Merch
News
Panchangam
Apps
Downloads
For Teachers
Resources
About
PEOPLE
IDEAS
PLACES
CULTURE
CREATE
STORIES
GAMES
Aryabhata's Astronomy
आर्यभट का खगोलशास्त्र
The 5th-century stargazer who knew the Earth spins
Era
476 – 550 CE
Pioneered by
Aryabhata, of Kusumapura (Patna)
Origin
Bihar
Domain
Mathematics & Astronomy
“The sphere of the stars is at rest; the Earth, turning on its axis, causes the rising and setting of the planets.”
— Aryabhata, Aryabhatiya (499 CE)
The Story
Aryabhata was born around 476 CE and worked at Kusumapura, near modern Patna. At the age of 23 he composed the Aryabhatiya, a brilliant little book of mathematics and astronomy that laid out the decimal place-value system, solutions to quadratic equations, and a table of sines — five hundred years before these ideas reached Europe.
His astronomy was breathtakingly modern: the Earth rotates on its axis, he said, which is why the stars appear to move — a claim Europe would not fully accept for a thousand years. He explained solar and lunar eclipses correctly, as shadows cast by the Moon and the Earth. He even calculated the length of the year as 365.3586 days — remarkably close to the true value.
He computed pi to 3.1416 and gave an approximation accurate enough for most purposes. The modern space programme of Bhārat honoured him by naming its first satellite, launched in 1975, Aryabhata — a fitting tribute to the first person of Bhārat who truly understood the sky.
Core Ideas
The Spinning Earth
He knew the Earth rotates on its axis, a millennium before Europe.
Eclipses Explained
Shadows, not demons — a scientific account 1,500 years early.
The Aryabhatiya
A compact masterpiece of mathematics and astronomy.
Pi & The Year
Pi to 3.1416 and a year-length accurate to hours.
First Satellite of Bhārat
ISRO named its first spacecraft after him.
Why it matters today
Aryabhata stands at the head of astronomy and mathematics of Bhārat — the man who made the sky a science. His name flies around the Earth daily, aboard Bhārat's first satellite and in the pride of every astronomer of Bhārat.