CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
As we all know math is all around us but the primitive man was not aware of
math rather he had to survive on his abilities of logic, early men use to keep a
track of regular occurrence like the phases of moon, seasons, day and night etc. but
as the civilization settled and developed the need of Mathematics became more
prominent; example measurement of lands, weighing the quantities of various
elements, taxation, architecture etc., this particular development was first seen in
Sumerian and Babylonian civilization of Mesopotamia (3500 B.C.), which further
marked the beginning of so called Mathematical Journey.
“Vedic Mathematics” what one understands today is a 20th Century wonder
with sixteen sutras, which stock the magical powers of computation and calculation,
introduced by Bharati Krishna Tirthaji, Shankaracharya of Puri (1925), It is an
isolated small work. Neither these sutras nor the procedure has any connection with
ancient era Mathematical works or Vedas work the vast amount of work done in the
field of math should not be termed as Vedic maths. It is sad that long Indian
tradition of mathematics approximately 3000 years of knowledge bank is not known
or not discovered fully and is getting extinct. It is high time that one study Indian
Mathematical heritage and culture with diligence and objectivity and pass it to the
current generation.
Ancient India has contributed a great deal to the world mathematical ocean.
The country also witnessed the growth of Mathematics from 3000 B.C.E to the
Modern date throwing out many important discoveries, ideas and procedures,
which became the base or the working model for other countries, continents or
civilizations Mathematical works. Indian Mathematical journey goes back to
Harappa culture where usage of Mathematics can be seen in their construction and
architecture .After this period comes the Vedic period where the mathematics
became the part of the religion and life. Vedic text were supposed to be recited,
heard and retained. These texts were orally transmitted and memorized which
might be the reason in development of grammar and phonetics. All these made
Vedic period as one of the important turnover in Mathematical expedition. After
Veda comes the Sulba sutra period which marked the beginning of era where
mathematics became the part and parcel of Astronomy i.e. Siddhanta period. In this

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era the religion got separated from Mathematics as sacrificial rituals declined. This
era work was carried further by the future classical era mathematicians. Sulba sutra
period was overlapped by Jain Mathematics period, here mathematics became an
abstract subject which was cultivated for its own sake. Some of the important
contribution of this era is Panca Siddhanta, Surya Siddhanta etc.
In India, Mathematics was always connected with Astronomy, thus the post
Vedic period saw the growth and development of Mathematics within the
Astronomical zone. This era is considered to be a very important period in the
journey of Mathematics. Many important discoveries from ZERO, PI to the
solution of indeterminate equations were done in this era. This era also witnessed
the gem of knowledge and intelligent Mathematicians like ryabhata,
Brahmagupta, Bhaskaracharya etc. whose names can’t be erased out from Indian
history. Base of this era was considered to be Sulba period, many mathematician
like ryabhata, Brahmagupta had made use of Sulba period work. Major
mathematical works and siddhantas are from this period including ryabhata’s
ryabhat ya, Brahmagupta’s Brahmasphuta Siddhanta, Bhaskara’s Lilavati etc.
all these works are in the form of Sanskrit sutras. Arithmetic, Algebra and
geometry were developed in this classical era. The decimal number which are used
by current generation is the gift of this era only. All these and many more in turn is
one of the reasons to choose this era Mathematicians for research.
Classical era ended with the invasion of Mughal empire in north, because of
which lot of ancient work got destroyed and progress of mathematics stopped in
these areas , but south India was not affected by these invasions and saw the
sudden growth in the Mathematical development in the form of Kerala school.
Kerala School formed the bridge between the medieval and the modern era. The
mathematical work of Kerala School was of advance level as compare to early
ancient Mathematical works.
Modern era saw the expansion of Mathematical work. Modern
Mathematicians commented and studied different Siddhantas and treatise of
classical era. Mathematicians like Madhava, Nilakantha, Ramanujan has
contributed a lot in the World Mathematician Ocean, but as 21st Century arrived
one can note the sudden relegation of ancient Indian Mathematicians. The
Mathematics which the current generation is learning is basically a gift of foreign
Mathematical work. Studying ancient Indian Mathematics is considered to be of
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 little use by many and is not encouraged. If the trend goes like this, it is not far the
work which started in 3000 B.C.E will be completely forgotten and all its details
will be lost by 3000 C.E.
1.1. Aim, Need and importance of this research work
India has contributed a lot in the development of modern mathematics but
most of ancient work is still unknown to the world as it is in cryptic language in the
form of shlokas in Sanskrit. ryabhata was famous for giving zero but his
important contribution of pi value, diameter of earth up to decimal accuracy, sine
table etc. Brahmagupta was his follower with some differences but their work were
not showcased in modern era and not much work was done to take up their work
forward.
It is important to take right steps and try to put an effort to bring the vast and
rich Indian ancient knowledge to the World in the form that can be carried further
for research. Current work aimed to bring outstanding innovation and discoveries
made by the Indian Mathematician in ancient times to the current world especially
ryabhatas and Brahmaguptas work. The second goal is to locate and identify the
manuscript and translate it into English, then interpret, give algorithm and find the
significance of the work interpreted. This might lead into some new discoveries or
invention which may open new doors of research or give some new concepts
regarding astronomical work which may give different outlook to the perspective
one holds now.
1.2. Methodology of research of the current work.
Very few people have done work on Ancient Indian mathematics. General
assumption is that modern maths has been developed from the Greece foundation.
Very few know that Indian mathematics is parallel to Mesopotamians and is even
older. Greece people took over the knowledge from Mesopotamians and
progressed ahead. The education system of oral transmission followed by Indian of
the ancient age could not withstand the time and weathered over the centuries. The
manuscripts which were found are with numerals represented in cryptic form or
alphabets which needed to be decoded. Most of the available work is the
translation by the people who were not Mathematicians, so basic calculation
mathematical thinking involved behind the sutras got lost. The methodology
followed here is:

