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{{Short description|16th century Indian astronomer}}
[[File:Ganesa area of circle.svg|thumb|Illustration of Ganesa's dissection of a circle into triangles (using 16 sides in this case)]]
'''Gaṇeśa Daivajna''' (born c. 1507, {{fl}} 1520-1554) was a sixteenth century astronomer, astrologer, and mathematician from western India who wrote books on methods to predict eclipses, planetary conjunctions, positions, and make calculations for calendars. His most major work was the ''Grahalaghava'' which was included ephemeris and calendar calculations.

Ganesa was born in [[Nandigrama]] (see also [[Golagrama]]) where his father [[Keshava of Nandigrama|Kesava]] (fl. 1496-1507) was a [[Brahmin]] astronomer. His mother's name has been noted as Lakshmi and he spent his entire life at Nandigrama. The location of Nandigrama has been suggested by some as being in Gujarat but more careful study of his work places it in Nandgaon in present day [[Maharashtra]].<ref>{{cite journal |author=Sarma, S.R. |year=2010 |title=Nandigrama of Ganesa Daivajna |journal=Indian Journal of History of Science |volume=45 |issue=4 |pages=569–574}}</ref> He wrote several works including ''Grahalaghava'', ''Siddhantarahasya'', ''Buddhivilāsinī,'' and ''Laghutithicintamani''.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Plofker, Kim |author-link=Kim Plofker |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7 |title=Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers |date=2014 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4419-9916-0 |editor-last=Hockey |editor-first=Thomas |location=New York |pages=781–782 |language=en |chapter=Ganesa |doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7 |s2cid=242158697 |editor-last2=Trimble |editor-first2=Virginia |editor-last3=Williams |editor-first3=Thomas R. |editor-last4=Bracher |editor-first4=Katherine |editor-last5=Jarrell |editor-first5=Richard A. |editor-last6=Marché |editor-first6=Jordan D. |editor-last7=Palmeri |editor-first7=JoAnn |editor-last8=Green |editor-first8=Daniel W. E.}}</ref> His work ''Buddhivilāsinī'' (c. 1546<ref>{{cite book |author=Colebrooke, H.T. |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_2Tmjwd73jXwC/page/406/mode/1up |title=Miscellaneous Essays. Volume III |publisher=Trubner and Co |year=1873 |place=London |page=406}}</ref>) includes commentaries on the mathematics of [[Bhāskara II|Bhaskara]]'s ''Lilavati''.<ref>{{Citation |title=Gaṇeśa Daivajña's upapattis for some rules in the Līlāvatī |date=2019 |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-981-13-6034-3_5 |work=Bhāskara-prabhā |pages=102–114 |editor-last=Ramasubramanian |editor-first=K. |place=Singapore |publisher=Springer Singapore |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-981-13-6034-3_5 |isbn=978-981-13-6033-6 |access-date=2022-10-14 |last=Ramakalyani |first=K. |s2cid=146066627 |editor2-last=Hayashi |editor2-first=Takao |editor2-link=Hayashi Takao |editor3-last=Montelle |editor3-first=Clemency |editor3-link=Clemency Montelle|url-access=subscription }}</ref> One of his demonstrations is of the area of a circle calculated by dissection of the circle into a regular polygon. He started with a polygon with 12 sides and doubled it through 24, 48, 96, 192, to 384 and came up with an approximation for [[pi]] as 3927/1250.<ref>{{cite book |author=Joseph, George Gheverghese |title=Indian Mathematics: Engaging With The World From Ancient To Modern Times |publisher=World Scientific |year=2016 |page=295}}</ref> His book ''Muhūrtadipikā'' includes a commentary on his father Kesava's work ''Muhūrtatattva''. Ganesa's grandfather Kamalakara was also an astrologer as were his brothers Ananta and Rama. Works by Kesava include Grahakautuka (1496) on the calculation of eclipses, Jatakapaddhati for the production of horoscopes, and the Tajikapaddhati, which covered Islamic thoughts on astrology.<ref>{{cite book|author=Pingree, David| year=1973| chapter=Kesava| title=Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Volume 7| editor=Gillispie, C.C.| place= New York| publisher=Charles Scribner’s Sons| pages=314–316}}</ref>

==See also==

* [[Kṛṣṇa Daivajña]]
* [[Grahalaghava]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://archive.org/details/dli.granth.110657 Grahalaghava (Hindi)][https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.448248 Edition by Sudhakar Dwivedi]
* [https://archive.org/details/jatakaalankaraofganeshadaivajnatippaniganeshdattphatka_202003_396_n Jataka Alankara]

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganesa Daivajna}}

[[Category:Indian astrological writers]]
[[Category:1500s births]]
[[Category:Date of death missing]]
[[Category:16th-century Indian mathematicians]]

Gaṇeśa Daivajna - Revision history

Isaac22019 at 01:01, 14 April 2026