Jagann?tha

(fl.India, ca.1720-1740)

astronomy, mathematics.

According to legend, Jagann?tha samr?at was discovered by Jayasimha of Amber during a campaign against the Mar?tha chief ?iv?j? in 1664-1665; Jagann?tha was then supposed to be twenty years old. Unfortunately for the story, it was Jayasimha I, Known as Mirj?, who was involved with ?iv?j?; the parton of Jagann?tha was Jayasimha II, Known as Sav??, who ruled Amber from 1699 to 1743. For Jayasimha II, Jagann?tha translated Euclid’s Elements and Ptolemy’s Syntaxis Math?ematik?e (both in the recensions of Nasir al-Din al-T??s?) from Arabic into Sanskrit as a part of Jayasimha’s program to revitalize Indian astronomy and Indian culture in general.

Jagann?tha translated Enclid’s Elements under the title Rekh?aganita shortly before 1727, the date of the earliest manuscript copied at his command by Lokamani. He translated Ptolemy’s Syntaxis Math?ematik?e in 1732 under the title Siddh?antasamr?at. This contains not only a translation of al-T??s?’Arabic recension but also notes of his own referring to Ulugh Beg and al-K?sh? of Samarkand as well as to Muthammad Sh?ah, the Mogul emperor to whom Jayasimha dedicated his Ziji-i-jadid-i MuhammadSh?ah? in 1728;these additions closely link jagann?tha’s translation with the work of the other astronomers assembled by Jayasimha.(See essays on Indian science in Supplement.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Rekh?ganita was edited by H. H. Dhruva and K. P. Trivedi as Bombay Sanskrit series no.61-62, 2 vols. (Bombay, 1901-1902); the Siddh?ntasamr?t was edited by R?masvar?upa ?arman, 3 vols. (New Delhi, 1967-1969).

Secondary Literature includes Sudh?kara Dvivedin, Gan?akataranngini (Benares, 1933), repr. from Pandit, n.s. 14 (1892), 102-110; and L. J. Rocjer,“Euclid’stoicheia and Jagann?tha’s Rekh?gan?ita,” in Journal of the OrientalInstitute, Baroda, 3 (1953-1954), 236-256.

David Pingree

Jagannātha (Skt., ‘Lord of the Universe’: often Anglicized as ‘juggernaut’). Local name of the Hindu god Viṣṇu/Kṛṣṇa worshipped in the temple of Purī, Orissa. The temple is famous all over India and attracts large numbers of pilgrims, particularly to its festivals. The temple became notorious under colonial rule because of its festivals, during which period the wooden images are carried out in procession on huge wooden carts, under whose wheels some were killed, probably by accident, not suicide. However, ‘Juggernaut’ came to denote blind, religious frenzy. But with memories of the huge festival carts lingering on, a more recent application of the word is to large, heavy lorries.