Paṇḍita Jagannātha Samrāṭ (1652–1744) was an Indian

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

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, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

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 upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas ( or ; ), sometimes collectively called the Veda, are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed ...

family originally from

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. At the suggestion of Jai Singh, he learned

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and Persian, in order to study

Islamic astronomy Medieval 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 th ...

. Having become proficient in these languages, he translated texts in these languages into

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

. These translations include: * ''Rekhā-gaṇita'', a translation of

Euclid Euclid (; ; 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 geometry that largely domina ...

's '' Elements'' made from

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥasan al-Ṭūsī (1201 – 1274), also known as Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī (; ) or simply as (al-)Tusi, was a Persians, Persian polymath, architect, Early Islamic philosophy, philosopher, Islamic medicine, phy ...

'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 (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

's ''

Almagest The ''Almagest'' ( ) is a 2nd-century Greek mathematics, mathematical and Greek astronomy, astronomical treatise on the apparent motions of the stars and planetary paths, written by Ptolemy, Claudius Ptolemy ( ) in Koine Greek. One of the most i ...

'' from

'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 An astrolabe (; ; ) is an astronomy, astronomical list of astronomical instruments, instrument dating to ancient times. It serves as a star chart and Model#Physical model, physical model of the visible celestial sphere, half-dome of the sky. It ...

) made of metal, later switched to huge outdoor observatories (such as the Jantar Mantar), 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 ''Pramana'' (; IAST: Pramāṇa) literally means "proof" and "means of knowledge".

'' 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 Rajputana {{india-mathematician-stub