Odisha Review January - 2012

The Legacy of Samanta

Chandrasekhara

Nikunja Bihari Sahu

Swayambaha Yantra

One of the greatest original astronomers of all time,

Samanta Chandrasekhara extended and enriched
the scope of Indian astronomy by virtue of his
practical observations of the night sky. His full
name is Mahamahopadhyaya Samanta
Chandrasekhara Sinha Harichandan Mohapatra.
However, in Orissa he is popularly known as
Pathani Samanta, a nick-name given by his parents
on account of their first two children having died
in infancy. India has, over the years, produced
many outstanding scholars in Astronomy such as
Aryabhatta-1 of Kusumapura (476 A.D.), Chapa Yantra
Varahamihira of Ujjaini (503 A.D.), Brahmagupta breath-taking developments of science which was
of Bhillamala or Bhinmal in Rajasthan ( 598 A.D.) sweeping the whole western world at that time.
and Bhaskara-II of Bijayapura or Bijapur in There was no teacher who could instruct him into
Karnataka (1114 A.D.). Samanta Chandrasekhara depth and he was quite ignorant of any language
is said to be the last link in this long chain of other than Sanskrit and his mother-tongue Odia.
classical astronomers that our country has Only a paltry collection of books in his family
produced. library written on palm leaves in Sanskrit in purely
classical style was the sole source of information
Early Days
for him. He has to content himself within the hills
Although the exact date of birth of and jungles of his native place with only the stars
Samanta Chandrasekhara is debatable and as his guide.
shrouded in mystery, he is believed to have been
Need for Accuracy
born on 13th December, 1835 in a royal family of
the princely state of Khandaparagarh presently It is said that at the age of 10, one of his
in the district of Nayagarh. Struck with poverty, uncles initiated him to astronomy and showed him
child Chandrasekhara had little scope of having few stars in the sky. This aroused his curiosity for
any formal school education or access to the the stars that persisted as a lifetime passion. At

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January - 2012 Odisha Review

the age of 15, he noticed that the position of stars a pointer aligned
was not in accordance with the rules prescribed at the Pole-star,
in the famous astronomical texts or Siddhantas measures time for
followed at that time. Again and again, he half of a day.
measured with a graduated rod the relative Golardha Yantra
distance of heavenly bodies anticipating an is a hemi-
agreement between the observation and spherical sun-
calculation, but every time his hopes were dashed dial.
to the ground. He was not sure whether the rules
were fundamentally wrong or his observations T h e
Mana Yantra
lack the accuracy as demanded by the merit of inst r u me nt s
such task. Only correct measurement was which were for versatile use primarily include a
necessary to settle this doubt which inherently stick called Shanku and a shaped instrument
requires efficient instruments. As there was no called Mana Yantra. Shanku, or Gnomon as it is
instrument maker at that time to supply him with popularly known, consists of a stick of measured
the requisite tools to carry out such precise height fixed vertically on a leveled ground. By
measurements, he had to develop his own set of measuring its shadow length cast by the Sun at
different times, it was possible to determine the
instruments out of whatever materials he found,
directions of a place, the Local Time, the Latitude
such as bamboo and wood. Sometimes, he used
of the observer, the Altitude, the Zenith Distance
shell of the fruit Bottle gourd, an iron bowl as the
and the Declination of the Sun and its position
raw material. Needless to say, the clear and blue
along the Zodiac belt. However, his most
canopy of the sky seen from his place was his
favourite instrument was the Mana Yantra which
observatory that offered him endless scope for
readily measures angles in the sky as well as on
astronomical pursuit.
the ground. It consists of a wooden staff to which
Tools is attached a cross-piece in the form of a .
The cross-piece is notched into stairs and pierced
His instruments can be broadly classified with holes to indicate the angle subtended by the
into three categories, i.e. instruments for measuring distant object at the free end of the staff. With
Time, Versatile instruments and Armillary Sphere. this instrument in hand , he is said to have measured
In the context of the highly sophisticated the height of the Saptasajya hill with a fair degree
instruments in use these days for astronomical of accuracy once upon a request made by the
measurements (capable of millionths part of a then British Commissioner of Cuttack Mr. Cooks.
degree in accuracy), it will be interesting to have With Mana Yantra, he also measured the height
an idea of the instruments he was actually using. of the Mahendragiri hill of Manjusha in Parikuda
Instruments for measuring time include sun-dials upon a request made by the king of Manjusha
like Chapa Yantra, Chakra Yantra, Golardha and his value was verified by the then Madras
Yantra, and of course, a Water clock called Government. Both Shanku and Mana Yantra can
Swayambaha Yantra. Chakra Yantra which also be used to determine the height and distance
measures time for an entire day consists of a of a hill, tree, lamp-post or cloud. Of course,
graduated disc with a staff fixed at the centre. for such a task (where both the Height and
Chapa Yantra, basically a semi-circular dial with Distance of the object are unknown), separate

