Mazhamaṅgalaṃ Nārāyaṇan Naṃpūtiri (Nārāyaṇa of Mahiṣamaṅgalṃ) (c. 1540–1610) was an Indian scholar, poet, astrologer and mathematician belonging to the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics.
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.
This treatise deals with the expiatory rituals to be carried out in connection with the performance of mega-rituals like Somayajna and is very popular in Kerala.
[1] Two other works on astronomy have been identified as authored by Nārāyaṇan Naṃpūtiri: One of them is a brief commentary called Karmadīpikā or Karmapradīpikā on the textual verses in Līlāvatī and the other is a treatise in five chapters, titled Uparāgakriyākrama, on some new methods for the computation of lunar and solar eclipses.
[citation needed] Pañcāri mēḷaṃ is a percussion ensemble, performed during temple festivals in Kerala, India.
It was Mazhamaṅgalaṃ Nārāyaṇan Naṃpūtiri, with the support of Pandarathil Raman Marar, who conceptualized, designed and helped to perform first the percussion ensemble known as pañcāri mēḷaṃ.