Nīlakaṇṭha Somayāji (ca. 1444–1545), son of Jātavedan, was a leading astronomer from Kerala. Being the author of a number of treatises on astronomy, like the Golasāra, the Grahaṇanirṇaya, the Siddhāntadarpaṇa, the Chandrachhāyāgaṇita, the Jyotirmīmāṃsa, and the Sundararājapraśnottara, he is best known for the Tantrasaṅgraha and the Āryabhaṭīyabhāṣya, his commentary on the Āryabhaṭīya.
Born at Tṛkkaṇṭiyūr in the Malappuram district of southern Malabar, Nīlakaṇṭha Somayāji studied under the great Vaṭaśśeri Parameśvaran, who propounded the dṛggaṇitasystem of astronomy. He was also a student of Parameśvaran’s son and disciple, Dāmodaran. As with most Indian astronomers, we know precious little about his life. We learn that he was married to Āryā and had two sons, Rāman and Dakṣiṇāmūrtti, and that the Taṃprākkaḷ of Āḻvāñcēri, the prominent Naṃpūtiri brāhmaṇa family of southern Malabar, patronized him. Nīlakaṇṭha Somayāji belonged to an illustrious pedigree of astronomers and...
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Devadevan, M.V. (2015). Nīlakaṇṭha Somayāji. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3934-5_10301-1
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