[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Science, technology and education](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science) › [A History of the Kerala School of Hindu Astronomy (in Perspective)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.sarma-1972) › c10.s7 # 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 - **Language:** English ### 32. Jyeṣṭhadeva (c. 1500-1610) ### [c10.s7.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.sarma-1972.c10.s7.1) 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 ### [c10.s7.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.sarma-1972.c10.s7.2) 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. ### [c10.s7.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.sarma-1972.c10.s7.3) ² An extremely unreliable edition of the whole work has been issued under this title by the Govt. Or. Mss. Library, Madras, 1954. ### [c10.s7.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.sarma-1972.c10.s7.4) 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. ### [c10.s7.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.sarma-1972.c10.s7.5) ⁴ See Pārayil Rāman Nampūtiri, (ed.) \*Nampūtirimār\*, Trichur, M.E. 1093, (A.D. 1918), p. 65. ### [c10.s7.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.sarma-1972.c10.s7.6) ⁵ M whish, 'On the Hindu quadrature of the circle' etc., \*Trans. Royal As. Soc.\*, 3 (1835) 523. ### [c10.s7.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.sarma-1972.c10.s7.7) 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. ## Linked texts (2) - [Tantrasaṅgraha](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.kerala.tantra.tantrasangraha) — Nīlakaṇṭha Somayājī 1500, Sanskrit - [Yuktibhāṣā (Gaṇitayuktibhāṣā)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.astro.kerala.golayukti.yuktibhasa) — Jyeṣṭhadeva 1520, Malayalam --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.sarma-1972.c10.s7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.science.sarma-1972.c10.s7) · Pramāṇa