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Aryabhatta is well-known for his works in mathematics, but not all his works have had far-reaching effects. Kalakriyapada is one of his works that is not particularly common but is equally important as the rest of his discoveries. Kalakriyapada, also known as a reckoning of time, is described in his collection of works, namely, Aryabhatiya 1, along with other verses. It is meant to calculate the time in the form of year, month, etc. Some of its essential parts include sunlight, intercalary and mnemonic.
Kalakriyapada
Kalakriyapada, or the reckoning of time, was used to calculate the time in a year, month, etc. It introduced the concept of the solar year as the Sun’s revolution and the lunar year as the Moon’s revolution. He further explained a Brahman’s day and how long a yuga is. The zodiac signs’ connections are established with the Sun and stars under this work.
Sunlight and the Sun
He believed the Moon and the planets glowed because of reflected sunlight. Moreover, In the fifth verse of golapada, it has been mentioned that the halves of the planets not facing the sunlight stay in the dark. He also figured out that the orbits of the members of the solar family are elliptical in shape. The Earth’s revolutions around the Sun were observed by Aryabhatta.
He charted the planets’ course in accordance with their individual positions with regard to the Sun. Using a geometrical model, he defined an epicycle in the solar system. The sequence of the planets is based on their distance from the Earth: the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the asterisms.
Intercalary or the Adhika Masa
Aryabhatta calculated the extra month in the leap year. According to him, the movement of the Sun determines the lunar months. As the lunar and the solar years are correlated, they go hand in hand with a certain interval of time. A lunar month is equal to thirty lunar days.
A lunar year holds 360 lunar days, whereas these are 371 for a solar year. Therefore every solar year has 11 lunar days extra. When this total of extra days reaches 30, another month comes into existence. This extra month is called ‘adhika masa’ or intercalary month.
Mnemonic and its Use by Aryabhatta
In his book Aryabhatiya, he used alphabetical numbers instead of Brahmi numerals to express numbers and show quantities, like the table of sines in a mnemonic form. A mnemonic aids in memorising facts and a great deal of information.
These may occur as a musical note, poem, acronym, picture, or group of words. Mnemonics lend us a helping hand to remember facts. It’s an inspiring and spellbinding task that the father of Mathematics, Aryabhatta, came up with.
It is a very short and simple way to remember what is long or difficult. In his Dagagitika, he gave an unusual series or system of written symbols used to represent numbers. He used the consonants and vowels in the 25-letter Devanagari alphabet to denote numbers from 1 to 25, respectively.
Conclusion
Summing up, it can be said that Aryabhatta truly deserves to be called the father of mathematics, as he showed his expertise in the field when there were no proper mathematics tools or symbols or anything contemporary. He used his excellent observation skills and wits to bring to the world some valuable information that eventually proved to be a boon to the modern world. Aryabhatta gifted the world with many significant concepts like mnemonics, the Earth’s shape and movements, and the leap year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ireland on September 23, 2015. It was the second time an Indian Prime Minister had visited Ireland. The first being Jawaharlal Nehru’s visit in 1956. Ireland is an island nation located in Northwestern Europe and surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean.
The Prime Minister of Ireland, Enda Kenny, had hosted PM Modi during his visit. The PM was attended by other dignitaries such as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Charles Flanagan, and Ireland’s Ambassador to India, Feilim McLaughlin. The main aim of the visit was to create stronger ties and improve trade and cultural relations. Described below is the impact of the PM’s Ireland visit.
Impact on trade and commerce
India and Ireland have strong bilateral trade and business relations. Before the PM’s visit, trades with Ireland were valued at €650 million in business in 2014. This included exports worth €248m and imports worth €402 million.
The indigenous exports increased from €32 million in 2012 to €55 million in 2014. In 2019, the total bilateral trade was around €1.2 billion. The exports and the imports have also increased to €636 million and €480 million respectively. Currently, the total trade between India and Ireland is valued at €4.2 billion. This resulted from improved bilateral ties between the two nations, owing to Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Ireland.
