Betwixt Jesuit and Enlightenment Historiography: Jean-Sylvain Bailly’s History of Indian Astronomy
Revue d'histoire des mathématiques (2003)
- Volume: 9, Issue: 2, page 253-306
- ISSN: 1262-022X
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topRaina, Dhruv. "Betwixt Jesuit and Enlightenment Historiography: Jean-Sylvain Bailly’s History of Indian Astronomy." Revue d'histoire des mathématiques 9.2 (2003): 253-306. <http://eudml.org/doc/252105>.
@article{Raina2003,
abstract = {The crystallization of scientific disciplines in late eighteenth-century Europe was accompanied by the proliferation of specialist histories of science. These histories were framed as much by the imperatives of the astronomy of the times as they were by the compulsions of disciplinary differentiation. This paper attempts to contextualise the engagement with the astronomy of India in the histories of astronomy authored in the eighteenth century by the astronomer Jean-Sylvain Bailly. While Bailly’s history of astronomy is not considered very highly among historians of science, the key themes that were to engage the concerns of historians of astronomy working on India for the next century were already in place in Bailly’s history. The paper traces the influence of Jesuit historiography of India on the landscape of French Enlightenment historiography—and in particular on Bailly’s quaint antediluvian theory of the origins of Indian astronomy. The reception of Bailly’s theory of Indian astronomy is also read in context. Consequently, it is argued that in the historiography of Indian astronomy, Bailly’s history marks a liminal moment before the binary dichotomies of the history of science framed the history of Oriental astronomy.},
author = {Raina, Dhruv},
journal = {Revue d'histoire des mathématiques},
keywords = {astronomy; historiography; India; Bailly; jesuits},
language = {eng},
number = {2},
pages = {253-306},
publisher = {Société mathématique de France},
title = {Betwixt Jesuit and Enlightenment Historiography: Jean-Sylvain Bailly’s History of Indian Astronomy},
url = {http://eudml.org/doc/252105},
volume = {9},
year = {2003},
}
TY - JOUR
AU - Raina, Dhruv
TI - Betwixt Jesuit and Enlightenment Historiography: Jean-Sylvain Bailly’s History of Indian Astronomy
JO - Revue d'histoire des mathématiques
PY - 2003
PB - Société mathématique de France
VL - 9
IS - 2
SP - 253
EP - 306
AB - The crystallization of scientific disciplines in late eighteenth-century Europe was accompanied by the proliferation of specialist histories of science. These histories were framed as much by the imperatives of the astronomy of the times as they were by the compulsions of disciplinary differentiation. This paper attempts to contextualise the engagement with the astronomy of India in the histories of astronomy authored in the eighteenth century by the astronomer Jean-Sylvain Bailly. While Bailly’s history of astronomy is not considered very highly among historians of science, the key themes that were to engage the concerns of historians of astronomy working on India for the next century were already in place in Bailly’s history. The paper traces the influence of Jesuit historiography of India on the landscape of French Enlightenment historiography—and in particular on Bailly’s quaint antediluvian theory of the origins of Indian astronomy. The reception of Bailly’s theory of Indian astronomy is also read in context. Consequently, it is argued that in the historiography of Indian astronomy, Bailly’s history marks a liminal moment before the binary dichotomies of the history of science framed the history of Oriental astronomy.
LA - eng
KW - astronomy; historiography; India; Bailly; jesuits
UR - http://eudml.org/doc/252105
ER -
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