Tantrasamgraha

Tantrasamgraha
Opening verses of Tantrasamgraha (in Devanagari)
AuthorNilakantha Somayaji
LanguageSanskrit
SubjectAstronomy/Mathematics
Publication date
1500-01 CE
Publication placeIndia

Tantrasamgraha,[1][2] or Tantrasangraha,[3] (literally, A Compilation of the System) is an important astronomical treatise written by Nilakantha Somayaji, an astronomer/mathematician belonging to the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. The treatise was completed in 1501 CE. It consists of 432 verses in Sanskrit divided into eight chapters.[4] Tantrasamgraha had spawned a few commentaries: Tantrasamgraha-vyakhya of anonymous authorship and Yuktibhāṣā authored by Jyeshtadeva in about 1550 CE. Tantrasangraha, together with its commentaries, bring forth the depths of the mathematical accomplishments the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics, in particular the achievements of the remarkable mathematician of the school Sangamagrama Madhava. In his Tantrasangraha, Nilakantha revised Aryabhata's model for the planets Mercury and Venus. According to George G Joseph his equation of the centre for these planets remained the most accurate until the time of Johannes Kepler in the 17th century.[5]

It was C.M. Whish, a civil servant of East India Company, who brought to the attention of the western scholarship the existence of Tantrasamgraha through a paper published in 1835.[6] The other books mentioned by C.M. Whish in his paper were Yuktibhāṣā of Jyeshtadeva, Karanapaddhati of Puthumana Somayaji and Sadratnamala of Sankara Varman.

  1. ^ K.V. Sarma (ed.). "Tantrasamgraha with English translation" (PDF) (in Sanskrit and English). Translated by V.S. Narasimhan. Indian National Academy of Science. p. 48. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2012. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  2. ^ Tantrasamgraha, ed. K.V. Sarma, trans. V. S. Narasimhan in the Indian Journal of History of Science, issue starting Vol. 33, No. 1 March 1998
  3. ^ Open Library Reference: Nīlakaṇṭha Somayājī (1985). "Anantaśayanasaṃskr̥tagranthāvaliḥ; granthāṅkaḥ 188". Tantrasaṅgrahaḥ gaṇitam : savyākhyaḥ (in Sanskrit). Kerala University, Thiruvananthapuram. OL 2697994M. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
  4. ^ J J O'Connor; E F Robertson (November 2000). "Nilakantha Somayaji". School of Mathematics and Statistics University of St Andrews, Scotland. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  5. ^ George G. Joseph (2000). The Crest of the Peacock: Non-European Roots of Mathematics, p. 408. Princeton University Press.
  6. ^ C.M. Whish (1835). "On the Hindu quadrature of the circle and the infinite series of the proportion of the circumference to the diameter exhibited in the four Sastras, the Tantra Sahgraham, Yucti Bhasha, Carana Padhati and Sadratnamala". Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. III (iii): 509–23.