Nilakantha Somayaji Biography 
Nilakantha Somayaji was a prominent mathematician and astronomer of the Kerala School of astronomy and mathematics, who lived during the period 1444–1544. Tantrasamgraha completed in 1501 is his celebrated work. Aryabhatiya Bhasya is his commentary work on the celebrated mathematical work of Aryabhata – Aryabhatiya. Grahapareeksakrama is also another noted work written by Somayaji. Sankara Variar was one of the popular disciples of Nilakantha.
He was one among those rare scholars from India who recorded his own works as well as life history. He has recorded about his birth, life period, family etc in his works. In Siddhanta-star and also in his own commentary on Siddhanta-darpana, Somayaji has stated he was born on Kali-day 1,660,181. This date falls on 14 th June 1444 CE as per Gregorian calendar (Christian calendar). In one of his works he has mentioned that he lived 100 years. He was born as the son of Jatavedas and he had a brother named Sankara. He was a member of the Kelallur family of Kundagrama which belongs to Tirur of Kerala right now. He was a follower of Asvalayana-sutra of Rigveda. His wife was Arya and the couple had two children. He studied astrology and Vedanta under Ravi. It is assumed that he accepted the title, Somayaji later.
He was initiated to the science of astronomy by Damodara, son of noted author Paramesvara. He also taught him basics of mathematical computations. Tantrasamgraha, Yuktibhasa and Jyesthadeva are the celebrated works of Nilakantha Somayaji. He discussed infinite series expansions of trigonometric functions and problems of algebra and spherical geometry through his celebrated work Bhasya. Grahapareeksakrama is a manual on making observations in astronomy.
Published: N/A
Updated: June 27, 2014
