Madhava - the forgotten math wizard of Kallettumkara

The Government of India observed December 22 as the National Mathematics Day to honour mathematical wizard Srinivasa Ramanujan who was born on this day in 1887. However, not many even know about the Indian mathematician, astronomer and astrologer Madhava, also known as Sangamagrama Madhava after his medieval town in the present-day Kallettumkara, near Irinjalakuda, in Kerala's Thrissur district. In a bid to honour Madhava's legacy, a memorial plaque was unveiled at Kallettumkara on Saturday.

Madhava was born about 1340 and died around 1425. Though hailed as the founder of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics, neither the locals in Irinjalakuda nor the people of Kerala remember Madhava, who had the title "Golavid," meaning ‘’one who knows the spheres’’. It is said he once lied on the stone at the Sree Krishna Temple near Iringatappally Mana every night to watch the movements of the moon and the planets. Two stones erected in the temple are now looked after by the descendents of his family.

The West has renamed most of the trignometric series formerly associated with Issac Newton (1643-1727) and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) as the Madhava-Leibniz series. This legendary mathematician had worked on the fundamentals of Calculus around two centuries before Newton and his German counterpart Leibniz. But his own people are yet to accord him a deserving honour.

It is said that the only surviving book on Madhava is called ‘Venuaroham’. In this book, he has proven the critical facts and findings on Calculus. (Calculus is the mathematical study of continuous change)

V.P.N Namboothiri, who is a professor at the CUSAT, acknowledged that most people in Kerala has failed to realise the importance of Madhava who is now been studied and researched in western countries. "We have to establish a project to make people understand his relevance and heritage," he noted, while adding that it is "disappointing that people are viewing Madhava through a Brahmanical and political angle."

Prof. Venkateswara Iyer, who is the recipient of this year’s Madhava Ganitha Purasakaram, welcomed such initiatives. "Programmes like this will be a great event to attract the youth into the realm of mathematics," Iyer, who teaches at the IISER, Pune, noted.

The award is instituted by the Madhava Ganitha Kendram in memory of the math wizard. Efforts are also on to revive the system of a succession of teachers and disciples (guru-sisya parampara). This centre is all set to work on a project to encourage the youth to connect and protect the heritage of Madhava and his disciples who were once scattered in various places.

Vinod, the secretary of the centre, welcomed initiatives to familiarise people like Madhava with the public. He also stressed on the need to create an intelligent approach towards the study of history.