Books by Sreeramula Rajeswara Sarma
A Descriptive Catalogue of Indian Astronomical Instruments, 2021
The large masonry instruments designed and erected by Sawai Jai Singh in his five observatories i... more The large masonry instruments designed and erected by Sawai Jai Singh in his five observatories in the early eighteenth century mark the culmination of a long process of development in astronomical instrumentation. But what kind of astronomical instruments were used in India before Jai Singh's time? Sanskrit texts on astronomy - starting from Brahmagupta's Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta, composed in AD 628 - describe the construction and use of several types of instruments. Are there any specimens extant where one can see how the textual prescriptions were executed in practice? Such questions led me to an exploration of nearly a hundred museums and private collections in India, Europe and USA for about a quarter century and to the identification of 555+ specimens which are extant or of which photos and other records are available.
A Descriptive Catalogue of Indian Astronomical Instruments is the outcome of this exploration. The renowned historian of science, Derek Price, remarked once: 'Each instrument is a valuable document in itself, yielding historical and scientific data often unobtainable elsewhere. ...however, ... the full significance of any one instrument cannot be properly realised except by comparison with the corpus of all such instruments extant.'
This catalogue describes each instrument in the context of the related extant specimens, while laying special emphasis on the interplay between Sanskrit and Islamic traditions of instrumentation. Therefore, each instrument type is organized in a separate section. Each section begins with an introductory essay on the history of the instrument type and its varieties, followed by a full technical description of every specimen, with art historical notes on the decorations and ornamentation. Moreover, all engraved data are reproduced and interpreted as far as possible. There are also introductory essays on some prominent instrument-makers.
The appendices contain, among others, long extracts from two important Sanskrit texts, namely Mahendra Sūri's Yantrarāja, the first Sanskrit text on the astrolabe (AD 1370) and Padmanābha's Dhruvabhramādhikāra (ca. AD 1423), along with English translations.
The full catalogue is available at https://srsarma.in/catalogue.php
The Dravyaparīkā of Ṭhakkura Pherū: An Assayer's Manual from the Khaljī Court of Delhi, 2021
The Dravyaparīkā of Ṭhakkura Pherū: An Assayer's Manual from the Khaljī Court of Delhi
Ṭhakkura Pherū’s Rayaṇaparikkhā, 1984
Ṭhakkura Pherū’s Rayaṇaparikkhā, a Medieval Prakrit Text on Gemmology, with an Introduction, Sans... more Ṭhakkura Pherū’s Rayaṇaparikkhā, a Medieval Prakrit Text on Gemmology, with an Introduction, Sanskrit Chāyā, Translation into English and Commentary
Articles by Sreeramula Rajeswara Sarma
History of Science in South Asia, 11, 2023
HISTORY OF SCIENCE IN SOUTH ASIA, 2021
Indian Journal of History of Science, 54.3 (2019) 269-85, 2019
At the court of Akbar, several Sanskrit texts were rendered into Persian; these included the epic... more At the court of Akbar, several Sanskrit texts were rendered into Persian; these included the epics Mahāb-hārata and Rāmāyaṇa, collections of fables and legends like the Pañcatantra, the Siṃhāsana-dvātriṃśikā and the Kathāsaritsāgara, and the historical work Rājataraṅgiṇī. Besides these, a Sanskrit mathematical text, the Līlāvatī of Bhāskarācārya was also translated into Persian by Akbar's Poet Laureate Faiẓī. While the Persian translations of the Mahābhārata and others have been critically examined in modern times, the Persian version of the Līlāvatī did not receive any scholarly attention, except in two minor cases. In 1816, John Taylor, in the preface to his translation of the Līlāvatī from the Sanskrit, opined that Faiẓī's Persian version omits certain sections of the Līlāvatī. In 1952, H. J. J. Winter and Arshad Mirza discussed a small fragment of the Persian version and translated 10 verses from it into English. Therefore, in this paper, an attempt is made for the first time to compare the Persian version with the Sanskrit original and to critically analyse the structure and style of the Persian version.
Indian Journal of History of Science, 54.1 (2019) 90-92, 2019
Multiplication tables must have been widely prevalent in India since ages, but these are hardly m... more Multiplication tables must have been widely prevalent in India since ages, but these are hardly mentioned in Sanskrit texts. Ganeśa Daivajña mentions them for the first time in his Buddhivilāsinī commentary on Bhāskarācārya's Līlāvatī. This rare passage from the Buddhivilāsinī is discussed in the present article.
Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society, No. 140 (March 2019) 20-23, 2019
International Journal of Jaina Studies (Online) Vol. 14, No. 2 (2018) 1-49, 2018
Indian Journal of History of Science, 51.3 (2016) 454-477, 2016
The earliest known dated astrolabe in the Indian subcontinent was made in 1567 by Allāhdād at Lah... more The earliest known dated astrolabe in the Indian subcontinent was made in 1567 by Allāhdād at Lahore. The State Museum of Oriental Art at Moscow owns an astrolabe made twenty years later in 1587 at Lahore. An inscription on the front of this astrolabe states that it is a copy of an astrolabe belonging to Mīrzā Bāysunghur. A close examination of the astrolabe shows that there are two different levels in the quality of workmanship. The rete, the alidade and one plate were made by a skilled master. The rest, namely the mater with the geographical gazetteer on the inner side and with the various tables on the back, and four other plates were produced by a person who was not quite familiar with the functions of the astrolabe; these parts do not meet even the minimum requirements of astrolabe construction. This paper provides first a detailed description of the components of the astrolabe and then proceeds to explain the enigmas in its construction. It concludes with a discussion on the possible relationship between the two astrolabes of 1567 and 1587.
Indian Journal of History of Science, 2015
Art, Icon and Architecture in South Asia: Essays in Honour of Dr. Devangana Desai, 2015
Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society, No. 122, 2014
Astronomy and Mathematics in Ancient India – Astronomie et Mathématiques de l’Inde ancienne, 2012
Revue d’histoire des mathématiques, 2012
Indian Journal of History of Science, 2012
Saṃkr̥tavimarśaḥ, Journal of Rashtriya Sanskrit Samsthan, World Sanskrit Conference Special, 2012
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Books by Sreeramula Rajeswara Sarma
A Descriptive Catalogue of Indian Astronomical Instruments is the outcome of this exploration. The renowned historian of science, Derek Price, remarked once: 'Each instrument is a valuable document in itself, yielding historical and scientific data often unobtainable elsewhere. ...however, ... the full significance of any one instrument cannot be properly realised except by comparison with the corpus of all such instruments extant.'
This catalogue describes each instrument in the context of the related extant specimens, while laying special emphasis on the interplay between Sanskrit and Islamic traditions of instrumentation. Therefore, each instrument type is organized in a separate section. Each section begins with an introductory essay on the history of the instrument type and its varieties, followed by a full technical description of every specimen, with art historical notes on the decorations and ornamentation. Moreover, all engraved data are reproduced and interpreted as far as possible. There are also introductory essays on some prominent instrument-makers.
The appendices contain, among others, long extracts from two important Sanskrit texts, namely Mahendra Sūri's Yantrarāja, the first Sanskrit text on the astrolabe (AD 1370) and Padmanābha's Dhruvabhramādhikāra (ca. AD 1423), along with English translations.
The full catalogue is available at https://srsarma.in/catalogue.php
Articles by Sreeramula Rajeswara Sarma
A Descriptive Catalogue of Indian Astronomical Instruments is the outcome of this exploration. The renowned historian of science, Derek Price, remarked once: 'Each instrument is a valuable document in itself, yielding historical and scientific data often unobtainable elsewhere. ...however, ... the full significance of any one instrument cannot be properly realised except by comparison with the corpus of all such instruments extant.'
This catalogue describes each instrument in the context of the related extant specimens, while laying special emphasis on the interplay between Sanskrit and Islamic traditions of instrumentation. Therefore, each instrument type is organized in a separate section. Each section begins with an introductory essay on the history of the instrument type and its varieties, followed by a full technical description of every specimen, with art historical notes on the decorations and ornamentation. Moreover, all engraved data are reproduced and interpreted as far as possible. There are also introductory essays on some prominent instrument-makers.
The appendices contain, among others, long extracts from two important Sanskrit texts, namely Mahendra Sūri's Yantrarāja, the first Sanskrit text on the astrolabe (AD 1370) and Padmanābha's Dhruvabhramādhikāra (ca. AD 1423), along with English translations.
The full catalogue is available at https://srsarma.in/catalogue.php