Mahendra Sūri
Mahendra Sūri (c. 1340 – 1400)<ref name=":0" /> is the 14th century Jain astronomer who wrote the Yantraraja, the first Indian treatise on the astrolabe.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was trained by Madana Sūri, and was teacher to Malayendu Sūri.<ref name=":0" /> Jainism had a strong influence on mathematics particularly in the last couple of centuries BC. By the time of Mahendra Suri, however, Jainism had lost support as a national religion and was much less vigorous.
Works
Mahendra Suri's fame rests on the work Yantrarāja, which introduced the astrolabe to the Indian astronomer.<ref name=":0" /> Mahendra Sūri was patronized by the Tughluq ruler of Delhi, Firūz Shāh (r. 1351–1388), who evinced keen interest in astronomy. Firūz Shāh had earlier caused the Bṛhatsaṃhitā of Varāhamihira to be translated into Persian. At the sultan's instance, Mahendra Sūri studied the astrolabe and introduced it to the Sanskrit audience in 1370 in his Yantrarāja. Its circulation was largely, if not wholly, confined to astronomers who worked within the Islamic and Ptolemaic traditions.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />
The Yantrarāja is best described as an astrolabe user's manual. It explains how this king (rāja) of instruments (yantra) is to be constructed and commissioned for purposes of observation. The saumya yantra (northern instrument) projected from the South Pole and the yāmya yantra (southern instrument) projected from the North Pole are discussed separately, followed by a description of the phaṇīndra yantra (the serpentine instrument), which combines both.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />
A detailed discussion on the application of the astrolabe is found in Malayendu Sūri's commentary on the Yantrarāja. This commentary is also interesting because it provided, for the first time to Indian astronomers, tables for ready reference, which helped simplify calculations. The commentator gave latitudes of 75 cities. Malayendu made a list of latitudes for 32 stars, which were identified as relevant for purposes of calculations in India.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":2">Pingree, David. (1981). Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit, Series A, Vol 4.
Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.</ref><ref name=":3">Raikwa, K.K. (ed). (1936). Yantrarāja of Mahendraguru with the Commentary of
Malayendu Sūri. Bombay: Nirnaya Sagar Press.</ref>
See also
References
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Sources
- K. V. Sarma (2008), "Mahendra Suri", Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (2nd edition) edited by Helaine Selin, Springer, Template:ISBN.