Betwixt Jesuit and Enlightenment Historiography: Jean-Sylvain Bailly's History of Indian Astronomy

Raina, Dhruv

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

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