Betwixt Jesuit and Enlightenment Historiography: Jean-Sylvain Bailly's History of Indian Astronomy
[Entre historiographie jésuite et Lumières : l'histoire de l'astronomie indienne de Jean-Sylvain Bailly]
Revue d'histoire des mathématiques, Tome 9 (2003) no. 2, pp. 253-306.

Le processus de cristallisation des disciplines dans l'Europe de la fin du xviiie siècle a été accompagné d'une prolifération d'histoires spéciales des sciences. Celles-ci sont marquées tant par les impératifs des sciences de l'époque que par les contraintes de la différenciation disciplinaire. Le présent article vise à présenter la manière dont l'Inde est traitée dans l'histoire de l'astronomie écrite au xviiie siècle par l'astronome Jean-Sylvain Bailly. Alors que l'histoire de Bailly n'est pas très appréciée en histoire des sciences, on constatera que les principaux thèmes, qui allaient susciter au siècle suivant des recherches développées par les historiens de l'astronomie spécialistes de l'Inde, y étaient déjà en place. L'article ébauche l'influence que l'historiographie jésuite a exercée sur celle des Lumières françaises - et en particulier sur la théorie bizarre, élaborée par Bailly, des origines antédiluviennes de l'astronomie indienne. La réception de cette théorie est également étudiée dans son contexte. On peut affirmer que l'histoire de Bailly constitue une étape liminaire dans l'historiographie de l'astronomie indienne, avant que les dichotomies binaires de l'histoire des sciences n'impriment leur empreinte sur l'histoire de l'astronomie orientale.

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.

Keywords: astronomy, historiography, India, Bailly, jesuits
Mot clés : astronomie, historiographie, Inde, Bailly, jésuites
@article{RHM_2003__9_2_253_0,
     author = {Raina, Dhruv},
     title = {Betwixt {Jesuit} and {Enlightenment} {Historiography:} {Jean-Sylvain} {Bailly's} {History} of {Indian} {Astronomy}},
     journal = {Revue d'histoire des math\'ematiques},
     pages = {253--306},
     publisher = {Soci\'et\'e math\'ematique de France},
     volume = {9},
     number = {2},
     year = {2003},
     zbl = {1050.01008},
     language = {en},
     url = {http://www.numdam.org/item/RHM_2003__9_2_253_0/}
}
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
SP  - 253
EP  - 306
VL  - 9
IS  - 2
PB  - Société mathématique de France
UR  - http://www.numdam.org/item/RHM_2003__9_2_253_0/
LA  - en
ID  - RHM_2003__9_2_253_0
ER  - 
%0 Journal Article
%A Raina, Dhruv
%T Betwixt Jesuit and Enlightenment Historiography: Jean-Sylvain Bailly's History of Indian Astronomy
%J Revue d'histoire des mathématiques
%D 2003
%P 253-306
%V 9
%N 2
%I Société mathématique de France
%U http://www.numdam.org/item/RHM_2003__9_2_253_0/
%G en
%F RHM_2003__9_2_253_0
Raina, Dhruv. Betwixt Jesuit and Enlightenment Historiography: Jean-Sylvain Bailly's History of Indian Astronomy. Revue d'histoire des mathématiques, Tome 9 (2003) no. 2, pp. 253-306. http://www.numdam.org/item/RHM_2003__9_2_253_0/

[1] Arago (François) [1854] Œuvres complètes de François Arago, t. 2, Paris: Gide et J.Baudry, 1854.

[2] Arago (François) [1855] Œuvres complètes de François Arago, t. 3, Paris: Gide et J.Baudry, 1855.

[3] Bailly (Jean-Sylvain) [1775-1782] Histoire de l'astronomie ancienne depuis son origine jusqu'à l'établissement de l'école d'Alexandrie, 4 vols., Paris: chez les Frères Delire, 1775-1782.

[4] Bailly (Jean-Sylvain) [1777] Lettre sur l'origine des sciences et sur celles des peuples de l'asie, Paris: chez les Frères Delire, 1777.

[5] Bailly (Jean-Sylvain) [1787] Traité de l'astronomie indienne et orientale, Paris: chez Debure, Libraire de la Bibliothèque du roi et de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, 1787.

[6] Berthelot (Marcelin) [1885] Les origines de l'alchimie, Paris: Georges Steinhel, 1885.

[7] Berthelot (Marcelin) [1893] Histoire des sciences. La chimie au Moyen Âge, t. 3, Paris, 1893.

[8] Biot (Jean-Baptiste) [1803] Essai sur l'histoire générale des sciences pendant la Révolution française, Paris: chez Duprat, Quai des Augustins, An 11.

[9] Biot (Jean-Baptiste) [1714] Description du royaume de Siam par M. de la Loubère, envoyé extraordinaire du Roy auprès du Roy de Siam, Amsterdam, 1714.

