The Āryabhaṭīya — A Revolution in 121 Verses
From The Āryabhaṭīya, taught by Acharya T Krishnatrey. This lesson is free to read.
In **499 CE**, at the age of just twenty-three, **Āryabhaṭa** wrote at Kusumapura (Pāṭaliputra) a treatise of only about **121 verses** — arranged in **four pādas (parts)** — that changed the history of science. In these compact Sanskrit lines lie the **decimal place-value system**, a unique **alphabetic numeral code**, the world's first **sine table**, an accurate value of **π**, the reckoning of **time and the planets**, and the revolutionary claim that the **Earth rotates on its axis**. <pre data-block="quote">"Just as a man in a moving boat sees the unmoving trees on the bank go backward, so a person on Earth sees the fixed stars move westward." — Āryabhaṭa, Golapāda 9</pre>