Person · Kachhwaha ruler & astronomer
Sawai Jai Singh II
Also known as Jai Singh II, Sawai Jai Singh, Jai Singh of Amber
Kachhwāha ruler of Amber and a working astronomer who built five masonry observatories, compiled the Zīj-i Muhammad Shāhī star tables, and laid out Jaipur in 1727 on a nine-square grid taken from the Śilpa Śāstras — one of very few planned cities anywhere built to a pre-modern text.
- Date
- 1688 – 1743
- Function
- Authority & administration
- Tradition
- Zij-i Muhammad Shahi; Jantar Mantar instruments
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
Worth knowing
He collected Ptolemaic, Islamic and Sanskrit astronomical works, had Euclid and Napier's logarithms translated into Sanskrit, and sent an embassy to Portugal that came back with tables by de la Hire. He then found the tables less accurate than his own instruments and said so.
Connections (3)
- PatronageJaipur walled city
Jai Singh laid out Jaipur in 1727 on a nine-square grid derived from the Śilpa Śāstras, with the blocked square displaced to the side because a hill stood in the way — a planned city built to a pre-modern Indian text and adjusted for terrain. It is the only such case of its scale, and the observatory stands inside the palace complex at its centre.
- TransmissionUjjain observatory (Vedh Shala)
Jai Singh sent an embassy to Portugal that returned with European astronomical tables, had Euclid and Napier's logarithms translated into Sanskrit, and employed Hindu, Muslim and Jesuit astronomers together. He then compared their results against his own observations and found the European tables wanting. Siting one of the five observatories at Ujjain placed his instruments on the meridian Indian astronomy had used for fifteen centuries.
- PatronageJantar Mantar, Jaipur
Jai Singh II built five observatories, of which Jaipur's is the largest and best preserved, and had Ptolemy, al-Tusi and the Siddhantas read side by side against his own observations. He also planned the city the observatory stands in, on a grid taken from the shastras. The same ruler produced the most mathematical Indian city and the most accurate masonry instruments ever built.
Sources
Wikipedia, “Jai Singh II”. The subject’s own writings where they survive, and the standard biographical literature.
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