reading

PREFACE

In AD 628, Brahmagupta completed his monumental Brāhmasphuṭa-siddhānta which, as David Pingree observes, ‘was enormously influential on later Indian astronomy as well as on Islamic and Western European’ astronomies.ⁱ The twenty-second chapter of this work describes the construction and use of several astronomical instruments, from the simple quadrant to mercury-driven perpetual motion machines. While studying this chapter,ⁱⁱ I wondered whether any specimens of these instruments are preserved today in museums. Such specimens, I thought, would help in understanding better the rather brief descriptions in Sanskrit texts. Therefore, a survey of Sanskrit astronomical instruments in various museums in India would be a worthwhile task, I reflected. But gradually I came to realise that many Sanskrit instruments are closely related to Islamic astronomical instruments, that several Islamic astronomical instruments were also produced in India as well and that large numbers of specimens of Sanskrit as well as Islamic astronomical instruments are preserved in museums abroad, especially in UK.

It was about this time that I came across a catalogue of the exhibition on ‘Science in India’ which was mounted by the Science Museum of London in connection with the Festival of India in 1982. The exhibition gave an admirable account of scientific activity in India from the earliest times up to the present day, by means of manuscripts and artefacts. The catalogue, compiled by Dr R. G. W. Anderson, who later became the Director of the British Museum, made me aware of the actual specimens of Indian astronomical instruments which are still extant in various museums in India and abroad. Encouraged by this catalogue and later by personal conversations with Dr Anderson and other scholars, I began studying Indian astronomical instruments in museums and private collections within India and outside.

Thus began my exploration of pre-modern Indian astronomical instruments in 1991 which lasted a quarter century and spanned three continents.“ A descriptive catalogue of the extant instruments which I identified during the course of my explorations in about a hundred museums and private collections is presented in the following pages. The majority of the surviving instruments are astrolabes. These are not simple measuring tools. Their fabrication from sheets of brass demands sophisticated workmanship. Engraving the various kinds of lines and circles on the plates and on the back requires high precision. Fashioning the kursī and the rete involves fine artistic sense. Furthermore, large quantities of astronomical, astrological and geographical data are engraved on them. Therefore, astrolabes have been carefully preserved by owners and eagerly collected by cognoscenti throughout the centuries in all the regions.

In this catalogue, astrolabes are described in five sections A, B, C, D and E. Then follow celestial globes in three sections F, G and H. These are also products of excellent metal craft and artistic beauty. Thereafter are treated diverse kinds of instruments which exist in smaller numbers.

I have personally examined and photographed many of the instruments described in this catalogue. In some cases, where I could not personally study the instruments, detailed information and photos were kindly sent to me by museums, auction houses and private collectors. The third source is archival. At the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, Francis Maddison collected a large number of photos of astrolabes and of other instruments which were sent to him for evaluation by auction houses. Likewise, Anthony J. Turner, Le Mesnil-le-Roi, has a large collection of photos. Both very generously lent me photos of Indian instruments in their collections. These photos fill important gaps and help in a drawing a more comprehensive picture of instrument production in India.

Astronomical instruments produced in India in the pre-modern period can be classified into two broad groups. In the first group are those with inscriptions and legends in Arabic and Persian. More specifically, the astronomical technical terms are in Arabic, and the inscriptions regarding the manufacture or ownership are often in Persian. These are classified as Indo-Persian instruments, because they were produced in a milieu where Persian was the official or scholarly language. The second group consists of instruments on which the legends are in Sanskrit language and in Devanagari script. These are called Sanskrit instruments. The original prototypes for the Indo-Persian instruments were derived from the Islamic world. Some of the Sanskrit instruments are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent and some others are adapted from Islamic models. There is also a small number of Sanskrit instruments derived from European models.

Excluded from this survey are the modern or post-telescopic astronomical instruments which were directly imported from the west and did not undergo any substantial variation in India, even when they were manufactured here. A further distinction between these two groups of pre-modern and modern instruments lies in the manner and scale of production: the former were produced by traditional artisans and each item was a unique product, whereas the latter were industrial products on a mass scale with identical copies. This difference is somewhat akin to the difference between manuscripts and printed books.

