Samanta Chandra Sekhar : The great naked eye astronomer

Abstract

Samanta Chandra Sekhar (1835-1904), popularly known as Pathani Samabta in Orissa, worked in astronomy following traditional methods, completely unaware of the telescope and other aids developed in the west. He took observations with ingenious and handy instruments, all fabricated by himself. His study and observations are recorded in an invaluable classic, the Siddhanta Darpana, composed in beautiful metrical Sanskrit verse. It contains many original contributions of Sumanta in observation, calculation, instrumentation, theory and model. Hence it shows appreciable improvements over the earlier classics like Surya Siddhanta and Siddhanta Siromani. The results of Chandra Sekhar’s observations are often comparable with modern data and his predictions in positional astronomy are in fair agreement with actual occurrence of astronomical events, even today. In view of all these, Samanta Chandra Sekhar stands out as a great naked eye astronomer who had reached the limit of accuracy in observation. The aim of this paper is to bring out the merits of Siddhanta Darpana and the genius of its author to the notice of a large scientific community.