Jayant Narlikar

Jayant Vishnu Narlikar (born 19 July 1938) is an Indian astrophysicist.

Narlikar is a proponent of steady state cosmology. He developed with Sir Fred Hoyle the conformal gravity theory, commonly known as Hoyle–Narlikar theory. It synthesises Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity and Mach's Principle. It proposes that the inertial mass of a particle is a function of the masses of all other particles, multiplied by a coupling constant, which is a function of cosmic epoch. In cosmologies based on this theory, the gravitational constant G decreases strongly with time.

Early life

Narlikar was born in Kolhapur, India on 19 July 1938 in a Karhade family of scholars. His father, Vishnu Vasudev Narlikar, was a mathematician who served as a professor and the Head of the Department of Mathematics at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. Jayant's mother, Sumati Narlikar, was a scholar of Sanskrit.

Career

Narlikar received his Bachelor of Science degree from Banaras Hindu University in 1957. He then began his studies at Fitzwilliam House, Cambridge University in England, where he received a B.A. in mathematics in 1959 and was Senior Wrangler. In 1960, he won the Tyson Medal for astronomy. During his doctoral studies at Cambridge, he won the Smith's Prize in 1962. After receiving his PhD in 1963 under the guidance of Fred Hoyle, he served as a Berry Ramsey Fellow at King's College in Cambridge and earned an M.A. in astronomy and astrophysics in 1964. He continued to work as a Fellow at King's College until 1972. In 1966, Fred Hoyle established the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy in Cambridge, and Narlikar served as the founder staff member of the institute during 1966–72.

Jayanta

In Hindu mythology, Jayanta (Sanskrit: जयन्त, "victorious"), also spelled as Jayant, is the son of Indra, the king of the gods (Devas) and his consort Shachi. He resides in Svarga, the Hindu heaven, governed by Indra. He has a sister called Jayanti. He appears in various Hindu scriptures as fighting wars on behalf of the gods and his father. Jayanta also appears in the epic Ramayana and other lore, in which he disguises himself as a crow.

As a crow

In the Sundara Kanda (fifth Book of the epic Ramayana), when Hanuman meets Sita, she narrates an incident that happened in the forest in Chitrakuta. The prince of Ayodhya and avatar of the Supreme God Vishnu, Rama is exiled to the forest with his wife Sita (an avatar of Vishnu's wife Lakshmi) and brother Lakshmana. A fatigued Rama was sleeping in the lap of Sita, when a crow attacked her. The crow pecks at her twice on her feet. Rama is awakened by the stirrings and recognizes the crow whose claws were dripping in blood as the son of Indra. An enraged Rama, at the behest of Sita, unleashes the divine weapon Brahmastra (made of a grass arrow) on the crow, who flees in fear. The crow flies across the universe, but the weapon follows. Turned back by Indra, the gods and rishis (sages), the crow takes refuge in Rama and surrenders to him. The son of Indra requests pardon, but Rama says that the Brahmastra cannot be withdrawn. So, the son of Indra asks it to hit the crow's right eye, and he is left half-blind. While Jayanta is not explicitly named in the episode, various commentaries on the like the Tilaka and the Bhushana by Govindaraja identify Jayanta as the "son of Indra"; some other commentaries do not identify any individual son of Indra. Govindaraja says only Jayanta is known as the son of Indra.

Jayant (disambiguation)

Jayant may also refer to:

Jayant (actor)

Jayant (1915–1975) (real name Zakaria Khan) was a film actor in Bombay.

Early life

He was born in Nodeh Payan (Nawa Kali) Peshawar, British India on 15 October 1915.

Career

The name Jayant was given to him by director and producer Vijay Bhatt. He was tall and had a deep voice.

Personal life

Jayant was married and his children were Amjad Khan (of Gabbar Singh fame), Inayat Khan and Imtiaz Khan. He was the grandfather of Shadaab Khan, Ahlam Khan, Seemaab Khan and Ayesha Khan and father-in-law of Shaila Khan and Krutika Desai Khan.

Death

He died in 1975.

Filmography