This does not mean that modern instruments like telescopes, sextants, transit circles have no historical value. Just as the copies of the first edition of a book are valuable as collectibles, so are also nineteenth century European instruments of historical interest. Universities and other academic institutions in India still possess many such historically interesting European instruments. These also deserve to be catalogued; in fact, even other kinds of scientific instruments and obsolete measuring devices like steel-yards which are scattered in museum stores need to be studied; but it is beyond the scope of the present catalogue.^iv

Had I known the enormity of the project, I probably would not have ventured in the first place. But the interest and encouragement shown by scholars and the enthusiastic cooperation of museum directors gave me the necessary confidence to continue with the project. Therefore, the list of persons to whom I owe deep debt of gratitude is rather long.

I am quite conscious of the many shortcomings in this catalogue, caused by my linguistic and technical limitations. But I do hope that this first ever attempt at compiling the information about pre-modern Indian astronomical instruments which are dispersed in many parts of the world will be of some use to the historians of science and to the curators of museums.

Safavid astrolabe makers like Muḥammad Mahdī al-Khādim al-Yazdī (Y008), ^cAbd al-A’imma (Y009), Muḥammad Amīn (Y010), ^cAbd al-^cAlī (Y011) and others usually engrave on their richly decorated astrolabes a line from the Gulistān of the Persian poet Shaykh Sa^cdī, which reads gharaḍ nakshīst kaz mā bāz mānad (the intention of this drawing is that it should remain after us), as can be seen in this cartouche engraved on the back of the astrolabe by Muḥammad Mahdī al-Khādim al-Yazdī (Figure Y008.6).

This is indeed the hope nurtured by every astrolabe maker and every author, including the compiler of this catalogue.

ⁱ Pingree 1981, p. 21.

ⁱⁱ Sarma 1986-87a

ⁱⁱⁱ I tried to cover all the known collections in India, Europe and USA; in India, the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, Indian Museum, Kolkata, and L. D. Institute, Ahmedabad, are known to own astronomical instruments, but they did not respond to my repeated requests for permission to study the instruments in their collections. New museums are coming up in Kuwait and in the United Arab Emirates, some of which are reported to possess Indo-Persian astrolabes and celestial globes, but I have not been able to contact these museums.

^iv National inventories of scientific instruments, both pre-modern and modern, are being compiled elsewhere. In the 1950s, the History of Science Division of the International Union for History and Philosophy of Science set up a commission to promote the compilation of an ‘inventaire mondiale des appareils scientifiques historiques’. The first step in this direction was to compile national inventories. Accordingly, several European countries brought out national inventories of scientific instruments: Belgium (1959-1960), Italy (1963), France (1964), USSR (1968), Czechoslovakia (1970; unpublished), Ireland (1990). The last and the most comprehensive in this series is Science Preserved: A Directory of Scientific Instruments in Collections in the United Kingdom and Eire, compiled by Mary Holbrook, R. G. W. Anderson & D. J. Bryden, London 1992.

ABBREVIATIONS AND OTHER CONVENTIONS

1. Abbreviations

anon	=	anonymous
attr	=	attributable
ca	=	circa
d	=	diameter
ed	=	edited
h	=	height
L	=	terrestrial longitude
mm	=	millimeters
nd	=	not dated
PC	=	private collection
PLU	=	present location unknown
r	=	reign
s.v.	=	sub voce
t	=	thickness
tr	=	translated
φ	=	terrestrial latitude
◎	=	instruments which I have personally examined
;	=	(semi-colon) mark of separation in sexagesimal system between degrees and minutes of arc and between hours and minutes of time

All linear measurements are in millimeters

Material of almost all instruments is brass; in a few cases, it is wood or wood and ivory. Only such cases will be mentioned in the catalogue. Where no material is mentioned, it should be understood as brass.

2. Other Abbreviations and Expressions

CCA	=	Sharon L. Gibbs, Janice A. Henderson & Derek de Sola Price, A Computerized Checklist of Astrolabes, Yale University, New Haven 1973. Astrolabes are identified with the serial numbers given here.
CESS	=	David Pingree, Census of Exact Sciences in Sanskrit, Series A, vols. 1-5, Philadelphia 1970-1994.
DSB	=	Charles Couston Gillipse (ed), Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 16 vols, 1970-1980.
ESS	=	Emilie Savage-Smith, Islamicate Celestial Globes: Their History, Construction and Use, Washington, D.C., 1985. ESS followed by a serial number refers to the globe under this serial number in the catalogue part of the book.
Khalili	=	Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art, London
MHS	=	Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
NMM	=	National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

Répertoire = Alain Brieux, Francis Maddison, avec la collaboration de Ludwik Kulus et Yusuf Ragheb, Répertoire des Facteurs d’Astrolabes, et leurs oeuvres. Islam, plus Byzance, Arménie, Géorgie et Inde Hindoue (in press). I use the 1993 version. Here the instrument makers are listed alphabetically and under each name the instruments by this maker are listed chronologically with serial numbers. Répertoire, followed by a serial number, refers to an instrument made by the instrument maker concerned.

