Kamalākara was one of the most erudite and forward‐looking Indian astronomers who flourished in Varanasi during the seventeenth century. Belonging to Maharashtrian stock, and born in about 1610, Kamalākara came from a long unbroken line of astronomers, originally settled at the village of Godā on the northern banks of the river Godāvarī. Towards AD 1500, the family migrated to Varanasi and came to be regarded as reputed astronomers and astrologers. Kamalākara studied traditional Hindu astronomy under his elder brother Divākara, but extended the range of his studies to Islamic astronomy, particularly to the school of Ulugh Beg of Samarkand. He also studied Greek astronomy in Arabic and Persian translations, particularly with reference to the elements of physics from Aristotle, geometry from Euclid, and astronomy from Ptolemy. He wrote both original treatises and commentaries on his own works and those of others.
Kamalākara's most important work is the Siddhānta‐Tattvaviveka, written in...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Dikshit, S. B. Bhāratiya Jyotish Sastra (History of Indian Astronomy). Trans. by R. V. Vaidya. Pt. II. History of Astronomy During the Scientific and Modern Periods. Calcutta: Positional Astronomy Centre, India Meteorological Department, 1981.
Dvivedi, Sudhakara. Gaṇaka Taraṅgiṇi: Lives of Hindu Astronomers. Benares: Jyotish Prakash Press, 1933.
Loha‐gola‐khaṇḍana of Ranganātha and Loha‐gola‐samarthana by Gadādhara. Ed. Mithalala Himmatarama Ojha. Varanasi: Sañcālaka, Anusandhāna Saṃsthāna, 1963.
Pingree, David. Jyotiḥśāstra–Astral and Mathematical Literature. Vol. VI, fasc. 4 of A History of Indian Literature. Ed. Jan Gonda. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1981.
Siddhānta‐Tattvaviveka. A Treatise on Astronomy by Bhaṭṭa Kamalākara, with Śeṣavāsanā by the same author. Ed. Sudhakara Dube. Benares: Benares Sanskrit Series, 5 vols. 1880–1885: Revised by Muralidhara Jha, Benares: Krishna Das Gupta for Braj Bhusan Das & Co, 1924–1935.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Sarma, K.V. (2008). Kamalākara. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_9576
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_9576
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-4559-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4425-0
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law