Jyeṣṭhadeva

Who was Jyeṣṭhadeva?

Jyeṣṭhadeva was an astronomer-mathematician of the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics founded by Sangamagrama Madhava . He is best known as the author of Yuktibhāṣā, a commentary in Malayalam of Tantrasamgraha by Nilakantha Somayaji. In Yuktibhāṣā, Jyeṣṭhadeva had given complete proofs and rationale of the statements in Tantrasamgraha. This was unusual for traditional Indian mathematicians of the time. An analysis of the mathematics content of Yuktibhāṣā has prompted some scholars to call it "the first textbook of calculus". Jyeṣṭhadeva also authored Drk-karana a treatise on astronomical observations.