Aryabhata

Āryabhaṭa (Marathi: आर्यभट) is 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 Aryabhatiya (CE 499 at age of 23 years) and Arya-siddhanta.

Though Aryabhata's year of birth is clearly mentioned in Aryabhatiya, the exact location of his place of birth remains a matter of contention amongst the scholars. Some believed that he was born in the region lying between Narmada and Godavari, which was known as Ashmaka and they identify Ashmaka with central India including Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, though early Buddhist texts describe Ashmaka as being further south, dakshinapath or the Deccan, while other texts describe the Ashmakas as having fought Alexander, which would put them further north.


A recent study said that Aryabhata belonged to Chamravattam (10N51, 75E45) in Kerala. The study hypothesizes that Asmaka was the Jain country surrounding Sravanabelgola where the stone monoliths gave the name Asmaka to the surrounding country. Chamravattam was a part of this Jain settlement as evidenced by the river Bharatappuzha named after the mythical King of Jains Bharata. Aryabhata too had referred to Bharata when he defines the Yugas - time elapsed up to the time of King Bharata is mentioned in verse 5 of Dasagitika. In those days Kusumapura had the famous University where Jains enjoyed decisive influence and the work of Aryabhata could thus reach Kusumapura and receive acclamation. However, it is fairly certain that at some point, he went to Kusumapura for higher studies, and that he lived here for some time.[4] Bhāskara I (CE 629) identifies Kusumapura as Pataliputra (modern Patna). He lived there in the dying years of the Gupta empire, the time which is known as the golden age of India, when it was already under Hun attack in the Northeast, during the reign of Buddhagupta and some of the smaller kings before Vishnugupta.