aryabhatta
Aryabhatta (476-550 A.D.) was born in Patliputra in Magadha,
modern Patna in Bihar. Many are of the view that he was born in the south of
India especially Kerala and lived in Magadha at the time of the Gupta rulers;
time which is known as the golden age of India. There is no evidence that he
was born outside Patliputra and traveled to Magadha, the centre of education
and learning for his studies where he even set up a coaching centre. His first
name "Arya" is hardly a south Indian name while "Bhatt" (or
Bhatta) is a typical north Indian name even found today specially among the
"Bania" (or trader) community. Whatever this origin, it cannot be argued that he lived in
Patliputra where he wrote his famous treatise the
"Aryabhatta-siddhanta" but more famously the "Aryabhatiya",
the only work to have survived. It contains mathematical and astronomical
theories that have been revealed to be quite accurate in modern mathematics.
For instance he wrote that if 4 is added to 100 and then multiplied by 8 then
added to 62,000 then divided by 20,000 the answer will be equal to the
circumference of a circle of diameter twenty thousand. This calculates to
3.1416 close to the actual value Pi (3.14159). But his greatest contribution
has to be zero. His other works include algebra, arithmetic, trigonometry, quadratic
equations and the sine table. He already knew that the earth spins on its axis, the earth
moves round the sun and the moon rotates round the earth. He talks about the
position of the planets in relation to its movement around the sun. He refers to
the light of the planets and the moon as reflection from the sun. He goes as
far as to explain the eclipse of the moon and the sun, day and night, the
contours of the earth, the length of the year exactly as 365 days. He even computed the circumference of the earth as 24835
miles which is close to modern day calculation of 24900 miles. This remarkable man was a genius and continues to baffle
many mathematicians of today. His works was then later adopted by the Greeks
and then the Arabs.
In : legends
Tags: aryabhatta ancient india legend
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