Haridatta (c. 683 CE) was an

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, India, who is believed to be the promulgator of the Parahita system of astronomical computations. This system of computations is widely popular in

and

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. According to legends, Haridatta promulgated the

Parahita Parahita is a system of astronomy prevalent in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, India. It was introduced by the Kerala astronomer Haridatta, (c. 683 AD). Nilakantha Somayaji (1444–1544), in his ''Dr̥kkaraṇa'', relates how Parahita was created based on ...

system on the occasion of the ''

Mamankam Māmānkam or Māmāngam was a ''duodecennial'' medieval fair held on the bank, and on the dry river-bed, of Pērār (River Nil̥a, River Ponnani, or Bhārathappuzha) at Tirunāvāya, southern India. The temple associated with the festival wa ...

'' held in the year 683 CE.

K. V. Sarma K. V. Venkateswara Sarma (1919–2005) was an Indian historian of science, particularly the astronomy and mathematics of the Kerala school. He was responsible for bringing to light several of the achievements of the Kerala school. He was edito ...

(1997), "Haridatta",

Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures ''Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures'' is an encyclopedia edited by Helaine Selin and published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1997, with a second edition in 2008, and third edition in 2016. ...

, edited by

Helaine Selin Helaine Selin (born 1946) is an American librarian, historian of science, author and the editor of several bestselling books. Career Selin attended Binghamton University, where she earned her bachelor's degree. She received her MLS from SUNY Alb ...

, Springer, . Mamankam was a 12-yearly festival held in

Thirunnavaya Tirunavaya, also spelled as Thirunavaya, is a town in Malappuram, Kerala. Situated on the northern bank of Bharatappuzha (River Ponnani/Nila or Perar), it is one of major Hindu pilgrimage centres in Kerala. Tirunavaya, home to Tirunavaya Temple ...

on the banks of the

Bharathapuzha Bharathappuzha ("River of Bhārata"), also known as the Nila or Ponnani River, is a river in India in the state of Kerala. With a length of 209 km, it is the second longest river that flows through Kerala after the Periyar. It flows throu ...

river. The distinctive contribution of Haridatta, apart from his resolving the

Aryabhatiya ''Aryabhatiya'' (IAST: ') or ''Aryabhatiyam'' ('), a Sanskrit astronomical treatise, is the ''magnum opus'' and only known surviving work of the 5th century Indian mathematician Aryabhata. Philosopher of astronomy Roger Billard estimates that th ...

calculations and using the

Katapayadi system ''Kaṭapayādi'' system (Devanagari: कटपयादि, also known as ''Paralppēru'', Malayalam: :ml:പരല്‍പ്പേര്, പരല്‍പ്പേര്) of numerical notation is an ancient Indian alphasyllabic numeral s ...

numerals A numeral is a figure, symbol, or group of figures or symbols denoting a number. It may refer to: * Numeral system used in mathematics * Numeral (linguistics), a part of speech denoting numbers (e.g. ''one'' and ''first'' in English) * Numerical d ...

is the corrections he introduced to the values of the mean and true positions, the velocity, etc., of the moon and other planets as obtained from

Aryabhata Aryabhata (ISO: ) or Aryabhata I (476–550 CE) was an Indian mathematician and astronomer of the classical age of Indian mathematics and Indian astronomy. He flourished in the Gupta Era and produced works such as the ''Aryabhatiya'' (which ...

's constants. This correction is called the '' Sakabda-samskara'' since it applied from the date of

in the

Saka era The Shaka era (IAST: Śaka, Śāka) is a historical Hindu calendar era (year numbering), the epoch (its year zero) of which corresponds to Julian year 78. The era has been widely used in different regions of India as well as in SE Asia. Hist ...

444, at which date his constants gave accurate results.

Parahita system

The Parahita system of computations introduced by Haridatta was a simplification of the system propounded in

. Haridatta introduced the following simplifications. The system was called Parahita meaning ''suitable for the common man'' because it simplified astronomical computations and made it accessible for practice even for ordinary persons. *Haridatta dispensed with the numerical symbolism used by Aryabhata and replaced it with the more flexible

. In this system, letters are used to represent digits and these letters are then used to invent meaningful words and sentences to denote specific numbers. These words and sentences could be remembered with much less effort. *Computations in Indian astronomy involved long numbers representing various parameters associated with the several celestial objects which are applicable for a ''

Mahayuga A ''Yuga'' Cycle ( ''chatur yuga'', ''maha yuga'', etc.) is a cyclic age (epoch) in Hindu cosmology. Each cycle lasts for 4,320,000 years (12,000 divine years) and repeats four ''yugas'' (world ages): '' Krita (Satya) Yuga'', ''Treta Yuga'', ''D ...

'', a period of 4,320,000 years. To avoid computations with these large numbers, Haridatta introduced a smaller

Yuga A ''yuga'', in Hinduism, is generally used to indicate an age of time. In the ''Rigveda'', a ''yuga'' refers to generations, a long period, a very brief period, or a yoke (joining of two things). In the ''Mahabharata'', the words ''yuga'' and ...

, called a ''Dhijagannupura-yuga'', of 576 years or 210,389 days (which 1/7500 th part of a Mahyuga) and accurately determined the zero corrections for this sub-Yuga for the mean motion of the several planets. These corrections were then used to compute the mean planets for any given date.

Works of Haridatta

Scholars have been able to identify only two works as authored by Haridatta. One of them, titled ''Grahacaranibandhana'', is the basic manual of computations of the Parahita system of astronomy. This was unearthed by

K.V. Sarma K. V. Venkateswara Sarma (1919–2005) was an Indian historian of science, historian of Indian science, science, particularly the Indian astronomy, astronomy and Indian mathematics, mathematics of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics, ...

and was published in 1954. The other work titled ''Mahamarganibandhana'' is no longer extant.

References

{{authority control Hindu astronomy History of mathematics Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics People from Malappuram district Scientists from Kerala 7th-century Indian mathematicians 7th-century Indian astronomers Scholars from Kerala

Parahita system

Works of Haridatta

See also

References