Aryabhatta was a great mathematician and astronomer, who lived during the Gupta period. At the age of twenty-three, he wrote his small, but famous work on astronomy, the Aryabhatiya. In it, he organized and combined the existing knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. Aryabhatta was the first astronomer to mention that day and night are caused by the rotation of the earth about its axis. He stated that the moon and planets shine by reflected sunlight, and that eclipses are caused by the shadows cast by the sun and the moon.
The other contributions that Aryabhatta made towards pure mathematics were his approximation of ‘pi’, and his sine tables. Aryabhatta’s name spread rapidly and disciples gathered from all over to see him. Among his most famous disciples were Bhaskara I, Sankaranarayana, Suryadeva, and Nilkantha.
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