Gnfcmussorie at 04:34, 21 July 2025

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{{Short description|Indian mathematician (1340–1400)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}

'''Mahendra Sūri''' (c. 1340 – 1400)<ref name=":0" /> is the 14th century [[Jainism|Jain]] [[astronomer]] who wrote the ''Yantraraja'', the first [[India]]n treatise on the [[astrolabe]].<ref>{{cite book | editor = Glick | display-editors = etal | title = Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia | date = 2005 | publisher = [[Routledge]] | isbn = 0-415-96930-1 | quote =the Jain astronomer Mahendra Suri ([[floruit|fl.]] 1370)...wrote the first Indian treatise on the astrolabe, called the ''Yantraraja'' (1370) | page = 464}}</ref> He was trained by Madana Sūri, and was teacher to Malayendu Sūri.<ref name=":0" /> [[Jainism]] had a strong influence on mathematics particularly in the last couple of centuries BC. By the time of Mahendra Suri, however, Jainism had lost support as a national religion and was much less vigorous.

==Works==
[[File:Yantraraja_Folio_3.jpg|right|thumb|300x300px|Image of folio 3 of Malayendu Sūri's commentary (1382) on Mahendra Sūri's Yantrarāja (1370). [[iarchive:wg1207/page/n15/mode/2up|(Internet Archive)]]]]
Mahendra Suri's fame rests on the work ''Yantrarāja'', which introduced the astrolabe to the Indian astronomer.<ref name=":0" /> Mahendra Sūri was patronized by the [[Tughlaq dynasty|Tughluq]] ruler of Delhi, [[Firuz Shah Tughlaq|Firūz Shāh]] (r. 1351–1388), who evinced keen interest in astronomy. Firūz Shāh had earlier caused the ''Bṛhatsaṃhitā'' of Varāhamihira to be translated into [[Persian language|Persian]]. At the sultan's instance, Mahendra Sūri studied the astrolabe and introduced it to the Sanskrit audience in 1370 in his ''Yantrarāja''. Its circulation was largely, if not wholly, confined to astronomers who worked within the Islamic and Ptolemaic traditions.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />

The ''Yantrarāja'' is best described as an [[astrolabe]] user's manual. It explains how this king (''rāja'') of instruments (''yantra'') is to be constructed and commissioned for purposes of observation. The ''saumya'' ''yantra'' (northern instrument) projected from the [[South Pole]] and the ''yāmya'' ''yantra'' (southern instrument) projected from the North Pole are discussed separately, followed by a description of the ''phaṇīndra'' ''yantra'' (the serpentine instrument), which combines both.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" />

A detailed discussion on the application of the astrolabe is found in Malayendu Sūri's commentary on the ''Yantrarāja''. This commentary is also interesting because it provided, for the first time to Indian astronomers, tables for ready reference, which helped simplify calculations. The commentator gave latitudes of 75 cities. Malayendu made a list of latitudes for 32 stars, which were identified as relevant for purposes of calculations in India.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/31248872|title=Academia website|website=Academia |last1=Devadevan |first1=Manu V. }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Gaṇaka Taraṅgiṇī or Lives of Hindu Astronomers|last=Padmakara Dvivedi (ed).|first=Dvivedi, Sudhakara.|publisher=Jyotish Prakash Press.|year=1933|location=Benaras}}</ref><ref name=":2">Pingree, David. (1981). Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit, Series A, Vol 4.

Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.</ref><ref name=":3">Raikwa, K.K. (ed). (1936). Yantrarāja of Mahendraguru with the Commentary of

Malayendu Sūri. Bombay: Nirnaya Sagar Press.</ref>

==See also==
* [[Indian mathematicians]]
* [[Yantraraja]]

==References==
<references/>

== Sources ==
* [[K. V. Sarma]] (2008), "Mahendra Suri", [[Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures]] (2nd edition) edited by [[Helaine Selin]], Springer, {{ISBN|978-1-4020-4559-2}}.

{{Indian mathematics}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suri, Mahendra}}
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:14th-century Indian astronomers]]
[[Category:14th-century Indian mathematicians]]
[[Category:14th-century Indian Jains]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]

Mahendra Sūri - Revision history

Gnfcmussorie at 04:34, 21 July 2025