'Ataullah Rushdi bin Ahmad Ma'mar was a 17th-century architect and a mathematics writer from the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the ...

of present-day India. He designed the

Bibi Ka Maqbara The Bibi Ka Maqbara (English: "Tomb of the Lady") is a tomb located in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. It was commissioned in 1660 by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the memory of his wife Dilras Banu Begum (posthumously known as Rabia-ud-Dau ...

Aurangabad Aurangabad ( is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is the ...

and some buildings at

Shahjahanabad Old Delhi or Purani Dilli is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan (the Mughal emperor at the time) decided to shift the Mughal capital from Agra. Th ...

. As a mathematics writer, he translated the

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; Walte ...

-language '' Khulasat al-Hisab'' and the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

-language '' Bijaganita'' into Persian.

Biography

Ataullah was the eldest son of Ahmad Ma'mar Lahori, the architect of

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

. He had two younger brothers, Lutfullah and Nurullah, who were also involved in architecture. Ataullah designed the buildings for emperor

Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugh ...

's' new capital,

. The only design attributed solely to him is that of

, the mausoleum of

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

's wife

Dilras Banu Begum Dilras Banu Begum (; 1622 – 8 October 1657) was the first wife and chief consort of Emperor Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal emperor. She is also known by her posthumous title, Rabia-ud-Daurani (" Rabia of the Age"). The Bibi Ka Maqbara in Aurangaba ...

, completed in 1660-1661. Makramat Khan, a collaborator of his father, trained Ataullah in arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. His younger brother Luftullah was also a famous mathematician. Ataullah wrote two works on mathematics in

Persian language Persian (), also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian languages, Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian subdivision of th ...

: * ''Khulāṣat-ul Rāz'' or ''Khulasah-i-Raz'' ("Essence of Mystery

f Arithmetic F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. Hist ...

) is a book on arithmetic, algebra and mensuration. It is an abridged translation of Baha' al-din al-'Amili's Arabic language book ''Khulasat al-Hisab'', which was used as a textbook in

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

s of medieval India. The author wrote the book in verse form, and dedicated it to the Mughal prince

Dara Shikoh Dara Shikoh ( fa, ), also known as Dara Shukoh, (20 March 1615 – 30 August 1659) was the eldest son and heir-apparent of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. Dara was designated with the title ''Padshahzada-i-Buzurg Martaba'' ("Prince of High Rank" ...

. * ''Tarjuma'-i Bījganit'' or ''Tarjamah i Bij ganit'' (1044 AH / 1634-1635 CE) is a translation of Bhaskara II's Sasnkrit language book '' Bijaganita''. The author praised Bhaskara as "a discoverer of wonderful truth and nice subtleties" and dedicated the book to the Mughal emperor

. Edward Strachey's English translation of the Ataullah's book was published in London in 1813. Manuscripts of this work are available at

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 191 ...

, Madrasa Darul Ulum (Deoband), Raza Library (Rampur), Saidiyah Library (Hyderabad),

Osmania University Osmania University is a collegiate public state university located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Mir Osman Ali Khan, the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad in 1918 , He released a farman to establish OSMANIA UNIVERSITY on the day of 28 August 1918. ...

Library (Hyderabad), Madarasa Nadwatul Ulama, Madrasatul Waizeen,

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

, India Office (London).

Notes

References

{{reflist Mathematics writers 17th-century Indian mathematicians 17th-century Persian-language writers Mughal Empire people 17th-century Indian architects Mughal architecture Arabic–Persian translators Sanskrit–Persian translators