Varahamihira and Ujjain: the astronomer behind Simhastha's calculated dates
When Ujjain priests publish the Simhastha 2028 bathing dates years in advance, they are using a calculation tradition that passed through this city over fifteen centuries ago. Varahamihira compiled five different astronomical schools into one cross-checked system, wrote a groundwater-detection manual that modern hydrologists still cite, and described the Buddha as the father of the world in a text devoted to Hindu iconography. This guide covers who he was, what he actually wrote, and why the city he worked in became the measuring point of the Indian sky.