānta is the most influential; Varāhamihira’s Pañcasiddhāntikā summarizes and compares five earlier ones; Āryabhaṭa, Brahmagupta, and Bhāskara II wrote systems that corrected their predecessors’ constants and methods. The genre’s defining habits, stated parameters, worked derivations, revision of forebears, make it the computational backbone of Jyotiṣa and one of the great technical literatures of the ancient world.

## Audience Metaphor

Not scripture but a textbook lineage: each siddhānta shows its equations, and the next corrects the constants. Varāhamihira reviewing five rival systems and scoring their accuracy reads less like theology and more like a journal’s benchmark paper.

## Citations

1. Pañcasiddhāntikā comparing the five siddhāntas -- see [references/panchasiddhantika.md](../references/panchasiddhantika.md)
2. Siddhānta Śiromaṇi as the mature synthesis of the genre -- see [references/siddhanta-shiromani.md](../references/siddhanta-shiromani.md)
