A new book shows how Nalanda Mahavihara contributed to the fields of ancient mathematics, astronomy

Based on Xuanzang’s account, Nalanda Mahavihara had an observatory tower, which could have been used to track the movement of the celestial bodies and calculate time accurately.

Pataliputra (Patna), was the place of congregation of the mathematicians in India since the early fifth century. The famous Indian mathematician and astronomer Aryabhata (476-550 CE) was thought to have lived in Patliputra, modern Patna in Bihar and studied and taught at Nalanda. His work, Aryabhatiya produced the first systematic compilation of Indian mathematical and astronomical knowledge in thirty-two Sanskrit verses covering arithmetic, squares, cubes, square roots, cube roots, triangles, the properties of a circle, algebra, fractions, quadratic equations, spherical trigonometry and sines as well as the decimal system with place value.

“His extensive calculations and observations enabled him to calculate the value of pi – 3.1416 – to the fourth decimal point.”

“The ease of making calculations using this system had direct implications for astronomy and allowed Aryabhata to calculate the movements of the planet, eclipses, the size of the earth and, astonishingly, the exact length of the solar year to an accuracy of seven decimal points. Aryabhata correctly concluded, a full thousand years before Copernicus and Galileo, that the earth rotates about its axis daily, and...

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