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A History of the Kerala School of Hindu Astronomy (in Perspective) c10.s7: 32. Jyeṣṭhadeva (c. 1500-1610)

A History of the Kerala School of Hindu Astronomy (in Perspective) c10.s7

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32. Jyeṣṭhadeva (c. 1500-1610)

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Jyeṣṭhadeva, this name being, most probably, the Sanskritised form of his personal name in the local language, has the distinction of being the author of the popular *Yuktibhāṣā*¹ or *Gaṇitanyāyasaṅgraha*,² which forms an elaborate and systematic exposition of the rationale of mathematics in its Pt. I and of astronomy in its Pt. II. The Sanskrit version of this work, known as *Gaṇitayuktibhāṣā*, is also, in all probability, his work. An old astronomical document informs that he was the pupil of Dāmodara of Vaṭaśreṇi and was a member of the Paraṅnoṭṭu family³ of the Ālattūr village in South Malabar.⁴ Nilakaṇṭha Somayāji, whose *Tantrasaṅgraha* he mentions towards the beginning of his work, was his respected elder. He himself was the teacher of Acyuta Piṣāraṭi who mentions him in reverential terms at the close of his *Uparāgakriyākrama* (A.D. 1592). M. Whish records a tradition that the author of the *Yuktibhāṣā* was the author also of a *Dṛkkaraṇa*⁵ The *Dṛkkaraṇa* in question, which is now available in a single manuscript, is a comprehensive metrical treatise in Malayalam on astronomy. It does not give anywhere the name of its author, but gives in its last verse, its date of composition in the words *kolambe barhiśūnau* (M.E. 783 = A.D. 1608). In view of this date and the mention of the tradition recorded by Whish, it is quite possible that this is a work of Jyeṣṭhadeva.⁶

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¹ Pt. I. ed with elaborate notes by Ramavarma Maru Thampuran and A. R. Akhileswara Aiyar, (Mangalodayam, Trichur, 1948). See also, A. Venkataraman, 'Some interesting proofs from Yukti-bhāṣā,' *Mathematics Student*, 16 (1968) 1-7.

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² An extremely unreliable edition of the whole work has been issued under this title by the Govt. Or. Mss. Library, Madras, 1954.

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³ An old Malayalam Ms. No. 9386, preserved in the Or. Inst., Baroda, reproduced by K.V. Sarma, in his paper 'Direct lines of astronomical tradition in Kerala', Pt; Charudeva Shastri Felicitation Volume, Delhi, 1972.

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⁴ See Pārayil Rāman Nampūtiri, (ed.) *Nampūtirimār*, Trichur, M.E. 1093, (A.D. 1918), p. 65.

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⁵ M whish, 'On the Hindu quadrature of the circle' etc., *Trans. Royal As. Soc.*, 3 (1835) 523.

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⁶ On Jyeṣṭhadeva, see K.V. Sarma, 'Jyeṣṭhadeva and his identification as the author of *Yuktibhāṣā*', Adyar Lib. Bul., 22 (1958) 35-40. On *Yuktibhāṣā*, see Raja, 156-58; Ul. III. 439-40; Ul. Sup. I. 612-16.

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