India, Indian = refer to the Indian subcontinent

Indo-Persian = and/or academic language refers to artefacts produced in India where Persian was the official

Islam, Islamic= refer to the culture of the Islamic world and not to the religion.

3. Chronology

AD	=	Anno Domini, Christian era
AH/H	=	Hijrī era (lunar)
Śaka	=	Śaka era (luni-solar)
VS	=	Vikrama Saṃvat (luni-solar)

Dates in Hijrī era are converted by the CALH (Calendar conversion program) developed by Benno van Dalen.
http://www.bennovandalen.de/Programs/programs.html [also http://goo.gl/gFvLXO, last accessed in April 2017]

Dates in Śaka and Vikrama Saṃvat eras are converted by the ‘Pancanga’ program developed by Michio Yano and Makoto Fushimi http://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~yanom/pancanga/index.html [also http://goo.gl/MN37FC, last accessed in April 2017]

4. Languages

The language of the engravings on the Indo-Persian instruments is mainly Persian with Arabic technical terms. The transcription of these Arabic terms is somewhat peculiar. Because of the limited space available for engraving, or even otherwise, the Arabic definite article al- is often omitted. Epithets in masculine gender are added to nouns even when the latter are feminine. The term ra’s (head) is generally transcribed as rās. In order to retain the peculiarity of the language, the engravings are transliterated exactly, without making any attempt at assimilation or vocalization according to the usage either in Arabic or in Persian.

As will be explained in the introduction to Sanskrit astrolabes, unlike in the Islamic and in Indo-Persian milieu in India, no professional class of Sanskrit instrument makers developed. Hindu or Jaina astronomers or astrologers, who used Sanskrit as the language of learning, when they wished to have instrument, themselves prepared the technical designs and the text of engravings and asked the willing brass worker, who may be barely literate, to prepare the instrument. Consequently, the Sanskrit engravings of star names and even place names are often incorrect. Therefore, I have added the correct version in most of the cases, for the sake of intelligibility.

5. Transliteration

Arabic/ Persian

Transliteration Sanskrit

6. Numerical Notations

Abjad | On Indo-Persian instruments, the numerical quantities are transcribed mostly in the Abjad alpha-numeric notation and occasionally with the common Arabic/Persian numerals. Khareghat published a very convenient table of the Abjad notation which is reproduced below. ^v

Common Arabic/ Persian Numerals | used occasionally on Indo-Persian instruments
١(1), ٢(2), ٣(3), ۴(4), ۵(5), ۶(6), ٧(7), ٨(8), ٩(9), ٠(0).

Devanagari Numerals | used generally on Sanskrit instruments
१(1), २(2), ३(3), ४(4), ५(5), ६(6), ७(7), ८ (8), ९(9), ०(0).

The Sanskrit alpha-numeric system called Kaṭapayādi is employed in two Sanskrit instruments (C015 and H003), in imitation of the Abjad notation on Indo-Persian instruments.^vi

Bhūtasaṃkhyā | A more widely employed notation, in Sanskrit texts on astronomy and mathematics, and also in inscriptions, is generally known as the Bhūtasaṃkhyā system, or ‘word numerals’, where Sanskrit words denoting the sky stand for zero, words denoting the moon etc., represent one, words denoting objects that occur in pairs, like eyes, ears, hands etc., express ‘two’ and so on.™ This notation is used in the inscription on H003.

^v From Khareghat 1950, pp. x-xii. In the argument astrolabe is misspelt.

^vi Sarma 1999b; Sarma 2012d.

^vii Bīrūnī 1910; SarmaKV 2003; Sarma 2009b.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In Indian Academic tradition, it is customary to commence with a homage to one’s gurus. From Professor David A. King (University of Frankfurt) I received my first lessons in how to study an astrolabe when I accompanied him to the Salar Jung Museum at Hyderabad and to the Jaipur Observatory in 1991. In his monumental In Synchrony with the Heavens, he dedicated a section to me and mentioned there my work with approval. I cannot think of any honour higher than this.