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 • Interpret the Cryptic language of Indian Mathematicians work with the help
of related papers in corresponding field.
• Understand the sutra’s and generate the algorithm for the calculations done
by ryabhata, Brahmagupta and others with the help of literature work
done by other researchers.
• Prove the sutras after translation on the basis of modern knowledge.
• Provide the working of sutra with proper solved example wherever needed.
• Have included other ancient mathematician’s sutra interpretation also.
1.3. On History
Mathematics has played an important role in the growth and development of
Indian civilization and culture. The ideas that emerged in India continent had put a
great impact on the world. The contribution of mathematics from the ancient era to
the modern era has great importance whether it is ryabhata “ ” or Brahmagupta “0”.
In ancient era mathematics was used for application purpose i.e. they were used to
solve problems of architecture, construction, astronomy, astrology and in the
construction of Vedic sutras. But by fifth or sixth century onwards Mathematics was
being studied for its own sake as well as for the application in other fields. On the
basis of development and growth of Mathematics the Mathematical growth can be
divided into three categories: Early Medieval Era, Classical Era and Modern Era.

Mathematics Era

Early Medieval Era Classical Era Modern Era

(3000 B.C.E -500 C.E) (500 C.E-1200 C.E) (1200 C.E - Till date)

Figure 1.1. Classification of Mathematical Development.

Early medieval period growth and development was surrounding Indus River,
as the civilization developed people migrated towards east, therefore classical era
shows the development of mathematics in north east region of Indian continent. After
Mughal invasion development of mathematics almost stopped in North area, then the
development was seen in southern part of India continent. Location of these era is
shown with the help of below figure:

