Bharatiya Jyotihshastra (History of Indian Astronomy), translated by R. V. Vaidya v2.c12.s2.t84: Cintāmaṇi Raghunātha Ācārya

Bhāratīya Jyotiḥśāstra (History of Indian Astronomy), translated by R. V. Vaidya v2.c12.s2.t84

Language: English

Cintāmaṇi Raghunātha Ācārya

He was for 17 years the First Assistant in the Astronomical Observatory at Madras. Cintāmaṇi Raghunātha Ācārya was an authority in the Madras Presidency just as Keropant was in this province and Bāpūdeva in the region around Vārānasī. He was born on the 6th day of the PAṄGUNI month of the Sarvajit Saṃvatsara in Śaka 1749, according to the solar reckoning, or on the 2nd lunar day of the bright half of Caitra of Śaka 1750, by the luni-solar reckoning i.e., on 17th March, 1828. His mother tongue and the birth region appears to be Tamil (Dravid). He has himself written that he did not understand Sanskrit. Still he had a very sound knowledge of European astronomy and mathematics, and hence, that of Indian astronomy also. He actually used to take observations for a number of years. He was very well known in that respect. He was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in England since 1872. In 1847, he entered service in the Madras Observatory and he remained there till the end. He died on 5th of February (i.e. Pauṣa) in Śaka 1801, in his nd year. He belonged to a family of astronomers. His father also had been an Assistant in the Madras Observatory. A catalogue of stars has been compiled by the Madras Observatory, for which observations of many of the stars were taken by Cintāmaṇi himself. He discovered two variable stars in 1867 and 1878. He was the first Hindu astronomer whose name is associated with a discovery of this nature.

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Works etc.

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He compiled a work entitled *Jyotiṣa Cintāmaṇi*. It consists of three parts. The first deals with mean motions, the size and magnitude of the earth and other planets etc. The second is devoted to their true places and motions and the third, entiled ‘Karaṇa paddhati’, contains tables for planetary calculations. This work appears to have been compiled in the Drāviḍian (i.e., Tamil) language originally. A meeting was held in Madras in 1874 A.D. and the decision taken to arrange to publish its Sanskrit translation in the Tamil, Telugu and Devanagari scripts. It was estimated that the cost of the publication would be Rs. 7,000 for 500 copies, the whole work comprising about 800 pages of demi octavo size. The book however, was never printed.*

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He used to publish an almanac, entitled *Dṛggaṇita Pañchāṅga* with the help of the Nautical Almanac. The author has seen an almanac for Śaka 1808, published after his death by his two sons. It seems to have adopted 22°5′ as the ayanāṃśa and the length of the year as given in the *Sūrya Siddhānta*. The elder son C. Rāghavācārya died about Śaka 1811. His younger son and brother-in-law, P. Rāghavācārya, the First Assistant in the Madras Observatory, jointly publish the almanac at present.

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KṚṢṆA ŚĀSTRI GOḌBOLE, Birth Śaka 1753.

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Brief Account.

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He was a Citpāvan Brāhmaṇa, belonging to the Hiraṇyakeśi branch and of the Kauśik gotra. He was born on the 10th lunar day of the dark half of Śrāvaṇa, Śaka 1753 (i.e., on 1st September 1831) at Waī. He studied, in the beginning, in a Marāṭhī school at Poona and then at the Sanskrit Pāṭhśālā and the Poona College. He had a liking for mathematics from his very childhood. At the Sanskrit college he studied astronomy under the care of Śaṅkar Jośī. On the 19th of October, 1855, he was appointed a teacher in the Normal School of the Poona College. There he mainly taught mathematics. For some time during 1864-65, he had been appointed in the Colaba Observatory, Bombay. In 1865 he was again appointed in the Poona Training College. In 1866, he was transferred to the Hyderabad High School, Sind, and in 1867 to a High School at Karachi. In 1872, he worked as Asstt. Teacher in the Poona High School and later on for some days more in the Elphinstone High School, Bombay. Later on, in the same year, he was made the Head Master of the Anglo-Marāṭhī School, Phanaswāḍī, Bombay, and he remained there till March, 1882. Later on, he began to reside in his home at Poona, after his retirement from Service. He died on 22nd November, 1886. While he was in Sind, he studied the Sindhi language thoroughly and learnt even Persian. He used to be an examiner for the Sindhi language, in the Bombay University, from 1871 to 1879.

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∗ In 1874, there was a transit of venus across the disc of the Sun. Raghunātha Ācārya had got its calculation published in several languages. His pamphlet in English contains an account of this laborious task. The auther has given the accont of Raghunātha Ācārya, mainly on the basis of this pamphlet and also from the information published n newspapers and sent to him by the well-known Nateś Śāstri of Madras.

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He and Wāman Kṛṣṇa Jośi Gadre, jointly translated the Grahalāghava, with examples, into Marāṭhī and published it in Śaka 1778. It is almost a translation of the Viśwanāthī commentary. A second edition of this work is now published. Kṛṣṇa Śāstrī has also written a book on the theory underlying the Grahalāghava in Marāṭhī and it is learnt that he has corrected in it the errors in the Mallārī commentary. It is worth publishing. In addition to this, a short article of his, on the history of astronomy, written about Śaka 1807, has come to the author's notice. The Jyotiṣśāstra, a Marāṭhī book written on the basis of Chambers's book in English, was printed and published in 1862 A.D., but it is not now in use. A Marāṭhī translation of Hudson's Algebra, had already existed; he published it in 1854, after correcting it. It was in use in the Education Department for several years. In 1874 A.D., he and Govind Viṭhal Karkare translated in to Marāṭhī four parts of Euclid's geometry. Before this date, a Marāṭhī translation of Euclid's geometry by Nānāśāstrī Apṭe was in use in schools. Later on, from 1885 A.D. the book, by late R.M. Devakule, came into use. In 1882 A.D. Kṛṣṇa Śāstrī published an article entitled "Antiquity of the Vedas" in the Theosophical magazine and also got it printed separately. The author does not think that it contains any evidence on the strength of which it could be proved beyond doubt that the Vedic period was more ancient than 1200 B.S. (before Śaka). He attempted to prove that the antiquity of the Vedas extends beyond 30000 B.S., by interpreting the line "māsānām Mārgaśīrṣoham" from the Gita, as indicating that "the equinox used to occur in Mārgaśīrṣa". He published a book on Arithmetic in Sindhi in 1869 and a good book on Marāṭhī Grammar also in Sindhi in 1867 A.D. Its popularity is proved from the fact that it went through its third edition in 1895*. He also published in 1868 A.D. a book on the Sindhi language.

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He had once published his view that the calculation for the five parts of the Pañcāṅga should be made on the basis of the mean places of the Sun and the Moon.

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Wāman Kṛṣṇa Gadre, referred to above, published in Śaka 1791, a work entitled Pañcāṅga-sādhanā-sār. It contains a Marāṭhī translation of the Laghu Cintāmaṇi, along with examples. The tables, however, contain a good many errors.

Cites (2)

Bhagavadgītā — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
Grahalāghava — Gaṇeśa Daivajña 1520, Sanskrit