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Astronomical Efforts of Sawai Jai Singh – A Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2016

Virendra Nath Sharma
Virendra Nath Sharma*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wisconsin Fox Valley, Menasha, WI 54952, USA

Abstract

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Sawai Jai Singh, the statesman astronomer of 18th century India, designed instruments, built observatories, prepared Zīj, and sent a fact-finding scientific mission to Europe. His high-precision instruments were designed to measure time and angles with accuracies of ± 2 second, and ±1’ of arc respectively. The Ṣaṣṭhāmsa, a meridian dial with aperture, can still measure angles with precision of ± 1’ of arc. In the age of Newton and Flamsteed, Jai Singh and his associates remained medieval, in the tradition of Ulugh Beg, and did not initiate the new age of astronomy in the country. A complex interaction of poor communications, religious taboos, theological beliefs, national rivalries and plain simple human shortcomings are to be blamed for the failing.

Type
Mediaeval Astronomy
Information
International Astronomical Union Colloquium , Volume 91: History of Oriental Astronomy , 1987 , pp. 233 - 240
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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