User:Singhsamant

Mahamahopadhyaya Chandra Sekhar Singh Samanta Harichandan Mohapatra, popularly in Odisha as Pathani Samanta, is an astronomer of the rank of Aryabhata, Varahamihira, Brahmagupta and Bhaskaracharya. He was born in 1835 A.D. on the 13. 12. 1835,correspo...nding to Pausha Krishna Astami of the Saka year 1957 at Khandapara state now in Nayagarh district of Odisha. His full name was Mahamahopadhaya Chandrasekhar Singh Harichandan Mohapatra Samant.

He received primary education in Sanskrit from a Brahmin teacher. When he was ten year old, one of his uncles taught him a little of astrology and showed him some of the stars in the sky. Samanta Chandrasekhar did not have any formal University education and his interest and efforts in Astronomy were completely self taught. A Hindu orthodox by nature, Chandra Sekhar, with his traditional background alone studied the subject of astronomy, observed the movements of planets through naked eyes and was able to reach the approximate reality as founded by scientists with the aid of modern equipments. He was an outstanding mathematician of high order and engaged himself in the field of mathematical calculations known as Astronomy.

He fabricated ingenious instruments out of wooden sticks and bamboo chips and attained great accuracy in measurement. His scientific investigations are recorded in his astronomical treatise. “The Siddhanta Darpana” composed in Sanskrit Verse. This work was highly acclaimed even by the Western Press in 1899. The original manuscript of 2500 Sanskrit shlokas (In Sanskrita Language) was written in Odiya script, on palm leaves, by Samanta Chandrasekhar. In Siddhanta Darpan, poetry and mathematics are in tune with each other, and this stands as a specimen of his genius. By sheer efforts and perseverance, this last and foremost orthodox Hindu siddhanta writer could rise above his environment. He left an indelible stamp of his genius on the history of Indian astronomy. His ability in the use of manayantra (measuring instrument), “Golyantra” (spherical instrument) and surya-ghadi (sundial to measure the time) proved him to be a good architect with engineering skill.

He is rightly called the second Bhaskara in India. Chandra Sekhar seems to be the last link in the long order of great Hindu astronomers like Aryabhatta, Varahamihira, Brahma Gupta and Bhaskara, whose genius blazed from places spread all over India, scaling a time span of nearly 1,500 years, with available systematic record from 5th century A.D. to the turn of the last century. This continuous stream of genius appeared to have broken after Bhaskara for about seven hundred years, and one sees the burst of the last glow in Chandra Sekhar.

A glorious personality by virtue of his high academic attainments, scholarly approach to the problems and moral effulgence, Chandra Sekhar no doubt shines best in the history of Panjika-Samskara.( collected)