Accession No

5907

Brief Description

universal equinoctial ring dial with Devanagari / Sanskrit script, Indian, late 19th century

Origin

India (north or central - possibly Jaipur)

Maker

Class

dials

Earliest Date

1875

Latest Date

1900

Inscription Date

Material

metal (brass)

Dimensions

external diameter: 145mm

Special Collection

Provenance

Purchased from Tesseract, Box 151, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, 10706 on or before 20/03/2003.

Inscription

'द.क्रांति' [possibly 'north revolution']
'उ.क्रांति' [possibly 'south revolution']
'उत्तरायन'
'दक्षिणाय' 'दक्षिणायन' or 'दाक्षायण्य' [unclear]
‘क’ [k] ‘भी’ [bhee] ‘मे’ [may] ‘वृ’ [vrah] ‘िम’ [mi]
‘वृ’ [vrah], ‘तु’ [tu], ‘क’ [k], ‘िस’ [si], ‘क’ [k] [these two lines are the initials of the zodiac houses]
[numbers inscribed around ring]

Description Notes

Universal equinoctial ring dial with Devanagari / Sanskrit script, Indian, late 19th century

Meridian ring calibrated for all latitudes, divided 0˚ - 90˚ - 0˚, numbered by 6˚, subdivided by 2˚. Reverse of meridian ring divided to 360˚, similarly divided to front, but unnumbered. Sliding suspension shackle and ring. Equinoctial ring divided 0 - 20, numbered by 1, subdivided every half, continuing to inner face (divided two thirds of the way round, with markings for further unfinished divisions). Pierced bridge divided to initialed zodiac houses; reverse carries declination scale, 0 - 20˚, numbered by 5˚, subdivided to 1˚. All markings in Devanagari script, so either Sanskrit or Hindi. See OHF for details of script provided by researcher.

References

Joshua Nall; ‘Local Knowledge’; Explore Whipple Collections online article; Whipple Museum of the History of Science; University of Cambridge; 2020: https://www.whipplemuseum.cam.ac.uk/explore-whipple-collections/astronomy-and-empire/local-knowledge

Events