A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c5.252

c5.252

BHĀSKARĀCHĀRYA. (Bhāskara + Āchārya.) A celebrated mathematician and astronomer, who was born early in the eleventh century A.D. He was author of the Bīja-ganita on arithmetic, the Līlāvatī on algebra, and the Siddhānta Siromani on astronomy. It has been claimed for Bhāskara that he “was fully acquainted with the principle of the Differential Calculus.” This claim Dr. Spottiswoode considers to be overstated, but he observes of Bhāskara: “It must be admitted that the penetration shown by Bhāskara in his analysis is in the highest degree remarkable; that the formula which he establishes, and his method of establishing it, bear more than a mere resemblance—they bear a strong analogy—to the corresponding process in modern astronomy; and that the majority of scientific persons will learn with surprise the existence of such a method in the writings of so distant a period and so distant a region.”—*Jour. R. A. S.*, 1859.