Munishvara or Munīśvara Viśvarūpa (born 1603) was an Indian
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
who wrote several commentaries including one on astronomy ''Siddhanta Sarvabhauma'' (1646) which included descriptions of astronomical instruments such as the ''pratoda yantra''. Another commentary was ''Lilavativivruti''. Very little is known about his other than that he came from a family of astronomers including his father Ranganatha who wrote a commentary called ''Gụ̄hārthaprakaśa/Gūḍhārthaprakāśikā,'' a commentary on the ''
Suryasiddhanta
The ''Surya Siddhanta'' (; ) is a Sanskrit treatise in Indian astronomy dated to 505 CE,Menso Folkerts, Craig G. Fraser, Jeremy John Gray, John L. Berggren, Wilbur R. Knorr (2017)Mathematics Encyclopaedia Britannica, Quote: "(...) its Hindu inv ...
''. His grandfather Ballala had his origins in Dadhigrama in Vidharba and had moved to Benares and several sons wrote commentaries on astronomy and mathematics. Munisvara's ''Siddhantasarvabhauma'' had the patronage of
Shah Jahan
Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...
like his paternal uncle Krishna Daivagna. He was opposed to fellow mathematician
Kamalakara
Kamalakara (1616 – 1700) was an Indian astronomer and mathematician, came from a learned family of scholars from Golagrāma, a village situated in Maharashtra State near Partha-puri (Pathari) on the northern bank of the river Godāvarī. His ...
whose brother also wrote a critique of Munisvara's bhangi-vibhangi method for planetary motions. He was also opposed to the adoption of some mathematical ideas in spherical trigonometry from Arab scholars. An edition of his ''Siddhanta Sarvabhauma'' was published from the Princess of Wales
Sarasvati Bhavana Granthamala edited by
Gopinath Kaviraj. Munisvara's book had twelve chapters in two parts. The second part had notes on astronomical instruments. He was a follower of
Bhaskara II.
References
External links
Manuscript version of Siddhant Sarvabhauma (1627)from the Asiatic Society of Bombay
Manuscript from Raghunath Temple, JammuSiddhanta Sarvabhauma - Saraswati Bhavan - (Part 1)(Part 2)
17th-century Indian mathematicians
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