Indian Companies in Ireland
Many Indian companies carry out trade and commerce in Ireland. They provide services to Irish markets and consumers across various industries. Pharmaceutical giants such as Reliance Genemedix and Amneal Pharmaceuticals operate in Ireland. Major IT companies such as Wipro, Infosys, TCS, and HCL also have a strong presence in the country. The trade relations were bolstered after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Ireland.
Other companies like Crompton Greaves, Deepak Fasteners, Jain irrigation systems, and Shapoorji Pallonji provide consumer goods and services. Likewise, many Irish companies conduct their business in the Indian market. These companies include pharmaceutical and nutrition players like ICON and Glanbia, IT firms like Globoforce and other companies like Keventer, CRH Taxback Group, and Connolly Red Mills.
Impact on Education
Ireland has been a coveted destination for higher education for Indian students. Over 5000 Indian students have enrolled for higher studies in various institutions in Ireland. The students are admitted to engineering, technology, medicine and management colleges. More than 30 research agreements have been signed between the two nations that allow institutes in both countries to collaborate.
Many reputed institutes like Trinity College, Dublin, and Thapar University, Patiala, have signed MOUs for engineering and science disciplines programmes. Thus, Ireland is an essential collaborator in graduate and doctoral research. This collaboration is also considered an impact of the PM’s Ireland visit.
Indian Community in Ireland
Ireland is diplomatically significant for India also due to the large number of Indian citizens residing there. The Indian origin population is approximately 45,000 people, of whom 18,500 are Non-Resident Indians (NRI), and others are Persons of Indian Origin (PIO). The majority of the residents are working professionals employed in engineering, healthcare and management positions.
It has helped in establishing many policies for the Indian origin population. Two such policies in practice are wearing hijab as a part of the police uniform and the non-requirement of obtaining an additional work permit for the spouse or the partner of Critical Skill Employment Permit holders.
Cultural Impact
As a result of a large population of Indian origin citizens in Ireland and the relationship between the two nations, Ireland promotes Indian culture in various forms. One such example is the celebration of Diwali in Ireland since 2008. The event is organised every year in collaboration with Irish and Indian committees.
Further, an annual contemporary film festival is also a part of the celebration of Indian culture. The promotion of such events indicates the importance of cultural exchange between the two nations. The Irish communities also take a keen interest in conventional practices such as cultivating and consuming Indian herbs and spices. This connects the agricultural practices between the two nations. The cultural ties between the countries were strong, and Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Ireland helped strengthen them further.
Another significant practice is the celebration of International Yoga Day in Ireland. The Irish communities have accepted Yoga as a form of a healthy lifestyle. The practice is similar to the Indian tradition.
Tourism
India attracts around 44,000 Irish tourists every year. Indian tourists too visit Ireland in similar numbers. This was facilitated by the introduction of the common British-Irish visa scheme. This scheme allows the tourists to visit the U.K. and Ireland under one visa, rather than applying for two separate visas. It is valid for short stays. India also extended its Electronic Tourist Visa facility to Ireland to digitally facilitate visa approval and generation. The impact of the PM’s Ireland visit was such that it has also helped establish the tourism sector in both countries.
Conclusion
The diplomatic ties between Ireland and India have been impacted positively after Prime Minister Modi visited Ireland in 2015. It was an essential step toward strengthening the bilateral relationship between these two nations. India and Ireland have been important to each other since the 1900s.
In 2010 and 2017, two honorary consulates were established in Chennai and Kolkata. Later in 2019, a formal and fully functional consulate general in Mumbai. Ireland and India have also shown their allegiance to fighting terrorism after the Pulwama attack. India has also hosted several Irish dignitaries on various occasions. These visits were directed toward engagement in business, education, health and tourism.
Further, many agreements were signed to provide opportunities for employment to people of both countries. Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Ireland helped revive relatively stagnant relations between these two nations. Several cultural and historically similar instances bind these two nations. From Yeats and Tagore to cricket and Diwali, the cultural semblance between these two nations has helped create a strong tie between them.
