Munishvara

Munishvara
Born1608
Other namesMunīśvara Viśvarūpa
OccupationMathematician
Known for
  • Siddhanta Sarvabhauma
  • Lilavativivruti
FatherRanganatha
RelativesBallala (grandfather)

Munishvara or Munīśvara Viśvarūpa (born 1603) was an Indian mathematician who wrote several commentaries including one on astronomy, the Siddhanta Sarvabhauma (1646), which included descriptions of astronomical instruments such as the pratoda yantra.[1] Another commentary he wrote was the Lilavativivruti.[2] Very little is known about him other than that he came from a family of astronomers including his father Ranganatha who wrote a commentary called the Gụ̄hārthaprakaśa/Gūḍhārthaprakāśikā,[3] a commentary on the Suryasiddhanta. His grandfather Ballala had his origins in Dadhigrama in Vidharba and had moved to Benares. Ballala had several sons who wrote commentaries on astronomy and mathematics. Munisvara's Siddhantasarvabhauma had the patronage of Shah Jahan like his paternal uncle Krishna Daivagna did. He was opposed to fellow mathematician Kamalakara, 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.[4] An edition of his Siddhanta Sarvabhauma was published in the Princess of Wales Sarasvati Bhavana Granthamala series edited by Gopinath Kaviraj.[5] Munisvara's book had twelve chapters in two parts. The second part had notes on astronomical instruments. He was a follower of Bhaskara II.[6]

  1. ^ Ohashi, Yukio (1987). "A note on some Sanskrit manuscripts on astronomical instruments". International Astronomical Union Colloquium. 91: 191–196. doi:10.1017/S0252921100106037. S2CID 128504497.
  2. ^ Sinha, Kripa Nath (1985). "Śrîpati: An eleventh-century Indian mathematician". Historia Mathematica. 12 (1): 25–44. doi:10.1016/0315-0860(85)90066-7.
  3. ^ Hall, F.E., ed. (1859). The Gudhartha-Prakasaka.
  4. ^ Plofker, Kim (2002), Ansari, S. M. Razaullah (ed.), "Spherical Trigonometry and the Astronomy of the Medieval Kerala School", History of Oriental Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol. 275, Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp. 83–93, doi:10.1007/978-94-015-9862-0_8, ISBN 978-90-481-6033-4, retrieved 18 July 2022
  5. ^ Gopinath Kaviraj, Munishvara (1932). Siddhanta Sarvabhauma. Benaras: Sarasvati Bhavana Granthamala, No, 41.
  6. ^ Sarma, K.V. (2008). "Munisvara". In Selin, Helaine (ed.). Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer. p. 752.