Halayudha
10th-century Indian mathematician
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Halāyudha (Sanskrit: हलायुध) wrote the Mṛtasañjīvanī, a commentary on Pingala's Chandaḥśāstra, was an Indian Mathematician and poet who lived and worked in the 10th century.[1] The Chandaḥśāstra by the Indian lyricist Piṅgala (3rd or 2nd century BC) somewhat cryptically describes a method of arranging two types of syllables to form metres of various lengths and counting them; as interpreted and elaborated by Halāyudha his "method of pyramidal expansion" (meru-prastāra) for counting metres is equivalent to Pascal's triangle.[2][3]
Halāyudha | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 10th century AD |
| Academic work | |
| Main interests | Sanskrit mathematician |
| Notable works | Mṛtasañjīvanī and "Halāyudha trikoņa" |
Biography
Halayudha originally resided at the Rashtrakuta capital Manyakheta, now located in Karnataka, where he wrote under the patronage of emperor Krishna III. His Kavi-Rahasya eulogizes Krishna III. Later, he migrated to Ujjain in the Paramara kingdom. There, he composed Mṛta-Sañjīvanī in honour of the Paramara king Munja.[4]
Works
Halayudha composed the following works:[4]
- Kavi-Rahasya, a book on poetics
- Mṛta-Sañjīvanī, a commentary on Pingala's Chandaḥ-śāstra
- Abhidhana-ratna-mala, a lexicon
- Halāyudha Kośa, a dictionary