The little knowledge I acquired in these years on the medieval astronomical instruments is due to the writings of the late Professor Willy Hartner (University of Frankfurt), Professor David A. King (University of Frankfurt), the late Francis Maddison (Museum of the History of Science, Oxford), James Morrison (Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, USA), the late Professor David Pingree (Brown University, Providence), Professor Emilie Savage-Smith (University of Oxford) and Anthony J. Turner (Le Mesnil-le-Roi, France). Not only their books, but they themselves helped me in myriad ways through all these years. To these gurus, I address my first acknowledgement of gratitude.

I owe a deep debt of gratitude to the late Professor Fuat Sezgin, the founder and director of the Institut für die Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften at Frankfurt. I had the privilege of using the rich library and the guest apartment of the Institute several times. Professor Sezgin established a unique museum of history of science and technology in Islam with replicas of instruments and artefacts which were carefully reconstructed from descriptions and diagrams in Arabic manuscripts, and prepared a large comprehensive catalogue of this museum in five volumes. He entrusted my wife and me the task of translating this catalogue from German into English. Through this translation I could widen my knowledge of the Islamic astronomical instruments.

At Aligarh Muslim University, where I spent most of my professional career, my stay was considerably enriched by the occasional conversations with Professor Irfan Habib who always found time to answer my queries on medieval Indian history and has translated several Persian passages for me, for which I am highly obliged.

Special thanks are due to Professor Owen Gingerich (Harvard University), the only university professor I know who owns an Indo-Persian astrolabe, for his encouragement and help at the initial stages of my work.

It is my pleasant duty to thank two friends and colleagues of long standing for their encouragement and constant support. Professor S. M. Razaullah Ansari (formerly Professor of Physics at Aligarh Muslim University and formerly President of the Commission for the History of Ancient and Medieval Astronomy) aroused my interest in astronomical instruments by suggesting that I prepare an edition and translation of the Yantraprakāra which the astronomer prince Sawai Jai Singh got compiled before he designed the huge instruments in masonry.^viii He also has published some of my early studies on instruments in the Studies in History of Medicine and Science of which he was the editor. Dr A. K. Bag (History of Science Division, Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi) has been very supportive of my project from the beginning. He published several of my papers in the Indian Journal of History of Science and thus gave me the opportunity to present my work to a wider academic community.

Three other friends whose expertise in Sanskrit and Arabic sources on astronomy and mathematics I could always draw on are Professors Michio Yano (Kyoto Sangyo University), Takao Hayashi (Doshisha University, Kyoto) and Takanori Kusuba (Osaka University of Economics). Professor Hayashi read parts of this catalogue and made valuable suggestions for improvement. It is a pleasure to express my thanks to them.

❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀

For this project, I received funding from the following sources, which is gratefully acknowledged. The Scientific Instrument Commission (Dr R. G. W. Anderson, President; Professor G L’ E. Turner, Secretary) awarded me a grant for studying Indian astronomical instruments in the museums in UK in summer 1993.

Through the initiative of Professor Nalini Balbir (Sorbonne Nouvelle, University of Paris 3), I was offered Visiting Professorship at her department to study Indian instruments in Paris from mid-September to mid-October 1994.

On the recommendation of Professor David A. King (Institut für Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Goethe University, Frankfurt), the Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst awarded me a scholarship to study the Indian instruments in Germany in the winter 1995-96.

Through the initiative of Dr A. K. Bag, the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi, awarded me a project to study the instruments in the various museums in India from October 1998- September 2001.

❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀

Now I must record my deep appreciation and grateful thanks to the authorities of all the museums for opening the treasures of their collections for my study.

MUSEUMS IN INDIA

I began my exploration of museums in May 1991 at the Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad, where I had my first glimpse of the astrolabes and globes of the Lahore Family, with the warm-hearted cooperation of the director Dr M. L. Nigam and the keeper of the manuscripts Dr Rahmat Ali Khan. The next director Dr I. K. Sarma invited me to deliver the Salar Jung Memorial Lecture in 1995 and published the lecture under the title Astronomical Instruments in the Salar Jung Museum.^ix During my third visit in 2004, the director Dr A. K. V. S. Reddy treated me as a special guest of the museum.