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Figure: 1.2. Map illustrating the region of development of Mathematics in
different eras
Early Medieval Era
Indus valley civilization (3000 B.C.E) with its two famous cities Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro didn’t show any document proof but provides the evidence of
application of Mathematics in the construction of city i.e. the construction of
building followed a standardized measurement decimal in nature, geometry layout
of cities and the brick making technology which was done by using proper
mathematical measure i.e. dimension proportion to 4:2:1, which were used in
construction of building and embankments of river for flood control. Around 2000
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B.C the Harappan culture collapsed due to some climatic change. However the
mathematics for astronomical work is considered to be even older and assumed
that there might have been some mathematical theories behind this, which was
traced in further coming era’s mathematical work for calculating distances between
planets and sun, in the field of trigonometry, size of different planets etc.
Going little ahead in the time comes the yajuvedesa hila i.e. Vedic period
(range from 1800 to 800 B.C.E) where the religious texts provides large usage of
numbers i.e. Vedic literature especially the Shatapatha Brahmana, which is a part
of the Shukla Yajur Veda. The Shatapatha Brahmana contains the detail note of
ritual geometric construction i.e. geometric construction of altars for yajnas and the
numbers of type 1012 is used in the literature.
After Vedas comes the Shulba sutra period (800 – 200 B.C.E). These sutras
are four in number which are named after Baudhayana (800 B.C.E), Manava (750
B.C.E), Apastamba (600 B.C.E) and Katyayana (200 B.C.E).
Baudhayana: Nothing is known about him except that he belonged to 8th
century and was the author of one of the earliest Sulba Sutra. He wrote one of the
Sulba Sutra to give the rules for religious rites and the mathematics given in this
treatise enables one to create accurate altars. Possibility is that he might be a Vedic
priest and a skilled crafts man. Baudhayana Sulba Sutra is made of three chapters
and contains the geometric solution of linear equation (single unknown) and
quadratic equation (of type ax2 = c and ax2 +bx =c), different values of occurs in
this treatise giving different approximation for constructing circles, approximate
value of √2 correct to five decimal place is specified in chapter 1 (Verse 61) which
can be put in the form of,
1 1 1 577
√2 = 1 + + − = = 1.414215686
3 3 × 4 3 × 4 × 34 408
If one takes √2 equals to 1 + + ×
= = 1.41666667 then the error is of

0.002 which is quite accurate, which surprises when it is compared with modern
era value.
Manava: Manava Sulba sutra is not the oldest one, as Baudhayana Sulba Sutra
is older than this. Like Baudhayana even he was interested in using mathematics
for religious purpose and like Baudhayana he was also a Vedic priest and skilled
crafts man, who constructed altars for sacrifices. Sulba Sutra mathematics gives the

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accurate construction of altars which are needed for sacrifices. Manava Sulba Sutra
like other Sulba sutra contains the approximate construction of circles from
rectangles and squares, which gives rise to the approximate value of . Manava

value of is = 3.125.

Apastamba: He also followed the same line as of Baudhayana and Manava.

Like both of them he was also a Vedic priest and a skilled crafts man, who
constructed the sacrifices for the altars. His work is the expansion of Baudhayana
work. His works includes solution of linear equation, accurate value of √2 correct
upto five decimal place as well as the squaring the circle problem.
Katyayana: He wrote Katayayana Sulba sutra which is considered to be the
last of the Vedic mathematician. He belongs to the period where religious rite
became less influential, People were turning to different other religion. One
assumes that he might have been the priest instructing the people, How to conduct
the religious rites. Even his works follows the other three authors of Sulba sutra.
His work was in the field of geometry including Pythagorean Theorem and the
computation of square root.
In general the Sulba sutra contains the theorems which are usually attributed to
Pythagorus, introduction of the concept of irrational numbers, approximately the
number square root with the help of recursive procedure which in today’s world is
equivalent to the series expansion.
After crossing the Sulba Sutra period comes the Jain Mathematics period (600
- 200 B.C.E). Jain mathematics forms the link between the Vedic period and the
classical period. Jain Mathematicians one of the important contribution is they
freed the Indian Mathematics from its religious constraints. Some of the important
Jain Mathematician works were Vaishali Ganit (3rd Century B.C), Sthananga sutra
(300 – 200 B.C.E), Bhadrabahavi Samhita (298 B.C.E), Satkhandagama (2nd
century) and Anoyogdwar Sutra (200- 100 B.C.E). Not much work is done in order
to explore Jain Mathematical work. Some of the work which is connected to Jain
works are infinite theory, notion of orders of infinity which in modern era
corresponds to notion of cardinality which came into existence in nineteenth
century due to Cantors work and also the Pascal triangle was known to them.
Beside this they were also good in the field of number theory, computing with
fraction, geometry etc.

