Nilakantha Somayaji

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)

Kelallur Nilakantha Somayaji (also referred to as Kelallur Comatiri; 14 June 1444 – 1544) was a major mathematician and astronomer of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. One of his most influential works was the comprehensive astronomical treatise Tantrasamgraha completed in 1501. He had also composed an elaborate commentary on Aryabhatiya called the Aryabhatiya Bhasya. In this Bhasya, Nilakantha had discussed infinite series expansions 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 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.

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 th June 1444 CE. A contemporary reference to Nilakantha Somayaji in a Malayalam work on astrology implies 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 Tantrasamgraha contain chronograms specifying the Kali-days of the commencement (1,680,548) and of completion (1,680,553) of Somayaji's magnum opus Tantrasamgraha. Both these days occur in 1500 CE.

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