There are two other places in India which I visited frequently for the project. Sawai Jai Singh, aside from erecting huge astronomical instruments in masonry, collected some splendid masterpieces of Lahore astrolabes. His son Sawai Madho Singh designed some interesting instruments. A veritable treasury of these and several other instruments are preserved at the Jaipur Observatory. I went several times to Jaipur to study these instruments. I would like to thank the authorities of the Rajasthan State Department of Archaeology and Museums and, in particular, the Superintendent of the Observatory, Pandit Om Prakash Sharma. Pandit Om Prakash Sharma constructed a special gallery to display these portable instruments.

The Rampur Raza Library owns important instruments which I studied with the warm support of the late Dr W. H. Siddiqi, officer on special duty. Akbar Ali Khan Arshizada and Abu Sad Ilahi deciphered and translated Arabic and Persian inscriptions on some of these instruments. Dr Siddiqi desired that I prepare a catalogue of the astronomical instruments in their collection with the photographs by Mirza Jamshed Agha; the catalogue was published quite elegantly by Tanzim Raza Qureshi, Islamic Wonders Bureau, Delhi.

The other museums I visited, or collected information from, in India are listed in alphabetical order of the cities, with the names of the authorities in parentheses.

Aligarh, Aligarh Muslim University, Ajmal Khan Tibbia College (principal).

Hyderabad: Saidiya Library (Ahmad Athaullah); State Museum of Archaeology (S. S. Rangacharylu, assistant director).

Jaipur: Government Maharaja’s Sanskrit College (Professor Vijay Kumar Sharma); Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, City Palace (Dr Giles H. R. Tillotson, director of research); Museum of Indology (Ramachandra Vyakul); Shri Sanjay Sharma Museum & Research Institute (Ram Kripalu Sharma and Tilak Raj Sharma).

Lucknow: Nadwatul Ulama (M. Haroon Nadwi, librarian of the Shibli Nomani Library),

Mumbai, Chatrapati Shivaji Sangrahalay (Dr Kalpana Desai, director; Arvind Fondekar, assistant curator); K. R. Cama Oriental Institute (Homai N. Modi, trustee).

New Delhi: Mumtaj Mahal Museum (Archaeological Museum), Red Fort (Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India); National Museum (U. Das, keeper; Anamika Pathak, C.A.).

Patna: Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library (Dr A. R. Bedar, director; Md. Atiqur Rehman, assistant librarian; Ata Khurshid, library assistant; Dr Mohammad Zakir Hussain, research scholar).

Srinagar: Sri Pratap Singh Museum: Munir Ul Islam, Director, Archives, Archaeology and Museums, Jammu & Kashmir; Rabia Qureshi, Curator, SPS Museum; Dr Seemin Rubab and Nazir Ahmad Doshab.

Srinagar: University of Kashmir, Central Asian Museum (Nazir Ahmad Doshab, photographer).

Vadodara: MS University of Baroda, Oriental Institute (Professor M. L. Wadekar, director; Dr Sweta Prajapati); Sanskrit Mahavidylaya (Professor Yogesh B. Oza, principal).

Varanasi: Banaras Hindu University, Bharat Kala Bhavan (Dr R. C. Sharma, director; Yashodhara Agarwal, curator); Sampurnanand Sanskrit University, Sarasvati Bhavan Library (Professor Mandan Mishra, vice-chancellor; D. S. Mishra, assistant librarian).

Museums in UK

In 1989, I attended the International Congress of History of Science at Hamburg and made a presentation on the ‘Astronomical Instruments in Mughal Miniatures.’^x In the course of my presentation, I spoke about the need of an inventory of the extant astronomical instruments produced in India. The audience included Dr R. G. W. Anderson and Professor G. L’ E. Turner, who were then the president and secretary of the Scientific Instrument Commission. They approved of my idea and suggested that I should begin the work in UK where there are large collections. But I could not make it to UK until the summer of 1993.

A large part of my stay was spent at the Museum of the History of Science at Oxford, where the director Francis Maddison showed keen interest in my work. He allowed me access to a large collection of photographs of astronomical instruments which various auction houses sent him for his evaluation. He also allowed me to copy the relevant parts of the Repertoire he was then compiling. This work was never published, but the 1993 version I have has been very valuable for my work. I am highly indebted to him and also to Dr W. D. Hackmann, assistant director; A. V. Simcock, librarian and L. Norman, photographer. I was again in this museum in 2005 and the new director Dr Jim Bennett very kindly provided me all facilities to study the instruments. The present director, Dr Silke Ackermann, graciously permitted me to include several museum photos in this catalogue.

