Rājamṛgāṅka (astronomy book)

Rājamṛgāṅka is a treatises in Sanskrit devoted to astronomical computations.^[1] Traditionally the authorship of the treatise is attributed to Bhojarāja (d.1055) of the Rajput Paramāra dynasty, rulers of the Malwa region in central/western India. The work exists in widely varying versions and an authoritative original text has not yet been established. However, a provisional critical edition was published by David Pingree in 1987.^[2] It is possible that the book may have been produced in collaboration with one or several court astronomers. If so, a definitive original text may never have existed in a unique form. Whatever, the Rājamṛgāṅka’s epoch date has been firmly determined as 23 February 1042.

Rājamṛgāṅka follows the Brāhma-pakṣa school. This school uses the values of the fundamental parameters, namely, the values of the celestial bodies’ revolution-numbers and consequent mean velocities, as given in the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta of Brahmagupta composed in 628 CE. The work identified itself as a karaṇa text, that is, a text that deals exclusively with the computational aspects of astronomy. But in fact it not a pure karaṇa text; it could be best described as a hybrid karaṇa-koṣṭhaka text. There is a significant difference between Rājamṛgāṅka and other karaṇa texts in that the former has given extensive tables of values for ease in computation where as the traditional karaṇa texts do not provide such table. In this sense, Rājamṛgāṅka has been described as the first noteworthy astronomical table text in Sanskrit.^[1]

Rājamṛgāṅka has had some impact on the subsequent Sanskrit astronomical literature. It influenced the writing of the first known Sanskrit astronomical table text (a koṣṭhaka text) Grahajñāna by Āśādhara in 1052. It also influenced Bhāskara II's Karaṇakutūhala as some of the algorithms in Karaṇakutūhala can be seen as adaptations and developments of certain algorithms in Rājamṛgāṅka. But the koṣṭhaka format of Rājamṛgāṅka had absolutely no impact on Karaṇakutūhala

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b Clemency Montelle and Kim Plofker (2018). Sanskrit Astronomical Tables. Springer. pp. 189–192. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
^ David Pingree (1987). Rajamrganka of Bhojaraja. Aligarh, India: Viveka Publications.

[Kim-1] Clemency Montelle and Kim Plofker (2018). Sanskrit Astronomical Tables. Springer. pp. 189–192. Retrieved 23 December 2023.

[2] David Pingree (1987). Rajamrganka of Bhojaraja. Aligarh, India: Viveka Publications.

[1]

[2]

v t e Indian astronomy
Astronomers	Apastamba Aryabhata I Aryabhata II Vainu Bappu Bhāskara I Bhāskara II Baudhayana Brahmagupta Sandip Chakrabarti Radhagobinda Chandra Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Amil Kumar Das P. Devadas Gautama Siddha M. K. Das Gupta Jyesthadeva Kamalakara Katyayana Lagadha Lalla Madhava of Sangamagrama Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis Mahavira Manava Jayant Narlikar Parameshvara Achyuta Pisharati Venkatraman Radhakrishnan J. J. Rawal Megh Nad Saha Jagannatha Samrat Bapudeva Sastri Jai Singh II of Amber Nilakantha Somayaji Sripati Mahendra Suri Govind Swarup Utpala Varahamihira Shankara Variyar Vasistha Yajnavalkya Pathani Samanta
Works	Aryabhatiya Brahmanas Aitareya Brahmana Shatapatha Brahmana Bṛhat Saṃhitā Ganitagannadi Jyotirmimamsa Shulba Sutras Panchangam Khandakhadyaka Mahādevī Makarandasarini Siddhantas Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta Maha-Siddhanta Pancha-Siddhantika Paulisa Siddhanta Paitamaha Siddhanta Rājamṛgāṅka (astronomy book) Romaka Siddhanta Surya Siddhanta Vasishtha Siddhanta Tantrasangraha Treatise on Astrology of the Kaiyuan Era Vākyakaraṇa Vedanga Jyotisha Vedas Atharvaveda Rigveda Yavanajataka Zij
Instruments	Armillary sphere Astrolabe Celestial globe Compass Cross-staff Dioptra Equatorial ring Equatorial sundial Globe Gnomon Mural instrument Quadrant Sextant Sundial Triquetrum Water clock Yantraraja
Concepts	Axial tilt Azimuth Cardinal direction Celestial equator Celestial sphere Celestial spheres Center of mass Circular orbit Deferent and epicycle Earth's rotation Eccentricity Ecliptic Elliptic orbit Equant Geocentrism Geoheliocentrism Globe Gravity Heliocentrism Hindu units of time Jyotiṣa Kali ahargaṇa Kalpa Karana Manvantara Moonlight Nakshatra Nityayoga Parallax Precession Ritu Spherical Earth Sunlight Tithi Vāra Yuga Zodiacal sign
Centres	Jantar Mantar Jaipur New Delhi Ujjain Varanasi Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics
Other regions	Babylonian astronomy Ancient Greek astronomy Hellenistic astronomy Islamic astronomy Chinese astronomy European astronomy
Months of the Vedic calendar	Chaitra Vaisakha Jyeshta Aashaadha Shraavana Bhadrapada Ashvin Kartik Margashirsha Pausha Maagha Phalguna

See also[edit]

References[edit]