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 An important landmark in the ancient mathematical work was the work of
Panini (520- 460 B.C.E). He was born in Shatatula near Attock on the Indus River
(Presently Pakistan). He was a Sanskrit grammarian and gave the scientific theory
of Phonetics, Morphology and Phonology. Sanskrit was considered as the divine
language or language of Gods. Panini major work is Astaka or Astadhyayi which
consists of eight chapters. He gave the formal production of rules starting with
basic elements approximately 1700 like nouns, verbs, vowels etc. Here the rules
were written in Sanskrit grammar and the notation given were similar to the
modern mathematical works, it includes the early use of Boolean logic.
Pingala (300 – 200 B.C.E), One of the Mathematics scholar of post Vedic
period whose contribution is Chandah sastra or Chandas Sutra. His main work was
based on Pascals triangle, basic ideas of Fibonacci numbers and Binomial
coefficient even though he did not had any idea about Binomial theorems.
Brahmi numerals (3rd Century B.C) plays an important role in the journey of
Indian Mathematics. The numerals which is used in modern era is considered to be
the gift of Brahmi numerals. Place value system was not a part of Brahmi numerals
until in 400 C.E, during Gupta period and subsequently this numeral transferred in
Devanagari script which developed after 600 C.E.
Bakhshali Manuscript (200 – 400 A.D) is a Mathematical treatise written on
70 leaves of Birch bark and was discovered in 1881 near the village Bakhshali.
Bakhshali belongs to the era just before the classical period, which shows the
occurrence of zero i.e. dot symbol known as shunya bindu. The Bakhshali
manuscript is a handbook of rules, examples and their solutions. The topics
covered included geometry, arithmetic, algebra and mensuration.
Yavanesvara (120 – 180 A.D) was born in western India and was connected
with Indian astrology which was known as Jyotisha which means Science of Stars.
Yavanesvara or Yavanaraja which means Lord of the Greeks and this name was
given to many official in Western India. He translated the text of Greek astrology
which was written by Alexandria (around 120 B.C) into Indian language Sanskrit,
along with language he translated the context too. He used Hindu God images
instead of Greek God. His main aim behind this work was to make Astrology
common among Indians so that more Indians take to Astrology. Till first century
Astronomy and Astrology were studied under the same subject, he influenced

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astrology for centuries in India and this influence splitted Astronomy from
Astrology. His work influenced Astronomy also.

Figure: 1.3. Early Medieval Era Mathematicians Growth and Occurrence

period.
Classical Era (500 – 1200 C.E)
Period between 500 to 1200 C.E is considered to be a golden period for Indian
Mathematics, where Mathematics blossomed and was in its highest peak. Ideas
which originated and were cultivated in this era made a great impact in the growth