The other museums I visited in UK are listed in alphabetical order of the cities.

Cambridge: Whipple Museum of the History of Science (Dr J. A. Bennett, curator).

Cardiff: Welsh Industrial and Maritime Museum (Alex Dawson, documentation officer).

Edinburgh: Royal Museum of Scotland (Dr Alison Morrison-Low provided me excellent photos of instruments in the museum).

Lancashire: Stonyhurst College (Elizabeth Robinson, Persons Fellow).

London: British Museum (Dr R. G. W. Anderson, director; Dr Richard Blurton, Beatriz Waters); The Clockmakers’ Company Collection, Guildhall (Sir George White, curator); Horniman Museum (Ken Teague, assistant keeper); Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Islamic Art (Professor Nasser D. Khalili and Nahla Nassar, registrar); National Maritime Museum, Greenwich (Dr Kristin Lippincott, Dr Gloria Clifton, Dr Louise Devoy); Science Museum (Kevin Johnson, Alison Boyle, Jeremiah Solak); Victoria and Albert Museum (Anthony North, Susan Strange).

Oxford: Pitt Rivers Museum of Ethnology (Linda Mowat, assistant curator).

MUSEUMS IN USA

Professor David Pingree offered me visiting associate professorship at his Department of History of Mathematics at Brown University Providence for the year 1992-93. This gave me the opportunity to visit the various museums in the USA with collections of Indian astronomical instruments. More important, I read Mahendra Sūri’s Yantrarāja, the first Sanskrit manual on the astrolabe, with David Pingree and his students. I also had the opportunity to read the catalogue of Sanskrit and Indo-Persian astrolabes in the Adler Planetarium at Chicago, which Pingree was then preparing and which appeared posthumously in 2009 under the title Eastern Astrolabes.

Chicago: The Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum (Roderick Webster and Marjorie Webster, honorary curators). I am highly thankful to Dr Pedro Raposo, the curator, and Lauren Boegen, digital collections manager, for their kindness in generously sending me more than a hundred digital images of the Indian instruments in their collection.

New Haven: Yale University, Cushing/Whitney Medical Library (Dr Melisa Graffe, librarian).

New York: Columbia University, Butler Library, Rare Book and Manuscript Library (Rudolph Ellenbogen, assistant librarian).

Rockford: Time Museum (Patricia H. Atwood, executive director).

Washington, D. C.: National Museum of American History (Dr Peggy Kidwell, (late) Silvio Bedini, Deborah J. Warner, Drew Robarge).

I must offer special thanks to Dr David Coffeen (Tesseract, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY) for many photos of instruments in his collection anf for valuable suggestions.

MUSEUMS IN FRANCE

Paris: Institute du Monde Arabe (Jeanne Mouliérac); Observatory of Paris (Dr Jean-Pierre Verdet, Dr Suzanne Débarbat).

Anthony Turner and Dominique Brieux helped me in studying the instruments in private collections.

MUSEUMS IN GERMANY

With a scholarship from the Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst, I spent the winter 1995-96 at Professor David King’s Institut für die Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, where I could make use of the rich library and benefit from the expertise of Professor King’s students, Dr Francoise Charette, Dr Benno van Dalen, Dr Petra Schmidl and Dr Burkhard Stautz.

At Frankfurt, I could also use the rich library of the Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-islamische Wissenschaft where Farid Benfeghoul, Dr Carl Ehrig-Eggert, Lutz Kotthof and Dr Gesine Yildiz rendered me various kinds of help.

Berlin: Museum für Indische Kunst (Regina Hickemann, Deputy Director).

Bielefeld: Kunstgewerbesammlung der Stadt Bielefeld.

Hannover: Kestner Museum (Prof. Dr Rosemarie Drenkhahn, Director).

Stuttgart: Linden Museum (Beate Siewart-Meyer, Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin).

BELGIUM

In Belgium, there are several Indian instruments in private collections and it is to the credit of Jan de Graeve that I could study and photograph these instruments.

NETHERLANDS

Leiden: Museum Boerhaave (Dr Robert van Gent; Tiemen Cocquyt).

