Background
Visvanatha Sastriyar was born in Araly in the Vaddukoddai region near Jaffna to Narayana Sastri in a Tamil Brahmin family in 1756.
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Visvanatha Sastriyar
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Sir Emerson Tennent called him "the most celebrated astronomer in Ceylon". Visvanathan published a yearly almanac or panchangam till his death. This almanac was known for its accuracy.
Visvanathan was praised for his work and was awarded the sole privilege of being considered "Almanac Maker for His Majesty, George IV".
Visuvenathen was the most celebrated of the astronomers of Ceylon, in as much as he concentrated in his own person the accumulated science of his ancestors, who for nine generations had been cultivators of the same study
However, his predictions have also proved to be wrong on certain occasions. His prediction of a lunar eclipse on March 21, 1828 was wrong by fifteen minutes.
His prediction of the character of the eclipse also proved to be wrong as the eclipse was only a three-eighths eclipse and not five-eighths as he had predicted. Visvanathan also composed a number of poetical works.
Visvanatha Sastriyar died in 1845.
