Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit, Series A v3.c12.1397

v3.c12.1397

A Kachwāha (Kacchavaṃśa) Rājput, Jayasiṃha was born at Amber in 1686 to the Mahārāja Viṣṇusiṃha; he succeeded his father as Mahārāja in 1699 and ruled till his death on 2 October 1743. He founded the city of Jaipur in 1728 (see P. D. Pathak [1963/64]), and in the same year is said to have dedicated the Persian Zīj-i jadīd-i Muḥammad-Shāhī, probably largely written by Abū al-Khayr Khayr Allāh Khān, to the Mughal emperor Muḥammad Shāh (1719/1748), though the star-catalog is dated A.H. 1138 = A.D. 1725/1726 and the preface was written after 1734; see W. Hunter [1797] and C. A. Storey, Persian Literature, vol. 2, pt. 1, London 1958, pp. 93–94. He is best known for constructing the astronomical observatories at Benares, Delhi, Jaipur, Mathurā, and Ujjain; see R. Barker [1777]; J. L. Williams [1793]; S. B. Dikshit [1896] 353–355; A. Ff. Garrett and C. Guleri [1902]; S. Noti [1911]; G. R. Kaye [1918a] and [1920a]; M. F. Soonawala [1940] and [A2. 1952]; and A. P. Stone [1958]. He took an active part in Mughal politics (see J. Tod, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, 3 vols., Oxford 1920, vol. 3, pp. 1341–1356; D. C. Sircar [A3. 1936/37]; S. Chandra [A2. 1948]; B. Das Gupta [A2. 1956]; M. L. Sharma [A2. 1969]; and H. C. Tikkimal [A3. 1969]; one of his most noteworthy political acts was the last performance of an aśvamedha in June/July 1742 (see P. K. Gode [A3. 1937] [1937b] [1937/38b] and [A2. 1943]; and V. S. Bhatnagar [A3. 1960]). Besides patronizing Kṛpārāma (fl. 1715) Jagannātha Samrāṭ (fl. ca. 1720/1740), Kevalarāma Pañcānana (fl. 1728/1762), and probably Nayanasukhopādhyāya (fl. ca. 1725/1730), Jayasiṃha was responsible for the writing of the following Sanskrit works on astronomy (see also S. B. Dikshit [1896] 292–295 and G. M. Moraes [1951/52]).