Utpala (astronomer)

Utpala or Bhaṭṭotpala (Bhaṭṭa-utpala) is the name of a 10th-century Indian commentator of Vārāha Mihira's Brihat Samhitā. Brihat Samhitā is a Samhitā text of Jyotiṣa (Indian astrology and astronomy) . Samhitā is one of three branches of Jyotiṣa (Samhitā has many other meanings outside Jyotiṣa).

He is known for quoting six verses from Surya Siddhanta which are not found in its extant version. These six verses can be found in the 'Introduction' by S.Jain to the translation of Surya Siddhānta made by E. Burgess.

He is also the author of a commentary on Brahmagupta's Khaṇḍa-khādyaka (7th century). In this, he is a successor of Prthudaka and a predecessor of Amaraja.

He was from Kashmir.

In Sanskrit, the neuter noun utpala has two meanings, both given by Amarakoṣa (a lexicon of circa. 400 AD). The first meaning is white lotus also known as kuvalaya in Sanskrit, according to Amarakoṣa. The second meaning of utpala is a variety of medicinal plant known as 'kooṭh' in Hindi and 'kusṭham, vyādhi, paribhavyam or pāribhavyam, vāpyam, pākalam' according to Amarkośa.

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