Kripa Shankar Shukla (10 July 1918 - 22 September 2007) was a historian of

Indian mathematics Indian mathematics emerged in the Indian subcontinent from 1200 BCE until the end of the 18th century. In the classical period of Indian mathematics (400 CE to 1200 CE), important contributions were made by scholars like Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, ...

. He was awarded the

DLitt Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

degree by

Lucknow University University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is one of the oldest public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. LU's main campus is located at Badshah Bagh, University Road area of the city with a second ...

in 1955 for his thesis on “''Astronomy in the Seventh Century India: Bhāskara I and His Works''” which was completed under the guidance of A. N. Singh. He retired in 1979. Shukla published several important source works in Indian mathematics and astronomy with translations, notes, explanations. He also authored a large number of research papers bringing out many previously unknown facts about the historical development of mathematics in India. He continued his active research even after retiring from his official position in Lucknow University. Shukla supervised the research work of several research scholars including that of Yukio Ohashi (1955 - 2019) from Japan whose dissertation was titled "A History of Astronomical Instruments in India".

Publications

Source works brought out by K. S. Shula

The important source works brought out by Shukla include the following: # ''Sūrya-siddhānta'' with the commentary of Parameśvara (1957

# ''Pāṭīgaṇita'' of Śrīdharācārya (1959)

# ''Mahābhāskarīya'' of Bhāskara I (1960)

# ''Laghubhāskarīya'' of Bhāskara I (1963

# ''Dhīkoṭida-karaṇa'' of Śrīpati (1969) # ''Bījagaṇitāvataṃsa'' of Nārāyaṇa Paṇḍita (1970) # ''Āryabhaṭīya'' of Āryabhaṭa (1976

# ''Āryabhaṭīya'' of Āryabhaṭa with the commentary of Bhāskara I and Someśvara (1976) # ''Karaṇaratna'' of Devācārya (1979

# ''Vaṭeśvarasiddhānta'' and ''Gola'' of Vaṭeśvara (2 Vols) (1985–86

# ''Laghumānasa'' of Mañjula (1990

# ''Gaṇitapañcaviṃśī'' (published posthumously) (2017)

Research papers

Aditya Kolachana, K. Mahesh and K. Ramasubramanian have brought out a 754-page volume containing a collection of selected articles by Shukla under the title "Studies in Indian Mathematics and Astronomy" in 2019.

Awards and accolades

The awards and prizes conferred on Shukla include the following: * Awarded Banerji Research Prize of the Lucknow University. * Elected Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India in 1984 * Selected as a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of History of Science, Paris, in 1988.

References

{{Indian mathematics Indian mathematics, Indian historians of mathematics