INDIAN INITIATIVES TO ESTABLISH 'WESTERN' ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORIES PRIOR TO INDEPENDENCE. 1: THE ARISTOCRATS.

This paper outlines the efforts at establishing observatories in India for modern astronomical observations made by aristocrats over the last century or so prior to Indian independence in 1947. The focus of this paper is therefore on three institutions only, the Royal Observatory at Lucknow, Trevandrum Observatory, and Nizamiah Observatory in Hyderabad. This demonstrates that the concept of 'patronage' was alive and well in nineteenth century India, just as it was in Britain, Europe and North America. These observatories primarily were established either to encourage educated Indians to gain a realistic knowledge of Western astronomy, or so that India itself could contribute to that body of research knowledge. One of these institutions, Nizamiah Observatory was India's sole observatory involved in the ambitious international Astrographic Catalogue and Carte du Ciel and Project. It is telling that quite early in its history this Observatory ended up with a university, while this fate later befell Trevandrum Observatory. It is notable that none of the observatories discussed in this paper has survived in its original form through to the present day as a forefront astronomical research facility. Moreover, relatively early in its history Trevandrum Observatory abandoned astronomy and shifted its focus to geomagnetism. Unlike the observatories discussed in the first paper in this series, none of the observatories reviewed in this paper was set up primarily to further Britain's colonial ambitions. All were local Indian initiatives, yet each received support, in one way or another, from British astronomers or observatories--so the colonial link was still there, but only as an underlying element. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]