Lilāvati

Līlāvatī is a treatise by Indian mathematician Bhāskara II on mathematics, written in 1150 AD. It is the first volume of his main work, the Siddhānta Shiromani, alongside the Bijaganita, the Grahaganita and the Golādhyāya. thumb|A problem from the Lilavati by Bhaskaracharya. Written in the 12th century. This appeared on page 18 of The Mathematical Mystery Tour by UNESCO in 1989.

== Name == Bhaskara II's book on arithmetic is the subject of interesting legends that assert that it was written for his daughter, Lilavati. As the story goes, the author had studied Lilavati's horoscope and predicted that she would remain both childless and unmarried. To avoid this fate, he ascertained an auspicious moment for his daughter's wedding. To alert his daughter at the correct time, he placed a cup with a small hole at the bottom of a vessel filled with water, arranged so that the cup would sink at the beginning of the propitious hour. He put the device in a room with a warning to Lilavati to not go near it. In her curiosity, though, she went to look at the device. A pearl from her bridal dress accidentally dropped into it, thus upsetting it. The auspicious moment for the wedding thus passed unnoticed leaving Bhaskara II devastated. Thus, he promised his daughter to write a book in her name, one that would remain till the end of time as a good name is akin to a second life.