The Astronomical Observatories of Jai Singh c17.17

c17.17

That Jai Singh made no new astronomical discoveries is hardly a fair criterion of the value of his work; for, indeed, a great deal of the most valuable astronomical work is not concerned with new discoveries. His avowed object was the rectification of the calendar, the prediction of eclipses, and so on—work which entails a great deal of labour, and generally shows no remarkable achievement. Considering the state of the country in which Jai Singh lived, the political anarchy of his time, the ignorance of his contemporaries, and the difficulties in the way of transmission of knowledge, his scheme of astronomical work was a notable one, and his observatories still form noble monuments of a remarkable personality.