A History of the Kerala School of Hindu Astronomy (in Perspective) c7.s6.1

c7.s6.1

Still another significant characteristic of Kerala astronomy and mathematics relates to the regular continuity of traditional knowledge that was handed down from father to son or from teacher to disciple, in succession. Some of the known lines of tradition extend through several centuries. An old palmleaf document discovered and published by the present writer¹ records a line of tradition which extends from the 13th to the 17th centuries : Govinda Bhaṭṭatiri of Talakkuḷam (1237-95)→pupil : grandfather of Parameśvara (13th-14th cent.) → grandson-pupil : Parameśvara (c. 1360-1455) → son : Dāmodara (15th cent.) → pupil : Nīlakaṇṭha Somayājī (1444-1545) → pupil : Jyeṣṭhadeva (c. 1500-1600) → pupil : Acyuta Piṣāraṭi (1550-1621). Another similar astronomical chronology recorded in the Aranmula-vilāsam Haṃsappāṭṭu by Kṛṣṇan Āśān, author of Bhāṣā-Jātakapaddhati, carries the above-noted tradition to the beginning of the 19th century ;² Acyuta Piṣāraṭi (1550-1621) → pupil : Tṛppāṇikkara Potuvāḷ → pupil : Nāvāyikkuḷattu Āzhāti → pupil : Pulimukhattu Poṭṭi (1686-1758) →pupil : Rāman Āśān (18th cent.) → son : Kṛṣṇan Āśān (1756-1812) This line continues as follows : Kṛṣṇadāsa (1756-1812) → pupil : Dakṣiṇāmūrti Mūssatu of Maṅgalaśśeri, in Aranmuḷa (18th-19th cent.) → pupil : Bālarāman Piḷḷa of Nāḷekāṭṭil family of Mānnār (19th cent.) → pupil : Prince Rājarāja Varma (Vidvān Karindran Ceruṇṇi Koyittampurān of Kilimānūr) (1812-46).¹ The importance of the continuity of tradition in a practical, demonstrative discipline like astronomy, at a time when there was not a proliferation of printed books and public schools, is self-evident. And, the part played by these traditions in keeping alive the torch of astronomical enquiry in Kerala cannot be underestimated.