Lilavati
Topic: Early Medieval North India: Harsha to the Rajputs · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 4 "Turning Tides: The 11th and 12th Centuries"
Meaning
The Lilavati is a 12th-century Sanskrit book on arithmetic and geometry by Bhaskaracharya (Bhaskara II). It is often treated as the first part of his larger work, the Siddhantashiromani. It teaches mathematics through lively verse problems and riddles, often addressed to a girl named Lilavati. It was a favourite school textbook in India for centuries.
Example
One kind of problem asks how many bees are in a swarm, given that set fractions of them fly to different flowers. During Akbar's reign, the court poet Faizi translated the Lilavati into Persian. A popular legend says Bhaskaracharya named the book after his daughter.
Don't confuse with
- Bijaganita: Bhaskaracharya's book on algebra (equations). The Lilavati covers arithmetic and measurement.