Digital Rare Book:
The Aryabhatiya - A Manual of Astronomy
With the commentary Bhatadîpikâ of Paramâdîçvara.
Edited by Johan Hendrik Caspar Kern (1833-1917)
Published by E.J. Brill in Leiden - 1874

The Aryabhatiya along with the commentary of Paramadisvara is mainly based upon two manuscripts in Malayalam, one of them belonging to Dr. A. C. Burnell, the other one in possession of which and now forming part of the library of the Royal Asiatic Society, London. The latter manuscript dates from 1820 AD; the former from 1863 AD. This edition of the Aryabhatiya will, it is hoped, be conductive to a more accurate knowledge of the ancient astronomer's system, and stimulate the interest of Indian and European scholars.

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Johan Hendrik Caspar Kern (April 6, 1833 – July 4, 1917) was a Dutch linguist and Orientalist. In the literature, he is usually referred to as H. Kern or Hendrik Kern; a few other scholars bear the same surname.

Together with Herman Neubronner van der Tuuk, Kern is regarded as one of the founding fathers of Oriental Studies in the Netherlands. His interest in languages was great, as witness his decision to take up English and Italian while still a secondary school pupil. In addition, he displayed an extraordinary ability to study, and to master, a wide variety of languages.

At first, his studies were restricted (if "restricted" is indeed the correct word) to Indo-European languages, ranging from the Germanic sub-group to Sanskrit. His thesis, entitled Specimen historicum exhibens scriptores Graecos de rebus Persicis Achaemenidarum monumentis collatos (1855) broadened the field to Persian, showing that inscriptions in that language could now be used to extend our knowledge of Ancient Persia. While in Benares, he applied himself to the study of Dravidian languages as well as picking up some Arabic and Hebrew, but also learnt sufficient Hungarian to be able to read novels in that non-Indo-European language within a year. His studies also included the Malay languages.

In 1874, he published an edition of the astronomer Āryabhata's work, thus putting out the first publication in nagara script in the Netherlands.

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