PAKISTAN

I did not have the opportunity to visit the museums in Pakistan. Dr Nasim Naqvi (London) obtained for me some photographs of instruments through his contacts. Now Mubashir Ul-Haq Abbasi (Institute of Space Technology, Islamabad, Pakistan) kindly sent me detailed photos and information of instruments in the Islamabad Museum, Lahore Museum and National Museum of Pakistan at Karachi. He is also preparing a comprehensive catalogue of the astronomical instruments preserved in the museums of Pakistan.

QATAR

Doha: Museum of Islamic Art (Marc Pelletreau, Head of Multimedia)

RUSSIA

St. Petersburg: The State Hermitage Museum (Dr Olga P. Deshpande, Senior Curator, Oriental Department; Zhanna Etsina, Manager, Rights and Reproductions Office).

SWITZERLAND

Geneva: Musée d'Histoire des Sciences (Laurence-Isaline Stahl Gretsch; Stéphane Fischer).

TURKEY

I did not have the chance to visit Istanbul. At Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, Professor Mustafa Aktar, professor of geophysics and in-charge of the collection of historical instruments, very kindly sent me photos and the exact measurements of the Indian instruments in the collection.

❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀

Besides the museums mentioned above, many private collectors allowed me to study the Indian instruments in their collections; some have provided me with good photos. I am much obliged to them, but it is not appropriate to identify them with their names.

❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀

Outside the museums, I am highly obliged to many scholars for arranging my lectures on instruments, for publishing my papers, for introducing me to the museums and private collectors and for various other favours.

India: Professor Ishrat Alam (Aligarh Muslim University), Dr Vijay V. Bedekar (Chairman, Vidyaprasarak Mandal, Thane, India); Professor Ramkrishna Bhattacharya (Kolkata); Dr Divyabhanusinh Chawda (Jaipur); Professor Ratna Prabha Chivukula (M. S. University of Baroda); Professor Ashok Das (formerly Director, Sawai Mansingh Library and Museum, Jaipur); Dr Devangana Desai (Editor, Journal of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai); Dr Sanjay Garg (National Archives of India, New Delhi); (late) S. A. K. Ghori (Aligarh); Dr Sudha Gopalakrishnan (formerly Director, National Manuscript Mission, New Delhi); Professor S. Irfan Habib (National University for Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi); Professor Amina Kishore (Aligarh Muslim University); Professor M. A. Kishore (Aligarh Muslim University); Professor Rani Majumdar (Aligarh Muslim University); Dr Syed Liyaqat Hussain Moini (Aligarh Muslim University); Professor Shirin Moosvi (Aligarh Muslim University); Ghulam Mujtaba, Aligarh; Professor Jayant Narliker (Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune); (late) Professor Ahsan Jan Qaisar (Aligarh Muslim University); Professor Zillur Rahman (President, Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences, Aligarh); Professor K. Ramasubramanian (IIT-B, Mumbai); Professor S. Balachandra Rao (Formerly Professor of Mathematics and Principal, National College, Bangalore); Abdul Rashid (Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi); Dr Mira Roy (Kolkata); (late) Yaduendra Sahai (Sawai Mansingh Library and Museum, Jaipur); (late) S. N. Sen (Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata); Subhash Sharma (Jaipur); Professor B. V. Subbarayappa (former President, International Union of History and Philosophy of Science, Bangalore); Dr Vijay Shankar Shukla (India Gandhi National Centre for Arts); Dr B. G. Sidharth (Director, B. M. Birla Science Centre, Hyderabad); Professor Romila Thaper (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi); Professor Radha Vallabh Tripathi (formerly Vice Chancellor, Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi); late Dr Lotika Varadarajan (New Delhi); Dr Kapila Vatsyayan (Founder-Director, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi).

Belgium: Ernesto Canobbio and Dr Jean-Michel Delire.

Canada: Professor Ashok Aklujkar (University of British Columbia, Vancouver); Professor Dominik Wujastyk (University of Alberta, Edmonton).

Egypt: Dr Flora Vafea (Cairo); Ayman Aly (Cairo).

France: Eric and Dominique Delalande (Galerie Delalande, Paris); Professor Jan Houben (École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris); Dr Jérôme Petit (Bibliothèque Nationale de France); (late) Dr Arion Roşu (Versailles); Professor Fabrizio Speziale (Université Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle).

