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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Indian Astronomer and Astrologer (jyotisha)(19th-century)}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=April 2023}}<br />
{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Subaji<br />
| honorific_suffix = Bapu<br />
| native_name =<br />
| native_name_lang = mr<br />
| other_names = Soobajee Bapoo<br />
| occupation = Astrologer (''[[jyotisha]]'')<br />
| years_active = 1824 to mid-1840s<br />
| era = [[British Raj]]<br />
| employer = [[Lancelot Wilkinson]]<br />
| known_for = [[Hindu apologetics]]<br />
| notable_works = ''Siddhānta-siromani-prakāsa'' (1836) and ''Avirodha-prakasha'' (1837), ''Laghu-tamka'' (1839), ''Mata-parīkṣā-śikṣā'' (1839)<br />
| opponents = [[John Muir (indologist)|John Muir]]<br />
}}<br />
'''Subaji Bapu''' ([[IAST]]: Subājī Bāpū) was an early 19th-century Hindu astrologer (''[[jyotisha]]'') and astronomer from [[British India]]. Under the influence of the British civil servant [[Lancelot Wilkinson]], he gave up his belief in [[Hindu cosmology|Puranic cosmography]] in favour of the [[Copernican heliocentrism|Copernican system]]. He argued that the [[Siddhanta (astronomy)|Siddhantic cosmography]] of ancient Indian astrologers was more accurate than the Puranic cosmography, and wrote ''Siddhānta-siromani-prakāsa'' (1836) and ''Avirodha-prakasha'' (1837) to justify his views, amid opposition from the orthodox [[pandit]]s.<br />
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Subaji was a [[Hindu apologetics|Hindu apologist]] and defended the [[Indian caste system|caste system]] in ''Laghu-tamka'' (1839). He is also identified with '''Somanātha''', the author of ''[[Mata-parīkṣā-śikṣā]]'', a Hindu response to the Christian writer [[John Muir (indologist)|John Muir]]'s ''[[Mataparīkṣā]]''.<br />
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== Career ==<br />
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=== Astrology and astronomy ===<br />
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Subaji Bapu was a [[Marathi language|Marathi]]-speaking astrologer (''[[jyotisha]]'') of [[Central India Agency|Central India]], and enjoyed the patronage of the British civil servant and Orientalist [[Lancelot Wilkinson]].{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=80-81}}<br />
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Subaji's known career is closely linked with that of his patron Wilkinson,{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=81}} who described him as "a man of wonderful acuteness, and intelligence, and sound judgment".{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=84}} There are no records of Subaji before his association with Wilkinson. During the 1830s, when Wilkinson served as the [[East India Company]]'s political agent in the Central Indian cities such as [[Bhopal]] and [[Sehore]], Orientalist journals featured Subaji prominently. After Wilkinson's premature death in the mid-1840s, there are no records of Subaji.{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=81}}<br />
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Wilkinson took great interest in presenting a united view of the [[Hindu astronomy]] and the contemporary European astronomy.{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=84}} Intrigued by the ability of the generally "ignorant" contemporary Hindu astrologers to accurately predict eclipses, Wilkinson did some research, and attributed this accuracy to the [[Siddhanta (astronomy)|Siddhanta]] literature of the ancient Hindu astronomers such as [[Aryabhata]] and [[Bhaskara II]]. According to him, the ancient Indian astronomers greatly admired "the learned men of the West" (the [[Yavanas]]), unlike the Puranas which denounced those foreigners as [[mleccha|the lowest of the low]]. Wilkinson advocated bringing the writings of these ancient astronomers to the forefront, so that Hindu astrologers could become genuine astronomers, supported by their European instructors. His main aim was to spread an accurate understanding of physical science among the Indians; a secondary benefit of this would be to showcase the [[Hindu cosmology|Puranic cosmography]] as inaccurate, thus leading to a decline in the prestige of the [[Brahmin]]s and the popularity of [[Hinduism]].{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=81-83}}<br />
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The first records of Subaji's interactions with Wilkinson are from 1824. It took Wilkinson eight years to convince Subaji of the inaccuracy of the Puranic cosmography. Subaji was finally convinced when Wilkinson proved to him that the ancient Indian astronomers were in agreement with European astronomers regarding the "size and shape of the earth and other important physical facts".{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=83}} According to Wilkinson, Subaji "lamented that his life had been spent in maintaining foolish fancies, and spoke with a bitter indignation against all those of his predecessors who had contributed to the willful concealment of the truths".{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=84}}<br />
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Initially, Subaji was reluctant to collaborate with Wilkinson, and the relationship made him an object of ridicule by his fellow pandits.{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=81-82}} However, by 1837, according to the ''Proceedings of the Asiatic Society'', he had become a "zealous defender" of the [[Copernican heliocentrism|Copernican system]].{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=82}}<br />