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Odisha Review January - 2012

measurements The ephemeride

from t wo computed from his
different elements were in close
distances have agreement with the
to be taken. Nautical Almanac
followed in Europe at
Armillar y that time. While the
Sphere or Gola Bengali almanac may
Yantra was a be in error by as much
very common as 4 0, the corres-
device prevalent ponding error in
among classical Siddhanta Darpana
I n d i a n was restricted to only Golardha Yantra
ast ro nomers Gola Yantra
half a degree.
and is basically a
three-dimensional model of the celestial sphere. Chandrasekhara has discovered some
It was used as a demonstration kit for showing to original corrections to be applied to the mean
students various great circles used in astronomy motion of the Moon to account for its three
as well as for measuring the Latitude and important anomalies, i.e. Evection, Variation and
Longitude of planets. In this mode, it was able Annual Equation. Although some of these
to show the direct and retrograde motion of the
anomalies were known to independent observers
planets along the zodiac circle.
at various tomes, Chandrasekhara was the only
Landmark Contribution Indian astronomer who has detected and
measured all these three values.
Samanta Chandrasekhara, at the first
hand, attempted to improve the existing calendar Another important contribution of
system that regulates the daily rituals of the Hindu Chandrasekhara was the improvement of the
society. This was very important, as the native values of Parallax for the Sun and the Moon which
Hindu almanac computed from the rules given by were so important for the calculation and
the old Siddhantas were falling into serious errors prediction of eclipses. To determine the parallax
and no two almanacs agreed in their computations. of the Sun and the Moon, their respective
Samanta Chandrasekhara has, therefore, distances from the Earth have to be expressed in
painstakingly re-determined the elements of the terms of Earth radii. Chandrasekhara has
old Siddhantas aided by his practical suggested an innovative experiment with a coin
observations. The ephemeris computed from his so as to determine the
elements proved to be more accurate than any ratio of the Distance
other almanacs available at that time, and hence, to the Diameter for
provided a standard source of reference in the the Sun and t he
otherwise chaotic situation prevailing at that time. Moo n. A table
Not surprisingly, his calendar system was comparing the values
accepted in many learned circles including the for the Horizontal
temple authorities of Puri for performing various Parallax as
day-to-day rituals of the deity. det ermined by
He has prescribed several corrections to various observers of
be applied to the mean motion of the planets so that time is appended
as to precisely determine their positions in the sky. below: Chakra Yantra

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January - 2012 Odisha Review

Parallax of Objects Old Siddhantas Chandrasekhara Modern Value

Sun 56" 22" 8.9"

Moon 52 42" 56 28" 57 03"
Difference of Parallax
for the Sun and the Moon 48 46" 56 6" 56 51"

Siddhanta Darpana numerous works in astronomy published within

the last few years, this is by far the most extra-
Armed with the devices, Chandrasekhara ordinary and in some respects the most instructive
spent nights after nights in the all absorbing game .. and is a complete system of astronomy
of star gazing. At the age of twenty-three, founded upon by naked eye observations
Chandrasekhara started to record his only The work is of importance and
observations systematically and compiled these interest to us Westerns also. It demonstrates the
findings in a masterpiece treatise written in degree of accuracy which was possible in
Sanskrit on palm leaves called Siddhanta Darpana astronomical observation before the invention of
which he completed at the age of only thirty four. telescope, and it enables us to watch, as it were,
But it took 30 years to get published in Devnagari one of the astronomers of hoary, forgotten
script from Kolkata. It contains 2500 number of antiquity actually at his work before us today.
slokas of which 2284 are compiled by himself The journal Nature writes, We should imagine
and the rest are due to other scholars. This book him to be greater than Tycho, for without the same
contains numerous instances of astronomical assistance, without the encouragement of the kings
methods of determining the position and motion and the applause of his followers, he has advanced
of planets, mathematical treatment of spherical his favourite science quite as effectively as did
astronomy, instrumentation techniques, the Danish astronomer .. The effect is to leave
improvements over earlier measurements, us at every page with a higher opinion of the author
theories and models. labouriously recording his observations on a palm
Acclaims and Accolades leaf, and unselfishly devoting his life to the services
of his country-men who do not appreciate the
For his landmark achievements in the field nobility of his effort and the entirety of his
of astronomy, he was conferred the title devotion.
Mahamohopadhyaya in 1893 by the British
Government in a special convocation ceremony Samanta Chandrasekhar is clearly the
held at Cuttack. He was compared with Tycho pride of our State. He symbolizes how best human
Brahe, the Danish astronomer for his striking talent can rise within various earthly constraints,
similarity in life and works. and hence, his life and works will continue to be
a source of inspiration for the young for years to
His treatise Siddhanta Darpana earned come.
him wide acclaim abroad. His work was highly
appreciated by the prestigious British journal
Nature (Vol. 59, March 1899) and the American
journal Knowledge (Vol. XXII, Jan-Dec, 1899). Nikunja Bihari Sahu, Education Officer, Regional
According to the journal Knowledge, Of all the Science Centre, Bhubaneswar -751013.

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