Of late, there has been a tendency to spell the name as "Āryabhaṭṭa" with the suffix "bhaṭṭa". Two artificial satellites sent up into space by Indian scientists are given the names "Āryabhaṭṭa I" and "Āryabhaṭṭa II". Some modern writers also make use of this spelling. But, is the spelling of the astronomer’s name with the suffix "bhaṭṭa" correct?
Now, it is to be noted that no astronomical text spells the name as "Āryabhaṭṭa". The author himself mentions his name at three places only as "Āryabhaṭa", towards the beginning and ending verses of his work Āryabhaṭīya. (1)
praṇipatyaīkam anekaṃ kaṃ satyāṃ devataṃ paraṃ brahma ।
Āryabhaṭas trīṇi gadati gaṇitaṃ kālakriyām golam ॥
(Āryabhaṭīya, Gītikāpāda, verse 1)
brahma-ku-śaśi-budha-bhṛgu-
kuja-guru-koṇa-bhagaṇān namaskṛlya ।
Āryabhaṭas tviha nigadati
Kusumapure ’bhyarcitaaṃ jñānam ॥
(Gaṇitapāda, verse 1)
Āryabhaṭīyaṃ nāmnā
pūrvaṃ svāyambhuvaṃ sadā satyam ।
sukṛāyuṣoḥ praṇāśaṃ
kurute pratikañcukaṃ yo ’sya ॥
(Golapāda, verse 50)
Our author’s younger contemporary, Varāhamihira, too, mentions the name only as Āryabhaṭa and that too in a verse which forecloses the form "Āryabhaṭṭa". Thus, while speaking of the two ways of reckoning the day, viz., from midnight and from sunrise, propounded by our author, Varāhamihira says in his Pañcasiddhantikā (XV. 20):
laṇkārdharātrasamaye
dinapravṛttiṃ jagāda cāryabhaṭaḥ ।
bhūyaḥ sa eua sūryo-
dayāt prabhṛty āha laṇkayām ॥
In his commentary on Āryabhaṭīya, Bhāskara I, an ardent follower of our author, mentions the author’s name only as Āryabhaṭa whenever the latter is mentioned during the course of the commentary. The concluding verse of the commentary too mentions the name only as Āryabhaṭa (2):
atīndriyārṭhapratipādakāni
sūtraṇy amūny Aryabhaṭoditāni ।
teṣām aśakyo ’rthaśatāṃaśako ’pi
vaktum kuto ’smatsadṛśair aśeṣam ॥
Brahmagupta (6th cent. AD), contemporary of Bhāskara I, mentions Āryabhaṭa at the beginning verse of his Khaṇḍakhādyaka (1.11):
praṇipatya mahādevaṃ
jagadutpattisthitipralayahetum ।
vakṣyāmi khaṇḍakhādyakam
ācāryāryabhaṭatulyaphalam ॥
Someśvara, another early commentator (c. 1000 AD) on the Āryabhaṭīya, too, spells the name of our author only as Āryabhaṭa in the concluding verse of his commentary:
spaṣṭārthapratibodhakaṃ mṛdudhiyāṃ sūktam prabodhapmdaṃ
tarkavyākaraṇādiśuddhamatinā Someśvareṇādhunā ।
Acāryāryabhaṭokta sūtravivṛtir yā Bhāskarotpāditā
tasyāḥ sārataraṃ vikṛṣya racitaṃ bhāṣyaṃ prakṛṣṭaṃ laghu ॥
In the same vein Sūryadeva Yajvan (c. 1000 AD), hailing from Tamilnadu, closes his commentary on Āryabhaṭīya with the verse
triskandhānhavidā samyak Sūryadevena Yajvanā ।
saṇkṣipyāryabhaṭaproktasūtrārtho ’tra prakāśyate ॥
(Com. on Golapāda, verse 50 )
Śankaranārāyaṇa, the court-astronomer of the Kerala king Ravivarma of the 8th century, commences his commentary of the Laghubhāskarīya of Bhāskara I with the verse:
Acāryāryabhaṭaṃ Varāhamihiraṃ
Śrīmadguruṃ Bhāskaram ।
Govindaṃ Haridattam atra śirasā
vakṣye praṇamya kramāt ॥
Gārgya-Kerala-Nīlakaṇṭha Somayāji commences his commentary on the Āryabhaṭīya with the verse:
bhagavantaṃ cāryabhaṭaṃ
natvā vyākhyāyate ’tha tattantram ।
The Kerala commentator Ghaṭīgopa’s commentary commences with the verse:
gajānanam ca vāṇīṃ ca ṣrī-sūryādīn grahān api ।
pūrvācāryāṃś cāryabhaṭapramukhān praṇato ’smy aham ॥
It is to be noted that in all the above cases the name of our author is spelt only as "Āryabhaṭa" and not "Āryabhaṭṭa" and that the latter form will revolt against the metre.
It should be obvious from the above that the correct name of our author is only "Āryabhaṭa" and that the modern tendency to revise the name to "Āryabhaṭṭa" is not warranted.