Jagannatha Samrat
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Paṇḍita Jagannātha Samrāṭ (1652–1744) was an Indian
astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...
and
mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...
who served in the court of Jai Singh II of Amber, and was also his guru. Jagannātha, whose father's name was Gaṇeśa, and grandfather's Viṭṭhala was from a Vedic family originally from Maharashtra. At the suggestion of Jai Singh, he learned
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
and
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, in order to study
Islamic astronomy Islamic astronomy comprises the astronomical developments made in the Islamic world, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age (9th–13th centuries), and mostly written in the Arabic language. These developments mostly took place in the Middle ...
. Having become proficient in these languages, he translated texts in these languages into Sanskrit. These translations include: * ''Rekhā-gaṇita'', a translation of
Euclid Euclid (; grc-gre, Εὐκλείδης; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of ...
's '' Elements'' made from Nasir al-Din al-Tusi's Arabic recension of the same. For this work, he had to coin more than a hundred Sanskrit mathematical terms * ''Siddhānta-sāra-kaustubha'', a translation of
Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...
's '' Almagest'' from Nasir al-Din al-Tusi's Arabic version His original works include: *‍ ''Siddhānta-samrāṭ'', which describes astronomical instruments, their design and construction, and observations. It also describes the use of these observations in correcting parameters and preparing almanacs. It mentions how J‌ai Singh, who earlier used astronomical instruments (such as the astrolabe) made of metal, later switched to huge outdoor observatories (such as the
Jantar Mantar A Jantar Mantar ( Hindustani pronunciation: ͡ʒən̪t̪ər mən̪t̪ər is an assembly of stone-built astronomical instruments, designed to be used with the naked eye. There were five Jantar Mantars in India, all of them built at the com ...
), as they were more precise; also they were made of stone and mortar rather than brick, to diminish the effects of wear-and-tear and climate. * ''Yantra-prakāra'', which describes astronomical instruments, measurements, computations, etc. in more detail, and also observations made by him. Jagannātha held that when theory and observation differed, observation was the true ''pramāṇa'' and overruled theory. While he used and described a number of astronomical instruments, telescopes were not one of them.


References

*Harilal Harshadarai Dhruva. "The ''Rekhaganita'' or Geometry in Sanskrit", pp. 35 ff. Bombay: Bombay Sanskrit Series, no. LXI, 1901.


External links


The ''Rekhaganita''
Sanskrit text with English introduction. Two volumes. (PDF) 1652 births 1744 deaths 17th-century Indian astronomers 18th-century Indian astronomers 17th-century Indian mathematicians 18th-century Indian mathematicians Scientists from Rajasthan Scholars from Rajasthan {{india-mathematician-stub