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and development of Indian culture and knowledge. During this period
Mathematical astronomy or one can say a Siddhanta tradition was dominating and
enduring the Mathematical tradition in India. Some of the Mathematicians who
contributed in the nourishment and development of Mathematics almost
continuously for seven centuries were ryabhata in fifth century, Varahmihira in
sixth century, Brahmagupta and Bhaskara I in seventh century, Govindswami,
Sankaranarayana, Mahavira, Prthudakasvami and Sridhara in ninth century,
ryabhata II and Vijayanandi in tenth century, Sripati in eleventh century and
Brahmadeva and Bhaskara II in the twelfth century. During this era two
Mathematical research Centre got their recognition one is at Kusumapura near
Patliputra and other at Ujjain. Mathematician of this era conjointly formed a vast
ocean of information in the form of sutras, problems and solutions which are yet to
be explored.
The essential continuity of the Indian tradition started with ryabhata (476 –
550 A.D), who is considered to be the father of Astronomy in India. His work is
reminiscent of the sutra period. He was the first to give a form to the scattered bits
of Mathematical knowledge which was existed before his time and consolidated
them into one treatise ryabhat ya. His work was appreciated for many coming
years even though ryabhat ya was not well organized like other siddhantas
which came thereafter.
In sixth century two mathematicians works got gleamed, one is Yativrsabha
(500 – 570 A.D) and the second one is Varahmihira (505 – 587 A.D). Yativrsabha
was a Jaina Mathematician and his work Tiloyapannatti gave the units of
measuring dates and time. He also described the system of infinite time measures
which led to consider different measures of infinity, which appeared before time
when Cantor gave the theory of infinite Cardinals to predict different magnitudes
of infinity. Varahmihira was born in Ujjain and has his contribution in the area of
astronomy, astrology and mathematics. He was well known for his two treatise i.e.
Pancha siddhanta- based on Mathematics & Astronomy and Brihat Samhita-
information related to Astrology, Architecture etc. His contribution in the field of
Mathematics was discovery of basic trigonometric formulas, gave accuracy to sine
table of ryabhata, Binomial coefficients etc. He had not much contribution in the
field of Mathematics was not much but he became very influential in the school of
Ujjain and also had influence on Brahmagupta (598- 665 A.D) who was from the
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same school. Brahmagupta was born in Bhinmal town of Rajasthan. His one of the
important contribution was the properties and rules related to zero. He had large
contribution in the field of Mathematics and astronomy which is described in later
parts.
Bhaskara I (600- 680 A.D) was born in Saurashtra who belonged to the same
era as Brahmagupta was. He was highly impressed with ryabhata work and wrote
ryabhat yabhasya in 629 A.D which was the commentary on ryabhat ya. He
contributed two more treatise namely Mahabhaskariya and Laghubhaskariya which
were based on Astronomy and Mathematics. Bhaskara along with Brahmagupta
were the first one to make use of zero in their treatise.
Lalla (720- 790 A.D) was famous for his Mathematical and Astronomical
works, He followed the tradition of ryabhata I. His famous work was
Shishyadhividdhidatantra which was in two volumes, the first volume is based on
the computation of the positions of the planets and contains thirteen chapters which
covered the topics like longitudinal of planets, lunar eclipse, solar eclipse, rising
and settings of sun, conjunction of planets with each other and with stars etc. The
second volume is based on sphere and the topic covered is graphical representation
of the celestial sphere, terrestrial sphere, motions of the planets, mean motion
principle, geography and some selected problems. Lalla followed ryabhat ya but
in relation with the theory that the earth rotated. He had argument with other Indian
Mathematician Varahmira and Brahmagupta. He also wrote commentary on
Brahmagupta’s work Khandakhadyaka. Lalla also worked on astrology: his treatise
Jyotisaratnakosa was very popular for almost 300 years.
Moving forward to 9th century which witnessed five prominent
Mathematicians: namely Govindswami, Mahavira, Prthudakasvami,
Sankaranarayana and Sridhara. Govindswami (800-860 A.D) was an Indian
Mathematician and Astronomer. His famous treatise is Bhasya, a Commentary on
