T.A. Sarasvati Amma

Who is T.A. Sarasvati Amma?

T. A. Sarasvati Amma was a scholar born in Kerala, India who specialized in the geometry of ancient and medieval India.

Sarasvati Amma was the second daughter of her mother Kuttimalu Amma and father Marath Achutha Menon. She took her basic degree in mathematics and physics from Madras University and obtained an M.A. degree in Sanskrit from Benares Hindu University. She did her research under the guidance of Dr. V. Raghavan, a Sanskrit scholar. Sarasvati Amma taught at Sree Kerala Varma College, Thrissur, Maharaja's College, Ernakulam and also at Women's College, Ranchi. She served Shree Shree Lakshmi Narain Trust Mahila Mahavidyalaya, Dhanbad, Jharkhand as its principal from 1973 to 1980. After retirement she spent her last years in her home town Ottappalam. She died in 2000. Her younger sister T. A. Rajalakshmi was a well-known story-writer and novelist in Malayalam, but committed suicide in 1965.

The Kerala Mathematical Association started a regular Prof. T. A. Sarasvati Amma Memorial Lecture in its annual conference in 2002. In the words of Michio Yano, who reviewed Sarasvati Amma's book Geometry in Ancient and Medieval India, the book "established a firm foundation for the study of Indian geometry".