A Concise History of Science in India c9.s8.3

c9.s8.3

The literary sources dealing with gunpowder and pyrotechnics are in Sanskrit, Marathi, Tamil and Malayalam. Of the Sanskrit works, *Kautukacintāmaṇi* by Gajapati Pratāparudradeva of Orissa (fl. a.d. 1497–1539), *Ākāśabhairavakalpa* (c. fifteenth century a.d.) and *Śukranīti* (c. sixteenth century a.d.) are important. Ekanātha’s *Rukmiṇisvyamvara* (sixteenth century a.d.) and works of Rāmadāsa (seventeenth century a.d.) are the noted Marathi works, while *Bānaśāstram* and *Bogarsutiram* are well known among the Tamil works. *Vetikkampavidhi* is a manual of fireworks in Malayalam written by one Nilakantha who was also the reputed author of several works on Sanskrit literature. In addition, there is also a treatise on fireworks in Persian, by Zain-ul-Ābidīn, the Muslim King of Kashmir (A.D. 1420-70).