ARYABHATTA
Born 476 CE
Died 550 CE
Era Gupta era
Region India
Main interests Mathematics , Astronomy
Major works Āryabhaṭīya , Arya- siddhanta
Aryabhata ( IAST : Āryabhaṭa , Sanskrit : आर्यभट ) (476–550 CE ) [ 1 ] [ 2 ] was the first in the line of great mathematician - astronomers from the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy . His most famous works are the Āryabhaṭīya (499 CE, when he was23 years old) [ 3 ] and the Arya- siddhanta .
Biography
Name
While there is a tendency to misspell his name as "Aryabhatta" by analogy with other names having the " bhatta " suffix, his name is properly spelled Aryabhata: every astronomical text spells his name thus, [ 4 ] including Brahmagupta 's references to him "in more than ahundred places by name". [ 5 ] Furthermore, in most instances"Aryabhatta" does not fit the metre either. [ 4 ]
Time and Place of birth
Aryabhata mentions in the Aryabhatiya that it was composed3,630 years into the Kali Yuga , when he was 23 years old. This corresponds to 499 CE, and implies that he was born in 476. [ 2 ]
Aryabhata was born in Taregna (literally, song of the stars), which is a small town in Bihar, India, about 30 km (19 mi) from Patna (then known as Pataliputra), the capital city of Bihar State. Evidences justify his birth there. InTaregna Aryabhata set up an Astronomical Observatory in the Sun Temple 6th century.
There is no evidence that he was born outside Patliputra and traveled to Magadha, the centre ofinstruction, culture and knowledge for his studies where he even set up a coaching institute. [ 6 ] However, early Buddhist texts describe Ashmaka as being further south, in dakshinapath or the Deccan , while other texts describe the Ashmakas as having fought Alexander .
Education
It is fairly certain that, at some point, he went to Kusumapura foradvanced studies and that he lived there for some time. [ 7 ] Both Hindu and Buddhist tradition, as well as Bhāskara I (CE 629), identify Kusumapura as Pāṭaliputra , modern Patna . [ 4 ] A verse mentions that Aryabhata was the head of an institution ( kulapati ) at Kusumapura, and, because the university of Nalanda was in Pataliputra at the time andhad an astronomical observatory, it is speculated that Aryabhata might have been the head of the Nalanda university as well. [ 4 ] Aryabhata is also reputed to have set up an observatory at the Sun temple in Taregana , Bihar. [ 8 ]
Other hypotheses
Some archeological evidence suggests that Aryabhata could have originated from the present day Kodungallur which was the historical capital city of Thiruvanchikkulam of ancient Kerala. [ 9 ] For instance, one hypothesis was that aśmaka (Sanskrit for "stone") may be the region in Kerala that is now known as Koṭuṅṅallūr, based on the belief that it was earlier known as Koṭum-Kal-l-ūr ("city of hard stones"); however, old records show that the city was actually Koṭum-kol-ūr ("city of strict governance"). Similarly, the fact that several commentaries onthe Aryabhatiya have come from Kerala were used to suggest that it was Aryabhata's main place of life and activity; however, many commentaries have come from outside Kerala.
Aryabhata mentions "Lanka" on several occasions in the Aryabhatiya , but his "Lanka" is an abstraction, standing for a point on the equator at the same longitude as his Ujjayini .
