Varahamihira and Buzurjmehr
By Adinath Neminath Upadhye
Summary
This note investigates whether the Indian astronomer Varāhamihira (c. 6th century CE) could be identical with Buzurjmehr (also known as Bozorgmehr), a legendary Persian vizier. Some scholars had proposed that the Indian king sent a scholar to Persia with the game of chess, or that the Persian king sent his physician Barzōe to India to translate the Pañcatantra. A later suggestion equated Buzurjmehr with Varāhamihira based on phonetic similarity and the idea that both visited foreign courts. The author reviews the evidence, noting that Ferishta’s chronicle mentions the king of India sending a chess-board to Khusraw Nushirwan, while Max Müller records the reverse. The article evaluates Bhandarkar’s surmise that Barzōe (Barzoi) might be Vararuci and subsequently Varāhamihira, but finds it speculative. Varāhamihira’s works, such as Bṛhat-samhitā and Bṛhat-jātaka, reveal him as an astronomer at Ujjain with knowledge of foreign astronomical traditions. However, there is no evidence that he served as a Persian vizier. The author concludes that the similarity between the names is coincidental and that the roles and timelines of Varāhamihira and Buzurjmehr differ significantly.
Conclusion
After examining historical sources and linguistic evidence, the note rejects the identification of Varāhamihira with Buzurjmehr. It concludes that the suggestion arose from speculative name similarities rather than solid historical data, and cautions against conflating Indian and Persian figures without corroborating evidence.