Hindu astronomer, 19th-century illustration

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Hindu astronomer, 19th-century illustration

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Summary

19th-century illustration of a Hindu astronomer.
Original caption: "Dybuck, an astronomer, calculating an Eclipse."

The illustration, as well as the term dybuck, is derived from an etching with the title "Daybouk ou astronome hindou" by Frans Balthazar Solvyns (between 1791 and 1803), published in his Les Hindous (1808)[1][2][3]
The original caption by Solvyns describes the specific individual he depicted:

"He who is the subject of the plate is sitting before his house, calculating an eclipse. Before him are his tablets, and in his hand the chalk with which he writes on a blackened board. He was often consulted by the learned, even from Europe, and expressed himself with great accuracy and precision'
(Note that the filename is mistaken, this image was never meant to represent Brahmagupta, nor does it show any "ancient" astronomer; it was rather drawn from life in the 1790s and shows a then-contemporary traditional Hindu astronomer)

date_range

Date

1835
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Source

Bibliothèque nationale de France
copyright

Copyright info

public domain

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