[10] Duchamp (Xavier) [1733] Lettre du P.Duchamp au P.Souciet, reçue en 1733, Archives françaises de la Compagnie de Jésus, Vanves, vol.83, 83GBro 083, p.7; ff 166-169.

[11] Duchamp (Xavier) [1734] Sur le calcul des planètes selon la méthode Graha Chendrika; pour calculer les éclipses, calculs divers, Archives françaises de la Compagnie de Jésus, Vanves, vol.83, 83GBro 083 71p, ff. 119-155.

[12] Laplace (Pierre Siméon) [1787] Esprit des journaux, November, cited in [Sen 1985, p.51].

[13] Laplace (Pierre Siméon) [1813] Exposition du système du monde, Paris: Courcier, 1813.

[14] Le Gentil (Guillaume) [1779-1781] Voyage dans les mers de l'Inde (1760-1771), fait par ordre du Roi, à l'occassion du passage de Vénus, sur le disque du soleil, le 6 juin 1761, & le 3 du même mois 1769, 2 vols., Paris : Imprimerie royale, 1779-1781.

[15] Le Gentil (Guillaume) [1784] Remarques et observations sur l'astronomie des Indiens et sur l'ancienneté de cette astronomie, in Mémoires de M. LeGentil de l'Académie des sciences royales, publié dans le volume de cette Académie pour les années 1784 et 1785, Paris: 1787, pp.482-501.

[16] Le Gentil (Guillaume) [1785] Mémoires sur l'origine du zodiaque, in Mémoires de M.LeGentil de l'Académie des sciences royales, publié dans le volume de cette Académie pour les années 1784 et 1785, Paris: 1787, pp.9-16.

[17] Le Gentil (Guillaume) [1785] Du Zodiaque indien, des transactions philosophiques, année 1772, avec celui que l'on voit au bas d'une tour de Notre-Dame de Paris, avec des réflexions sur ces deux monumens, in Mémoires de M. LeGentil de l'Académie des sciences royales, publié dans le volume de cette Académie pour les années 1784 et 1785, Paris: 1787, pp.17-23.

[18] Le Gentil (Guillaume) [1810] Lettres édifiantes et curieuses: mémoires de l'Inde, t. 11-15, Toulouse: Noël-Étienne Sens, imprimeur libraire, 1810.

[19] Montucla (Jean-Étienne) [1799-1802] Histoire des mathématiques, nlle éd. compl. par Jérôme de Lalande, 4 vols, Paris : Henri Agasse, 1799-1802 ; republished by Albert Blanchard, Paris 1960.

[20] Playfair (John) [1790] Remarks on the Astronomy of the Brahmins, Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, II, I, 1790, pp.135-192.

[21] Adas (Michael) [1990] Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology, and Ideologies of Western Dominance, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1990.

[22] Agassi (Joseph) [1963] Towards an Historiography of Science, History and Theory, 1963, Beiheft 2, pp.1-117.

[23] Ambjörnsson (Ronny) [1995] East and West: On the Construction of a European Identity, VEST (a Swedish journal of science studies published from Göteborg), 8 (1995), pp.97-111.

[24] Bamboat (Zenobia) [1933] Les voyageurs français aux Indes aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Paris: Jouve & Cie, 1933.

[25] Bentley (Michael) [1997] Introduction: Approaches to Modernity: Western Historiography since the Enlightenment, in Bentley (Michael), ed., Companion to Historiography, Routledge: London and New York, 1997, pp.395-506.

[26] Bernal (Martin) [1987] Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization, London: Free Association Books, 1987.

[27] Biés (Jean) [1974] Littérature française et pensée hindoue des origines à 1950, Paris : Libraire C. Klincksieck, 1974.

[28] Chapin (Seymour L.) [1980] Jean-Sylvain Bailly, in Gillispie (Charles C.), ed., Dictionary of Scientific Biography, vol. 1-2, Charles Scribner's Sons: New York, 1980, pp.400-402.

[29] Cohen (H. Floris) [1994] The Scientific Revolution: A Historiographical Inquiry, Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1994.

[30] Cohen (I. Bernard) [1985] Revolution in Science, Cambridge (Massachussets) and London : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1985.

[31] Crombie (A.C.) [1994] Styles of Scientific Thinking in the European Tradition : The History of Argument and Explanation especially in the Mathematical and Biomedical Sciences and Arts, vol. I and III, Duckworth, 1994.

[32] Davis (J.C.) [1984] Science and Utopia: The History of a Dilemma, in Mendelsohn (Everett) and Nowotny (Helga), eds., Nineteen Eighty-Four: Science between Utopia and Dystopia. Sociology of Sciences, vol. VIII., Dordrecht : D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1984, pp.21-48.

