Mazhamaṅgalaṃ Nārāyaṇan Naṃpūtiri
Indian writer, Malayalam writer
Mazhamaṅgalaṃ Nārāyaṇan Naṃpūtiri (Nārāyaṇa of Mahiṣamaṅgalṃ) (c. 1540–1610) was an Indian scholar, Poet, Astrologer, Composer and Mathematician belonging to the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics. Nārāyaṇan Naṃpūtiri hailed from Peruvanam village in present-day Thrissur district in Kerala. His father was Mazhamaṅgalaṃ Śaṅkaran Naṃpūtiri himself a respected scholar and writer who had authored a large number of books on astronomy and astrology in the vernacular Malayalam language in an effort to popularize astronomy among the lay public.
There is a legend to the effect that in the early days of his life Nārāyaṇan Naṃpūtiri was a spendthrift and lived a wayward life. One day, at the place of the performance of a yāga, he was hugely insulted for his ignorance of veda-s and other scriptures, and being deeply humiliated he left to Chola country, spent several years there and returned as a great scholar in veda-s, śrauta-śāstra and smārtta-sāstra to the amazement of those who had insulted him earlier. Thereafter, he used to be given a respectful and prominent place at the performance in all such rituals, and even after his death, his spiritual presence used to be invoked on the occasion of the performance of the rituals. His highly respected work Smārta-prāyaścitta-vimarśinī stands testimony to his deep knowledge of veda-s and other scriptures.
His deep knowledge in astronomy and mathematics is reflected in his works. When Śaṅkara Vāriyar, who was composing an erudite and elaborate commentary on Līlāvatī, had to abandon his work due to some inconveniences while he was half-way through the work the task of completing the commentary was entrusted to Mazhamaṅgalaṃ Nārāyaṇan Naṃpūtiri.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17009743. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1540 and 1610.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mazhamaṅgalaṃ Nārāyaṇan Naṃpūtiri” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.