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Translating Indian Algebra in the Seventeenth Century: ʿAtāʾollāh Roshdi’s Persian Version of Bhāskara II’s Bījagaṇita

In: Journal of Persianate Studies
Author:
Zeinab Karimian Encyclopædia Islamica Foundation Tehran Iran

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https://orcid.org/0009-0007-1226-1872
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Abstract

One of the most important works in the field of medieval Indian mathematics corresponding to algebra is Bījagaṇita (Seed Calculation), a Sanskrit treatise by the famous mathematician and astronomer Bhāskara II (or Bhāskarācārya, c. 1114–aft. 1183). This paper is a general overview of the Tarjoma-ye Bij ganet (The Translation of the Bījagaṇita, 1634), a Persian text composed by the mathematician ʿAtāʾollāh Roshdi (or Rashidi), who served at the court of the Mughal emperor Shāh Jahān (r. 1628–58). The translation is divided into an introduction, subdivided in six chapters (bāb), and five books (maqāla). After discussing both Bhāskara II and Roshdi, I compare the latter’s translation with the original Sanskrit text on the basis of available English translations. I will also demonstrate how an intermediate language, which played an important role in the connection of South Asian scientific sources, facilitated this translation.

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