[33] Diény (Colette) [1995] Knowledge and Appreciation of Chinese Astronomy and History in Eighteenth Century Europe According to the Writings of Antoine Gaubil S.J. (1689-1759), in Hashimoto (Keizô), Jami (Catherine) and Skar (Lowell), eds., East Asian Science: Tradition and Beyond, Osaka : Kansai University Press, 1995, pp.501-505.

[34] Fuller (Steve) [1997] Science: Concepts in the Social Sciences, Maidenhead : Open University Press, 1997.

[35] Gieryn (Thomas F.) [1994] Boundaries of Science, in Jasanoff (Sheila), Markle (Gerald E.), Petersen (James C.) and Pinch (Trevor), eds., Handbook of Science and Technology Studies, Sage Publications, 1994, pp.393-443.

[36] Gillispie (Charles C.) [1980] Science and Polity in France at the End of the Old Regime, Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1980.

[37] Grabiner (Judith V.) [1985] Is Mathematical Truth Time-Dependent, in Tymoczko (Thomas), ed., New Directions in the Philosophy of Mathematics, Boston: Birkhäuser, 1985, pp.201-214. | MR | Zbl

[38] Grattan-Guinness (Ivor) [1994] Tailpiece: The History of Mathematics and its own History, in Grattan-Guiness (Ivor), ed., Companion Encyclopedia of the History and Philosophy of Mathematics, vol. 2, London and New York: Routledge, 1994, pp.1665-1675. | MR

[39] Greenberg (John L.) [1995] The Problem of the Earth's Shape from Newton to Clairaut: The Rise of Mathematical Science in Eighteenth Century Paris and the Fall of ‘Normal' Science, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. | MR | Zbl

[40] Grove (Richard H.) [1995] Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens and the Origins of Environmentalism, Dehli: Oxford University Press, 1955.

[41] Han (Qi) [1995] The Role of French Jesuits in China and the Académie Royale des Sciences in the Development of the Seventeenth-and Eighteenth-Century European Science, in Hashimoto (Keizô), Jami (Catherine) and Skar (Lowell), eds., East Asian Science: Tradition and Beyond, Osaka: Kansai University Press, 1995, pp.489-492.

[42] Hsia (Florence) [1999] French Jesuits and the Mission to China: Science, History and Religion, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Chicago, 1999, UMI number: 9934067.

[43] Jay (Martin) [1993] Downcast Eyes: The Denigration of Vision in Twentieth Century French Thought, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

[44] Latour (Bruno) [1993] We Have Never Been Modern, translated by Catherine Potter, Harvester-Wheatsheat, 1993.

[45] Laudan (Rachel) [1988] Georges Cuvier on the Oriental Origins of Science, Nineteenth Century French Studies, 17 (1988), pp.19-29.

[46] Laudan (Rachel) [1993] Histories of the Sciences and their Uses: A Review to 1913, History of Science, xxxi (1993), pp.1-34.

[47] Liétard (Gustave), Cordier (Plamyr) [1989] Travaux sur l'histoire de la médecine indienne: documents réunis et présentés par Arion Roşu, Paris: Collège de France, 1989.

[48] Macleod (Roy) [1987] On the Moving Metropolis: Reflections on the Architecture of Imperial Science, in Rheingold (Nathan) and Rothenberg (Marc), eds., Scientific Colonialism: A Cross-Cultural Comparison, Washington D.C., 1987, pp.217-247.

[49] Montgomery (Scott L.) [2000] Science in Translation: Movements of Knowledge through Cultures and Time, Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 2000. | MR | Zbl

[50] Murr (Sylvia) [1983] Les conditions d'émergence du discours sur l'Inde au Siècle des lumières, Collection Purusartha, 7 (1983), pp.233-284.

[51] Murr (Sylvia) [1987] L'indologie du Père Cœurdoux: stratégies, apologétique et scientificité, Paris : École française d'Extrême-Orient, 1987.

[52] Nowotny (Helga) [1984] Science and Utopia: On the Social Ordering of the Future, in Mendelsohn (Everett) and Nowotony (Helga), eds., Nineteen Eighty-Four: Science between Utopia and Dystopia. Sociology of Sciences, vol.VIII, Dordrecht: D.Reidel Publishing Company, 1984, pp.3-18.

[53] Paty (Michel) [1998] D'Alembert ou la raison physico-mathématique au Siècle des lumières, Paris : Les Belles Lettres, 1998.

[54] Peiffer (Jeanne) [2000] France, in Dauben (JosephW.) and Scriba (ChristopheJ.), eds., Writing the History of Mathematics: its Historical Development, Basel : Birkhäuser, 2002, pp.3-43. | MR | Zbl

[55] Pouchepadass (Jacques) [1991] L'Inde au miroir de l'histoire et des sciences du temps présent, in Gros(F.), ed., Passeurs d'Orient/Encounters between India and France, Paris: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1991, pp.52-57.

