Vaṭeśvara (b. AD 880), son of Mahadatta, hailed from Ānandapura or Vaḍanagar, in Gujarat in Western India, a great center of learning of the time. The Vaṭeśvara‐siddhānta, composed by Vaṭeśvara in AD 904, is one of the largest and most comprehensive works on astronomy, a work which throws much light on the theories, methodologies, and processes of Indian astronomers until the tenth century AD. It was one of the standard works for the study of the discipline, and several of the rules enunciated by Vaṭeśvara were adopted by later astronomers like Śrīpati (eleventh century) and Bhāskara II (b. 1114). It is also noteworthy that the Persian scholar and polymath al‐Bīrūnī, who came to India early in the eleventh century, referred to Vaṭeśvara and cited some of his views in his own writings. Vaṭeśvara also wrote a Karaṇasāra, known only through references, and a Gola(Treatise on Spherics), which is available only in part, the existing portion dealing with a graphical demonstration of...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Sastry, T. S. Kuppanna. The System of the Vaṭeśvara Siddhānta. Indian Journal of History of Science 4.1–2(1969): 135–43. Reprinted in Collected Papers on Jyotisha. Ed. T. S. Kuppanna Sastry. Tirupati: Kendriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, 1989. 76–88.
Shukla, K. S. Hindu Astronomer Vaṭeśvara and his works. Ganita 23.2 (1972): 65–74.
Vaṭeśvara‐siddhānta and Gola of Vaṭeśvara. 2 vols. Ed. K. S. Shukla. New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy, 1986.
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). Vaṭeśvara. 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_9605
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4425-0_9605
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