ARYABHAT: THE FIRST ASTRONOMER AND FOUNDER OF ZERO

Education
It is fairly certain that, at some point, he went to Kusumapura for advanced studies and lived there for some time. Both Hindu and Buddhist tradition, as well as Bhāskara I (CE 629), identify Kusumapura as Pāṭaliputra, modern Patna. A verse mentions that Aryabhata was the head of an institution (kulapati) at Kusumapura, and, because the university of Nalanda was in Pataliputra at the time and had an astronomical observatory, it is speculated that Aryabhata might have been the head of the Nalanda university as well. Aryabhata is also reputed to have set up an observatory at the Sun temple in Taregana, Bihar.

Other hypotheses
Some archeological evidence suggests that Aryabhata could have originated from the present day Kodungallur which was the historical capital city of Thiruvanchikkulam of ancient Kerala. For instance, one hypothesis was that aśmaka (Sanskrit for "stone") may be the region in Kerala that is now known as Koṭuṅṅallūr, based on the belief that it was earlier known as Koṭum-Kal-l-ūr ("city of hard stones"); however, old records show that the city was actually Koṭum-kol-ūr ("city of strict governance"). Similarly, the fact that several commentaries on the Aryabhatiya have come from Kerala were used to suggest that it was Aryabhata's main place of life and activity; however, many commentaries have come from outside Kerala.
Aryabhata mentions "Lanka" on several occasions in the Aryabhatiya, but his "Lanka" is an abstraction, standing for a point on the equator at the same longitude as his Ujjayini.


The greatest astronomer and mathematician, Aryabhatt, was born in 476 AD. His work in astronomy is an asset to the scholars. He gave an accurate figure for pi () 3.1416. He finished his book “Aryabhattiya” in 499 AD in which he gives the exact year of the beginning of kaliyug. He writes,

“When the three yugas (satyug, tretayug and dwaparyug) have elapsed and 60 x 60 (3,600) years of kaliyug have already passed, I am now 23 years old.” It means that in the 3,601st year of Kali era he was 23 years old. Aryabhatt was born in 476 AD. Thus, the beginning of kaliyug comes to 3,601 - (476 + 23) = 3102 BC.

Lord Krishn ascended to His Divine abode at the end of dwaparyug and immediately kaliyug started in 3102 BC. When Bhagwan Krishn left the earth planet and ascended to His Divine abode a catastrophic rain, storm and sea deluge, that lasted for seven days, totally drowned and destroyed Dwarika town. This catastrophe was also recorded in Babylonia’s ancient town Ur (which was mythologized in the West as Noah’s flood) and the ancient Mayan records. The dates of both are the same.

(For a complete list of kings of Hastinapur from Yudhishthir to Vikramaditya and their exact reigning periods and for detailed physical, geographical, inscriptional and scriptural information about the date of Mahabharat war and the beginning of kaliyug, read pages 477–506 of “The True History and the Religion of India” which documents 17 positive evidences.)