[56] Pyenson (Lewis) [1993] Civilizing Mission: Exact Sciences and French Expansion, 1830-1940, Baltimore and London : The John Hopkins University Press, 1993.

[57] Raina (Dhruv) [1997] The Young P.C.Ray and the Inauguration of the Social History of Science in India, Science, Technology & Society, 2 (1997), pp.1-40.

[58] Raina (Dhruv) [1999] French Jesuit Scientists in India: Historical Astronomy in the Discourse on India (1670-1770), Economic and Political Weekly, XXXIV (1999), pp.30-38.

[59] Raina (Dhruv) [2001] Disciplinary Boundaries and Civilisational Encounter: the Mathematics and Astronomy of India in Delambre's Histoire (1800-1820), Studies in History, 17, 2, 2001.

[60] Raina (Dhruv) [forthcoming]The Pre-history of the History of Proof in the Indian Mathematical tradition:From French Proto-ethnography to British Textual Studies, forthcoming.

[61] Raj (Kapil) [1999] Refashioning Civilities, Engineering Trust: William Jones, Indian Intermediaries and the production of reliable legal knowledge in late 18th-century Bengal, Preprint, 1999, pp.40.

[62] Rashed (Roshdi) [1988] Lagrange, lecture de Diophante, in Rashed (Roshdi), ed., Sciences à l'époque de la révolution française: recherches historiques, Paris : Albert Blanchard, 1988, pp.39-83. | MR

[63] Rashed (Roshdi) [1994] The Development of Arabic Mathematics; Between Arithmetic and Algebra, Dordrecht, Boston and London : Kluwer, 1994. | MR

[64] Redman (Ben Ray) [1979] Editor's Introduction, in Redman (Ben Ray), ed., The Portable Voltaire, Penguin Books, 1979.

[65] Richards (Joan L.) [1991] Rigor and Clarity: Foundations of Mathematics in France and England, 1800-1840, Science in Context, 4, (1991), pp.297-319. | Zbl

[66] Roşu (Arion) [1986] Marcelin Berthelot et l'alchimie indienne, Bulletin de l'École française de l'Extrême-Orient, LXXV (1986), pp.67-78.

[67] Sachau (Edward C.), ed. [1910] Al-Beruni's India: An Account of the Religion, Philosophy, Literature, Geography, Chronology, Astronomy, Customs, Laws and Astrology of India about 1030 AD, with notes and indices by the editor, reprinted in 1993 by Low Price Publications, Delhi.

[68] Sen (S.N.) [1985] Survey of Studies in European Languages, in Sen(S.N.) and Shukla(K.S.), eds., History of Astronomy in India, New Delhi : INSA, pp.49-121. | MR

[69] Shapin (Steven) [1983] Nibbling at the Teats of Science: Edinburgh and the Diffusion of Science in the 1830s', in Inkster (Ian) and Morrel (Jack), eds., Metropolis and Province: Science in British Culture: 1780-1850, London : Hutchinson, 1983, pp.151-178.

[70] Sharma (Virendra Nath) [1982] The Impact of Eighteenth Century Jesuit Astronomers on the Astronomy of India and China, Indian Journal of History of Science, 17 (1982), pp.345-352. | MR

[71] Shinn (Terry) [1992] Science, Tocqueville, and the State: The Organization of Knowledge in Modern France, in Jacob(Margaret C.), ed., The Politics of Western Science, 1640-1990, Humanities Press, pp.47-101.

[72] Swerdlow (N.M.) [1993] Montucla's Legacy: The History of the Exact Sciences, Journal of the History of Ideas, 54 (1993), pp.299-328.

[73] Van Der Waerden (Bartel) [1983] Geometry and Algebra in Ancient Civilizations, Berlin : Springer-Verlag, 1983. | MR | Zbl

[74] Vogel (Kurt) [1974] Montucla, Jean Étienne, in Gillipsie (Charles C.), eds., Dictionary of Scientific Biography, vol. IX, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1974, pp.500-501.

[75] Voltaire [1979a] Selections from Philosophical Dictionary, in Redman (Ben Ray), ed., The Portable Voltaire, Penguin Books, 1979.

[76] Voltaire [1979b] Essay on the Manner and Spirit of Nations, in Redman (Ben Ray), ed., The Portable Voltaire, Penguin Books, 1979.

[77] Williams (Rosalind) [1993] Cultural Origins and Environmental Implications of Large Technological Systems, Science in Context, 6 (1993), pp.377-403.

[78] Winter (Michael) [1984] The Explosion of the Circle: Science and Negative Utopia, in Mendelsohn (Everett) and Nowotny (Helga), eds., Nineteen Eighty-Four: Science between Utopia and Dystopia. Sociology of Sciences, vol.VIII, Dordrecht : D.Reidel Publishing Company, pp.73-90.