Lalla

Who was Lalla?

Lalla was an Indian mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer who belonged to a family of astronomers. Lalla was the son of Trivikrama Bhatta and the grandson of Śâmba, and he lived in central India, possibly in the Lāṭa region in modern south Gujarat. Lalla was known as being one of the leading Indian astronomers during the eighth century. Only two of Lalla's works are currently thought to be extant.

His most famous work was titled Śiṣya-dhī-vṛddhida-tantra, or "Treatise which expands the intellect of students." This text is one of the first major Sanskrit astronomical texts known from the period following the 7th-century works of Brahmagupta and Bhāskara I. It generally treats the same astronomical subject matter and demonstrates the same computational techniques as earlier authors, although there are some significant innovations, such that Lalla’s treatise offers a compromise between the rival astronomical schools of his predecessors, Āryabhaṭa I and Brahmagupta. Although Lalla is known to be a follower of Āryabhaṭa, he combines techniques from both. It is within "Śiṣyadhīv ṛddhidatantra" that the earliest known description of a perpetuum mobile is described.