The present work has sought to demonstrate the different, though intersecting, ways in which Europeans and Indians engaged with astronomy in India, between 1784 and 1876. In particular, it has highlighted the possibilities for a more nuanced characterization of the knowledge interface in colonial India. Most noticeably in the 1830s and 1840s, Europeans and Indians were bound to more collaborative and experiential constructions of knowledge in relation to modern astronomy, in the field and in some cases in the observatory (especially in Bombay). Rather than creating identifiable reconfigurations of ‘Western’ and ‘Indian’ paradigms, individuals developed the knowledge to progress the work at hand through a more ‘co-constructive’ process. Yet for much of the period between 1784 and 1876, the engagement between Europeans and Indians in relation to astronomy seemed to be as much, if not more, about cosmological models, reflections on astrology and musings on chronological epochs rather than co-constructive developments of knowledge. Moreover, as well as the more overtly philosophical forms of engagement, evaluating traditional Indian astronomy and modern Western astronomy relative to each other, there was an increasing emphasis on the need to rationalize philosophically practical Indian engagement with modern astronomy, looking backwards while moving forwards. The historical literature has tended to concentrate more on this, but the significance of the more pragmatic engagement ought not to be understated.