Question

Short summery nilakantha

Answer 1

Kelallur Nilakantha Somayaji (also referred to as Kelallur Comatiri;[1] 14 June 1444 – 1544) was a major mathematician and astronomerof the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics in India. One of his most influential works was the comprehensive astronomical treatise Tantrasamgrahacompleted in 1501. He had also composed an elaborate commentary on Aryabhatiya called the Aryabhatiya Bhasya. In this Bhasya, Nilakantha had discussed infinite seriesexpansions of trigonometric functions and problems of algebra and spherical geometry. Grahapareeksakrama is a manual on making observations in astronomy based on instruments of the time.

Nilakantha Somayaji

Born

14 June 1444

Died

1544

Residence

Trikkandiyur, Tirur, Kerala

Nationality

Indian

Other names

Kelallur Comatiri

Occupation

Astronomer-mathematician

Known for

Authorship of Tantrasamgraha

Notable work

Golasara, Candrachayaganita, Aryabhatiya-bhashya, Tantrasamgraha

Title

Somayaji

Spouse(s)

Arya

Children

Rama, Dakshinamurti

Parent(s)

Jatavedan (father)

Biographical details

Nilakantha Somayaji was one of the very few authors of the scholarly traditions of India who had cared to record details about his own life and times. So fortunately a few accurate particulars about Nilakantha Somayaji are known.[2][3]

In one of his works titled Siddhanta-star and also in his own commentary on Siddhanta-darpana, Nilakantha Somayaji has stated that he was born on Kali-day 1,660,181 which works out to 14 June 1444 CE. A contemporary reference to Nilakantha Somayaji in a Malayalam work on astrologyimplies that Somayaji lived to a ripe old age even to become a centenarian. Sankara Variar, a pupil of Nilakantha Somayaji, in his commentary on Tantrasamgraha titled Tantrasamgraha-vyakhya, points out that the first and last verses of Tantrasamgrahacontain chronograms specifying the Kali-daysof the commencement (1,680,548) and of completion (1,680,553) of Somayaji's magnum opus Tantrasamgraha. Both these days occur in 1500 CE.

In Aryabhatiya-bhashya, Nilakantha Somayaji has stated that he was the son of Jatavedas and he had a brother named Sankara. Somayaji has further stated that he was a Bhatta belonging to the Gargya gotra and was a follower of Asvalayana-sutra of Rigveda. References in his own Laghuramayanaindicate that Nilakantha Somayaji was a member of the Kelallur family (Sanskritised as Kerala-sad-grama) residing at Kundagrama, now known as Trikkandiyur in modern Tirur, Kerala. His wife was named Arya and he had two sons Rama and Dakshinamurti.

Nilakantha Somayaji studied vedanta and some aspects of astronomy under one Ravi. However, It was Damodara, son of Kerala-drgganita author Paramesvara, who initiated him into the science of astronomy and instructed him in the basic principles of mathematical computations. The great Malayalam poet Thunchaththu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan is said to have been a student of Nilakantha Somayaji.