Aryabhata died around 550, though it is not known where. As an astronomer he argued--against Vedic tradition--that the Earth was round and rotated daily. He correctly explained why equinoxes, solstices, and eclipses occur. These ideas were not accepted in Aryabhata's lifetime, but his mathematics had set the foundation for developments in the Eastern and Western worlds for centuries to come. In India particularly, Aryabhata the Elder marked the end of the sacred or "S'ulvasutra" period, during which mathematics was used primarily by priests for temple architecture. He ushered in the "astronomical period" that lasted until the year 1200.