Germany: Professor Willem Bollée (Bamberg), Professor Rahul Peter Das (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenburg), (late) Professor Michael Hahn (Philipps University, Marburg), Professor Jürgen Hanneder (Philipps University, Marburg), Professor Oskar von Hinüber (Albert-Ludwigs University, Freiburg), (late) Dr Anthony R. Michaelis (Heidelberg); Professor Eva Orthmann (University of Bonn); (late) Professor Wilhelm Rau (Philipps University, Marburg); Dr Alexander Walland (Ingelheim); Karl Pohl (Cologne); Dr Jayandra Soni (Philipps University, Marburg); (late) Professor Claus Vogel (University of Bonn); Professor Albrecht Wezler (University of Hamburg).

Iran: Professor Mohammad Bagheri (Institute for the History of Science, University of Tehran).

Italy: Dr Paulo Brenni (President, Scientific Instruments Society); Dr Ileana Chinnici (Palermo Observatory, Palermo, Italy); Professor Mara Miniati (Curator Emeritus, Museo Galileo, Florence).

Japan: Dr Yukio Ohashi (Tokyo); Satoshi Ogura (Kyoto University).

Netherlands: Wilfred de Graaf and Professor Jan P. Hogendijk (University of Utrecht); Dr Saraju Rath (International Institute of Asian Studies, Leiden).

Russia: Sergei Maslikov (Director, Large Novosibirsk Planetarium, Novosibirsk).

Spain: Professor Emilia Calvo, Dr Roser Puig and Professor Julio Samso (University of Barcelona).

Sweden: Dr Martin Gansten (Lund, Sweden).

Switzerland: Dr Johannes Thomann (University of Zurich).

Thailand: Professor Ampha Otrakul (Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok).

UK: Dr Josefina Rodriguez Arribas (Warburg Institute, University of London); Professor Charles Burnett (Warburg Institute, University of London); Jeremy Collins (Christie’s, London); Dr Roy Fischel (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London); Dr Edward Gibbs (Sotheby’s, London); Dr Willem Hackmann (Editor, Bulletin of the Scientific Instruments Society).

USA: Professor Muzaffar Alam (University of Chicago); Dr Owen T. Cornwall (Columbia University, New York); Dr Sharon Gibbs-Thibodeau (US National Archives, College Park, Maryland); Dr Toke Lindegaard Knudsen (State University of New York, Oneonta); Professor Phyllis Granoff (Yale University, New Haven); Dr James McHugh (University of Southern California, Los Angeles); Dr Clemency Montelle (Brown University, Providence; now: University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand); Angur Patel (San Diego, California); Professor Sumathi Ramaswamy (Duke University, Durham, North Carolina); Professor Virendra Nath Sharma (University of Wisconsin); Profesor Michael Witzel (Harvard University).

❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀

I must record my sincere thanks to the following friends whose help I sought frequently during the past two years while drafting this catalogue and who have readily and warm-heartedly responded:

Dr Vijay Bedekar (Thane) and Jan de Graeve (Brussels) sent me, at short notices, rare published material; Dr Jean-Michel Delire (Brussels) very generously provided me detailed photos of instruments in Jaipur; Dr Martin Gansten (Lund) helped me with astrological matters. Mubashir Ul-Haq Abbasi (Islamabad) has been an enthusiastic collaborator during the past three years; the detailed descriptions and photos of the instruments preserved in the various museums of Pakistan are due to him; he also deciphered and translated some Persian inscriptions for me. When I asked Debasish Das (Gurgaon) for a photo of the sundial at the Jama Masjid in Delhi, he promptly sent me detailed photos of that sundial; not only that, he also made explorations throughout India and within a short time located several thitherto unknown sundials and became an expert in this process (see his very comprehensive and eminently readable report on the sundials in mosques in India at Das 2018).

❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀

For their abiding friendship and many acts of help, I owe a special debt of gratitude to Ursula and Oskar Kober (Homberg/Efze, Germany).

❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀

Without the loving support of my wife Renate Sarma and our son Ananda Sarma, I could not have worked for so many years and completed this catalogue. Renate proofread much of the catalogue with great patience. Ananda gave shape to my raw text, with his efficient formatting and nice layout; he is, in fact, the manager, editor and publisher of this catalogue.

^viii Sarma 1986-87a.

^ix Sarma 1996a.

^x Sarma 1992a.