Chandralekha's Lilavati
Director: Chandralekha
Duration: 00:29:21; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 24.442; Saturation: 0.297; Lightness: 0.359; Volume: 0.121; Cuts per Minute: 4.326; Words per Minute: 16.690
credits
(singing and credits)
CPC PRESENTS: Lilavati
Concept, Choreography & Visuals: Chandralekha
Set Design & Slides: Dasarath Patel
Music: Udipi Laxminarayan
Musicians: Udipi Laxminarayan - Nattuvangam
S.Rajeshwari - Vocal
D.Kannan - Mridangam
R.Ganesh - Flute
S.P.Mani - Morsing
Dancers: Sujata Ramalingam
Geetha R.
Radhika K.S.
Tripura Kashyap
Sridhar S.
Meera K.
Krishna D.
Jasmine Panicker
Design Coordination: Sadanand Menon
Acknowledgement: Dept. of Indian Mathematics
Lucknow University
Chennai
Bharatnatyam
Bhaskaracharya
Chandralekha
dance
poetic
woman mathematician
Indian mathematics
Chandralekha: Lilavati is the celebrated text on Indian mathematics, by Bhaskaracharya. Bhaskara's work, addressed to his daughter, Lilavati, constitutes the creative peak of Indian mathematics.
Indian mathematics
Algebra
Calculus
Geometry
cosmos
imagination
interlink
nature
numbers
Chandralekha: The text, Lilavati, is a series of most beautiful and poetic questions, from Bhaskaracharya to his daughter Lilavati, when she was a little girl. They are addressed to 'Ae bale, Lilavati'. The questions are elegant problems in Arithmetic, Algebra, Calculus and Geometry, seen in relation to the fantasy and the imagination, in the life and mind of a little girl. Learning is transformed into a creative and joyous activity through the Indian genius of interlink. Interlink between poetics and hard numbers. No wonder then, that the little girl Lilavati, later became India's most well-known woman mathematician. Bhaskara's questions reveal a world of that time. Nature, an environment of that time, flora and fauna of that time, prices of that time, prices of rice and dal and ghee and salt, prices of gold, and diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls.
Algebra
Calculus
Geometry
creative
interlink
time
Arithmetic
play
Chandralekha: What we see in the text Lilavati, is a little girl at play, a mathematician at play, their mutual perception of cosmos at play, rythmically linking these, is the constant of pure numbers. It is as much to the poetry of numbers that can unriddle universes, as to their deep play, that this work is affectionately dedicated.
cosmos
cosmos
(music and singing)
(close-ups of Bhaskara's Lilavati text,...
....showing the introduction page,...
... a numerical chart,
...the first verse of the poem -
"Ae bale Lilavati
Mati mati bruhi sahitaan.... )
(singing continues)
Chandralekha: The first question - Amala kamala raase tri-amsa pancha-amsa shashtaye...
- Lotus flowers, one-third for Shiva, one-fifth for Vishnu, one-sixth for Surya, one-fourth for Devi. Balance six - for guru's feet. Ae bale Lilavati, quickly count and tell how many in all, lotus flowers.
(music and dancing, three girls perform, joined later by one more)
(Singing voice recites the mathematical lotus riddle Chandralekha spoke about.)
(dance continues, a depiction of this very poem)
Board (answer): 120
Hindi voice over
Chandralekha: The next question - Pancha-amsa ali-kulat kadambam agamat -
It is about a swarm of bumblebess. One-fifth go to Kadamba flowers, one-third to Shilindhra flowers. The difference multiplied by three, go to small Kotaja flowers and get drunk on the heady honey of Kotaja flowers. One bee alone, flits from flowers to flower, flower to flower, from Ketaki to Maleti, Malati to Ketaki, a lone wanderer in the sky. - Ae bale Lilavati, count, and tell quickly, the total number of bees.
(Music plays, dance. A perfect representation of bumblebees enacting Bhaskaracharya's riddle. The music and beat, almost making you 'hear' the bees. The dancing and gestures, making you believe you 'see' the bees.)
(Singing verse)
(Dance continues)
Kolkatta
Board (answer): 15
Pad.ma requires JavaScript.