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In 1836, Subaji published the Marathi-language text ''Siddhānta-śiromani-prakāśa'' (SSP), supporting the Copernican system. Subsequently, Omkara Bhatta translated it into [[Hindi]] as ''Bhūgolasāra''. The pandits of Poona criticized Subaji's treatise, and Subaji published his defence in another text titled ''Avirodha-prakasha'' (1837).{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=83}}<br />
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Orientalists and EIC officials applauded Subaji, and in 1837, presented him a silver Hindi-language globe (earlier in 1834, he had requested a Hindi globe). According to an [[Asiatic Society]] meeting record, he was also given two silver inkstands "representing a ''[[jyotish|jotishi]]'' pandit seated between two globes, expounding their use from the Siddhāntas — and around the stand, richly embossed, the twelve signs of the zodiac — a Sanskrit couplet on each expressing that it was presented by the Governor General in Council".{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=84}}<br />
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=== Hindu apologetics ===<br />
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Subaji was critical of several orthodox Hindu practices, such as the scriptural [[Kala pani (taboo)|restrictions on travelling abroad]],{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=84}} and the restrictions on [[widow remarriage]].{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=87}} Nevertheless, he remained a Hindu, and defended his religion against [[Christianity]]. His patron Wilkinson was critical of the Hindu caste system, and decided to publish an edition of ''Vajra-sûcî'', a Buddhist text critical of the caste system, attributed to Ashvaghosha. Subaji defended the caste system, and requested Wilkinson to include in the text his arguments in support of the caste system. Wilkinson's work was published with the title ''The Wujra Soochi: or Refulation [sic] of the Arguments upon which the Brahmanical Institution of Caste is Founded''. It featured a commentary titled ''Lughoo Tunk'' (''Laghu-tamka'') by Subaji (credited as "Soobajee Bapoo").{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|pp=87-88}}<br />
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An anonymous note on the manuscript of the Hindu apologetic text ''[[Mata-parīkṣā-śikṣā]]'' (1839), identifies its author as Subaji Bapu, although the text itself calls the author Somanātha.{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=80-81}} Written as a response to the Christian writer [[John Muir (indologist)|John Muir]]'s ''[[Mataparīkṣā]]'', the text offers an [[apologia|apology]] for Hinduism and [[criticism of Christianity|criticizes Christianity]] (especially excessive [[evangelism]]),{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=86}} while advocating [[religious pluralism]].{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=91-92}} Subaji apparently used the pseudonym Somanātha,{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=80-81}}{{sfn|Stephen Neill|2002|p=469}} possibly because he did not want to appear too pro-Hindu to his European benefactors, or too mild towards Christianity to his fellow pandits.{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=92}}<br />
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== Works ==<br />
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* ''Siddhānta-śiromani-prakāśa'' (1836), a Sanskrit work on astronomy, espousing the [[Copernican heliocentrism|Copernican system]]{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=83}}<br />
* ''Avirodha-prakāśa'' (1837), a work on astronomy, defending his earlier work against the criticism from orthodox [[pandit]]s{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=83}}<br />
* ''Laghu-taṃka'' (1839), a commentary on ''[[Vajrasuchi|Vajra-suchi]]'', defending the [[Hindu caste system]]{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=88}}<br />
* ''Mata-parīkṣā-śikṣā'' (1839), a [[Hindu apologetics|Hindu apologist]] response to the Christian writer [[John Muir (indologist)|John Muir]]'s ''[[Mataparīkṣā]]''{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=86}}<br />
* ''Parasurāma-ksetrasthā'', a Marathi-language text in which he criticized restrictions on widow remarriage{{sfn|Richard F. Young|1981|p=87}}<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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=== Bibliography ===<br />
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{{refbegin}}<br />
* {{cite book |author=Richard Fox Young |title=Resistant Hinduism: Sanskrit Sources on Anti-Christian Apologetics in Early Nineteenth-century India |year=1981 |publisher=De Nobili Research Library |isbn=9783900271091 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O4gcAAAAMAAJ |ref={{harvid|Richard F. Young|1981}} }}<br />
* {{cite book |author=Stephen Neill |title=A History of Christianity in India: 1707-1858 |year=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521893329 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xi-tvrYbYxMC&pg=PA469 }}<br />
{{refend}}<br />
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== External links ==<br />
* ''[http://dbooks.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/books/PDFs/N13467097.pdf Bhūgolasāra]'', the Hindi translation of Subaji's ''Siddhānta-śiromani-prakāśa''<br />
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[[Category:Hindu apologists]]<br />
[[Category:People from Sehore]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century Indian astronomers]]<br />
[[Category:Hindu astrologers]]<br />
[[Category:Writers from British India]]</div>Serzude