Sridhar Acharya

Sridhar Acharya (10th century AD) Sanskrit pundit and philosopher, was born in Bhurishresti (Bhurisristi or Bhurshut) village in South Radha (at present Hughli). His father, Baladev Sharma, was also a sanskrit pundit. Pandudas, the king of south Radha and founder of Pandubhumi-Bihar, was Sridhar Acharya';s patron.

Sridhar became known all over India for his books on spiritualism and philosophy. While working under the supervision of Pandudas he wrote Ny'a'yakandal'i (991 AD), a commentary on Prashastapad';s Pad'a'rthadharmagrantha. He explained in it, for the first time, the existence of Vaisheshika philosophy. Other books on philosophy by him include Advayasiddhi, Tattvavodhasanggrahat'i'k'a, Shr'i'dhar Paddhati (book on tales of jataka), etc. He also authored an arithmetic book titled Trishatik'a (991 AD). The book is composed in A'ry'a chhanda (rhyme) and contain 300 shlokas (kind of verse with a moral). It includes a formula for measuring the area of a circle but does not have anything similar for the area of a globe. Bhaskaracharya accepted many of Sridhar';s rules in his book but does not acknowledge it. He also has mentioned Sridhar';s work on Algebra but no such book has been discovered till date. Another man named Sridhar Bhatta has also been identified but opinions differ as to whether they are the same persons. [Suresh Chandra Banerjee] [Banerjee, Suresh Chandra Professor (retd) of Sanskrit, Calcutta University]