Jagannātha Samrāṭ
Narahari Achar
Born (India),
circa 1657
Died (India),
circa 1744
Jagannātha,
the famous Guru of Savāī Jai
Singh, hailed originally from Maharāśtra. His father was
Ganeśa, and grandfather, Viṭṭhala.
At the suggestion of Jai Singh, Jagannātha studied Arabic and Persian
and became proficient in both. He translated works on astronomy and mathematics
from Arabic into Sanskrit. His major work, Samrāṭ
Siddhānta or Siddhāntasārakaustubha, is based
on Ṭūsī's version of the Almagest
of Ptolemy;
the first 13 chapters of Samrāṭ Siddhānta run parallel
to the 13 books of the Almagest. Jagannātha also translated
Euclid's Elements into Sanskrit in 1719, and the latter work is called
Rekhāgaṇita. He compiled a glossary
of technical terms in Sanskrit and composed a work on instrumentation called
Yantraprakāra. Jagannātha was himself an observer and regarded
observations as the pramāṇa, or deciding factor, whenever
there were discrepancies between theory and observation. He admired Ulugh
Beg and the advances in astronomy and mathematics in the Islamic
world. Jagannātha did not use telescopes in his observations nor did
he include telescopes in his work on astronomical instruments.
Selected References
Jagannātha (1901–1902). The Rekhāgaṇita or Geometry in Sanskrit. Bombay Sanskrit Series,
nos. 61 and 62, edited with notes by K. P. Trivedī. 2 Vols. Bombay: Nirnaya
Sagar Press. (This is actually part of the title.)
——— (1967–1969). Siddhāntasamrāṭ, edited by Rāmasvarūpa Śarman. 3 Vols.
New Delhi: Indian Institute of Astronomical and Sanskrit Research.
Pingree, David. Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit.
Series, A. Vol. 3 (1976): 56a–58a; Vol. 4 (1981): 95a; Vol. 5 (1994): 113b–114a.
Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.
Sharma, V. N. (1995).
Sawai Jai Singh and His Astronomy. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.