the Mahabhaskariya of Bhaskara I which he wrote in 830 A.D almost 230 years
after Bhaskara I wrote i.e. 600 A.D. His contribution in the field of Mathematics
and Astronomy are: Construction of sine table, positions of planets and longitudes
of planets, conjunction of planets with each other, with stars, suns and moon.
Second mathematician of that era was Mahavira (800-870 A.D), one of the Jain
Mathematician from Mysore, Karnataka. Only known work of his is
Ganitasarasangraha dated 850 A.D which revised Brahmasphuta Siddhanta. It
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consisted nine chapters containing all the Mathematical knowledge of ninth
century. He was the one who separated Astrology from Mathematics. After
Govindswamy and Mahavira the next prominent Mathematician was
Prthudakasvami (830-890 A.D), who is famous for his work on solving equations.
ryabhata gave the method called Kuttaka for solving first degree indeterminate
equation, which he discussed and renamed as Bijaganita which stands for the
method of calculating with unknown elements. He was the well-known
commentator of Brahmagupta’s Brahmasphuta Siddhanta. Next Mathematician of
that era was Sankaranarayana (840 -900 A.D), who was born in Kerala and a
disciple of Govindaswami. His famous work is Laghubhaskariya Vivarana (869
A.D) which was the commentary on Laghubhaskariya of Bhaskara I which was
basically based on ryabhata work. He has made use of Katapayadi numeral
system in his work. And finally the last Mathematician taken from that era is
Sridhara (870- 930 A.D), who is believed to have lived in the ninth and tenth
century, was born in Bengal (possibly), some assume his birth place to be Southern
India. He had contributed two treatise Trisatika (Patiganitasara) and the Patiganita.
Patiganita includes the table of Monetary and Meteorological units along with this
the algorithm of the elementary arithmetical operation is also given.
ryabhata II (920- 1000 A.D) was a famous Mathematician of tenth century
whose name got confused with ryabhata I, which was further rectified. His
famous treatise is Mahasiddhanta which has eighteen chapters and twenty verses.
First twelve chapters were based on usual Astronomical and mathematical work of
that period like longitude of planets, lunar and solar eclipses, conjunction of
planets with each other and with stars etc. and the remaining six chapters was
based on Geometry, Geography and Algebra. Other famous mathematician of this
era was Vijayanandi (940 – 1010 A.D) was born in Benaras. His famous treatise is
Karanatilaka, It original form has not survived but its translation in Arabic by Al
Biruni is available treatise contains fourteen chapters based on Mathematics and
Astronomy.
In eleventh century Sripati (1019 – 1066 A.D) continued the ancient
Mathematical work. He was born in Rohinikhanda, Maharashtra and was the most
prominent mathematician of 11th century. He was a follower of Lalla writing on
Astrology, Astronomy and Mathematics. His works were Dhikotidakarana (1039
A.D)- work of twenty verses on solar and lunar eclipses, Dhruvamanasa (1056
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A.D) – work of 105 verses on calculating planetary longitudes and eclipses,
Siddhanta Sekhara – Nineteen chapters work on astronomy and arithmetic,
Ganitatilaka – Incompleted arithmetical treatise with 125 verses and
Jyotisaratnakasa – Astrology text with twenty chapters based on Lalla’s work.
One of the famous and prominent mathematician in the end of classical era
was Bhaskara II (1114-1185 A.D), whose work impact can be felt in today’s era
also. He was also known as Bhaskaracharya and was born in Vijayapura and
became head of Astronomical observatory at Ujjain. His mathematical knowledge
reached peak in understanding the number system and solution of equation which
was not achieved by Europeans for several centuries. His works were:
- Lilavati – Means beautiful and based on mathematical work.
- Bijaganita – Means seed counting or root extraction and based on
algebraic work.
- Siddhanta Siromani – Contains two parts, first part based on
Astronomy and second part on the sphere.
- Vasanabhasya of Mitaksara – His own commentary on Siddhanta
Siromani.
- Karanakutuhala- Simplified version of his Siddhanta Siromani and
contains the calculation of astronomical wonders.
- Vivarana – commentary on the Shishyadhividdhidatantra of Lalla.
After Bhaskaracharya, there was a long 200 years gap before the other
Mathematician work in this field is recorded, this gap clearly results in the
beginning of new era and end of classical era.

