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Bhāskara II

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Bhāskara II

Bhāskara II ([bʰɑːskərə]; c.1114–1185), also known as Bhāskarāchārya (lit.'Bhāskara the teacher'), was an Indian polymath, mathematician, and astronomer. From verses in his main work, Siddhānta Śiromaṇi, it can be inferred that he was born in 1114 in Vijjadavida (Vijjalavida) and living in the Satpura mountain ranges of Western Ghats, believed to be the town of Patana in Chalisgaon, located in present-day Khandesh region of Maharashtra by scholars. In a temple in Maharashtra, an inscription, supposedly created by his grandson Changadeva, lists Bhaskaracharya's ancestral lineage for several generations before him as well as two generations after him. Henry Colebrooke who was the first European to translate (1817) Bhaskaracharya's mathematical classics refers to the family as Maharashtrian Brahmins residing on the banks of the Godavari.

Born in a Hindu Deshastha Brahmin family of scholars, mathematicians and astronomers, Bhaskara II was the leader of a cosmic observatory at Ujjain, the main mathematical centre of ancient India. Bhāskara and his works represent a significant contribution to mathematical and astronomical knowledge in the 12th century. He has been called the greatest mathematician of medieval India. His main work, Siddhānta-Śiromaṇi (Sanskrit for "Crown of Treatises"), is divided into four parts called Līlāvatī, Bījagaṇita, Grahagaṇita and Golādhyāya, which are also sometimes considered four independent works. These four sections deal with arithmetic, algebra, mathematics of the planets, and spheres respectively. He also wrote another treatise named Karaṇā Kautūhala.

Bhāskara gives his date of birth, and date of composition of his major work, in a verse in the Āryā metre:

Rasa-guṇa-pūrṇa-mahī-sama-śakanṛpa-samaye bhavan-mamotpattiḥ
Rasa-guṇa-varṣeṇa mayā siddhānta-śiromaṇī racitaḥ
[citation needed]

This reveals that he was born in 1036 of the Shaka era (1114 CE), and that he composed the Siddhānta Shiromani when he was 36 years old. Siddhānta Shiromani was completed during 1150 CE. He also wrote another work called the Karaṇa-kutūhala when he was 69 (in 1183). His works show the influence of Brahmagupta, Śrīdhara, Mahāvīra, Padmanābha and other predecessors. Bhaskara lived in Patnadevi located near Patan (Chalisgaon) in the vicinity of Sahyadri.

He was born in a Deśastha Rigvedi Brahmin family near Vijjadavida (Vijjalavida). Munishvara (17th century), a commentator on Siddhānta Shiromani of Bhaskara has given the information about the location of Vijjadavida in his work Marīci Tīkā as follows:

सह्यकुलपर्वतान्तर्गत भूप्रदेशे महाराष्ट्रदेशान्तर्गतविदर्भपरपर्यायविराटदेशादपि निकटे गोदावर्यां नातिदूरे

पंचक्रोशान्तरे विज्जलविडम्।

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