Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c41.s1.89

v3.c41.s1.89

¹ See “Account of the Astronomical Labours of Jya Sing, Raja of Amber,” by Dr. W. Hunter (*Asiatic Researches*, vol. v. p. 177), to whom I refer the reader for the description of the instruments used by the Raja. The Author has seen those at Delhi and Mathura. There is also an equinoctial dial constructed on the terrace of the palace of Udaipur, and various instruments at Kotah and Bundi, especially an armillary sphere, at the former, of about five feet diameter, all in brass, got up under the scholars of Jai Singh. Dr. Hunter gives a most interesting account of a young pandit, whom he found at Ujjain, the grandson of one of the coadjutors of Jai Singh, who held the office of Jyotishrae, or Astronomer-Royal, and an estate of five thousand rupees annual rent, both of which (title and estate) descended to this young man; but science fled with Jai Singh, and the barbarian Mahrattas had rendered his estate desolate and unproductive. He possessed, says Dr. H., a thorough acquaintance with the Hindu astronomical science contained in the various Siddhantas, and that not confined to the mechanical practice of rules, but founded on a geometrical knowledge of their demonstration. This inheritor of the mantle of Jai Singh died at Jaipur, soon after Dr. Hunter left Ujjain, in A.D. 1793.