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Figure: 1.4. Classical Era Mathematician work location in different century.

Modern era (1200 A.D – Till date)

Modern era has witnessed many important and significant discoveries made by
Mathematician of Indian continent. It is nowhere less than the classical period in
contributing a great deal to the Worlds Mathematical heritage. In initial century of
modern era the work in North West India stopped or died because of Mughal
invasion but in South the growth continued, this era saw the raise of Southern
Mathematician works

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 Some of the prominent Mathematician of this era were: Mahendra Suri,
Narayana Pandit, Madhava and Paramesvara of fourteenth and fifteenth century,
Nilkantha Somaiyaji and Jyesthadeva of fifteenth century, Kamalakara of
seventeenth century, Jagannatha Samrat of eighteenth century, Ramanujan of
nineteenth century, Harish Chandra of twentieth century and R.C Gupta of twenty
first century.
In North the work was very slow due to Mughal invasion but not completely
dead there were some mathematicians who kept it on. One of them was Mahendra
Suri (1340- 1410 A.D), who continued with ancient Mathematical work. He was a
Jain Mathematician and born in western India. He was the first one to write the
Sanskrit treatise entitled Yantraraja (1370 A.D) on the astrolable. During the same
period one more Mathematician name arose Narayana Pandit (1340- 1400 A.D)
who came to known for his work Ganita Kaumudi (1356) on arithmetic. His
Mathematical work was influenced by Bhaskara II and he wrote commentary
called Karma Pradipika on the Lilavati of Bhaskara II. His works includes
Mathematical operation on numbers, finding triangles whose sides have integral
values, gave rule for segment of a circle, calculation of square root approximate,
number sequence, discussion of magic square etc.
After the Mughal invasions approximately in 1175 A.D by Muhammad Ghori
the development of culture, science and technology almost stopped in North India
but in south India the growth went on well. In the fourteenth century History
witnessed some of the prominent Kerala Mathematician which came together in
Kerala School. Madhava (1350- 1425 A.D), a famous Mathematician of Sangama
Gramma (near Cochin), Kerala. His writings on Mathematics got lost, however his
work was been largely discovered in other Kerala Mathematician works like
Nilakantha, whose works includes the discovery of series equivalent to the
Maclaurin expansion which was rediscovered in Europe after 200 years. Madhava
also gave the remainder term for his series which is further termed as
Approximation. He also gave the accurate table of half Sine Chords. Madhava
have been the founder of Mathematical analysis, some of his discoveries in this
field and his extraordinary intuition possession made him stand equal to the recent
Gem Srinivisa Ramanujan. Next mathematician of the same era and from the same
place Kerala is Paramesvara (1370 – 1460 A.D), born in Alattur, Kerala. He was
an Indian Mathematician and Astronomer who has given many commentaries and
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 observations. He was honoured to have Madhava and Narayana as his Guru. One
of his famous work is Karmadipika which is commentary of Mahabhaskariyam of
Bhaskara I. He made revisions of the planetrary parameters. He was also keen to
improve the theoretical model to bring it closer to observations. Paramesvara has
also given the commentary of ryabhat ya where he included some illustrative
example. Nilkantha Somayaji (1444 – 1544 A.D) was one of the Mathematician
from 15th Century. He was born in South Malabar, Kerala. Nilkantha was the
follower of Paramesvara. His work includes:
- Tantra Samgraha (1501 A.D) – Major Astronomy treatise with 432
Sanskrit verses divided among 8 chapters, in this treatise Nilkantha
uses Madhava results which he extended and improved to give better
results.
- Golasara- Written with fifty six Sanskrit verses and contains the
Mathematical computation procedure which is used to calculate
astronomical data.
- Siddhanta Darpana – written with thirty two Sanskrit verses and gives
the description of a planetary model.
- Candracchaya Ganita- written with thirty one Sanskrit verses and gives
the computation procedure to calculate the Moon zenith distance.
- ryabhat yabhasya – Commentary on the ryabhat ya of ryabhata
I.
There are many more work like Grahanirnaya on eclipses which have not
survived. After Nilkantha came the period of Jyesthadeva (1500 – 1575 A.D) one of
his commentator, who was also from Kerala and was a part of Kerala school of
Mathematics. He built his work on Madhava, Paramesvara, Nilakantha Somayaji and
others. His work includes Yuktibhasa which was written in Malayalam (Regional
language of Kerala) and contains the proof of theorems based on Astronomical and
Mathematical text. This work is based on the Tantra Samgraha of Nilkantha.
Jyesthadeva commented on the Madhava series which was given to the world by
Gregory after 100 years. He also studied equations solved by Kuttaka method and the
rules behind finding the Sine and Cosine two angle sum and difference.
Kamalakara (1616 – 1700 A.D) was an 17th Century Astronomer and
Mathematician from Benaras (now Varanasi). He combined the Indian Astronomical
work with Aristotelian Physics and Ptolemaic Astronomy. His famous work includes
- 16 -
Siddhanta-Tattva-Viveka which was a commentary of himself. Siddhanta-Tattva-
Viveka contains fifteen chapters in Sanskrit covering standard topics of Astronomy
and Mathematics. Where as in West India Jagannatha Samrat (1690- 1750 A.D) was
working on the Sanskrit translation of important Greek scientific work. He was born
in Amber (now Jaipur). His main job involved bringing best Mathematical and
Scientific ideas from outside India and he strengthened the scientific scenario in India.
Early Medieval Era (3000 B.C-500 A.D)

Classical Era(500 A.D - 1200 A.D)

Modern Era (1200 A.D -Till)

•Indus Valley •Aryabhata •Mahendra Suri
Civization (3000 B.C) (476 - 550 A.D) (1340 - 1410 A.D)
•Vedic Period •Yativrsabha •Narayana Pandit
(1800-800 B.C) (500 - 570 A.D) (1340- 1400 A.D)
•Shulba Sutra Period •Varahmira •Madhava
(800 - 200 B.C) (505 - 587 A.D) (1350- 1425 A.D)
•Jain Mathematician •Brahmagupta •Paramesvara
(600 - 200 B.C) (598- 665 A.D) (1370 - 1460 A.D)
•Panini •Bhaskara I •Nilkantha Somayaji
(520-460 B.C) (600 - 680 A.D) (1444 - 1544 A.D)
•Pingala •Lalla •Jyesthadeva
(300 - 200 B.C) (720 - 790 A.D) (1500 -1575 A.D)
•Brahmi Numeral •Govindswami •Kamalakara
(300 B.C) (800- 860 A.D) (1616 - 1700 A.D)
•Yavanesvara •Mahavira •Samrat
(120- 180 A.D) (800 - 870 A.D) (1690 -1750 A.D)
•Bakhshali •Sankaranarayana •Srinivasa
Manuscript (200 - (840- 900 A.D) Ramanujan
400 A.D) •Prthudakasvami (1887 - 1920 A.D)
(830-890 A.D) •Harish Chandra
•Sridhara (1923 -1983 A.D)
(870-930 A.D) •R.C.Gupta
•Aryabhata II (1935- Till date)
(920- 1000 A.D)
•Vijayanandi
(940 - 1010 A.D)
•Sripati
(1019 - 1066 A.D)
•Bhaskara II
(1114 - 1185 A.D)

Figure: 1.5. Concept Map showing different era Mathematician

In the recent times one of the Indian Mathematician whose name was in
discussion for his work and his knowledge level was Srinivasa Ramanujan (22nd
December 1887 – 26th April 1920), It will be wrong if one doesn’t put his name in the
- 17 -
list of Indian Mathematical journey. Srinivasa Ramanujan Iyengar was one of the
famous and genius Mathematician of modern era. He made lot of contribution in the
field of number theory, Mathematical analysis, continued fraction and infinite series.
During his short life time, he independently compiled approximately 3900 results. He
initiated the study of Pi function. Next Mathematician who has done work in these
field but didn’t received so much recognition was Harish Chandra (1923 – 1983). He
began his career under Dirac and his work formed the basis of Langland’s theory of
automorphic forms. One more Mathematician whom one can consider in this line is
Radha Charan Gupta (1935) from Jhansi, his work is based in the field of History of
Mathematics, one among few Mathematicians who tried to bring Indian Mathematical
work to the recognition of the world. His work includes the area of Indian
trigonometry and published many paper, in this connection. He is the founder of the
magazine Ganita bharati in1979.
There might be many more Mathematicians who might be working or may
have worked in this area and were lost or are obliterated or may not be publicized. Yet
there are lot to be incorporated from ancient works which should lead the way for
future works.
1.4. ryabhata Life &Works
One of the prominent name in the Classical era is ryabhata “Father of
Astronomy”. There has been lot of conflict going on the spelling of author name
whether it has to be written as Aryabhatta or ryabhata. Bhata means hireling,
Warrior or mercenary where Bhatta means learned man, Brahmin or scholar, however
spelling with one “t” is favored by all the available metrical evidence, He was born
in 476 A.D in the Kusumapura (now Patna), Bihar. His year of birth can be traced by
his treatise ryabhat ya which tells that he was twenty three year when he wrote this
treatise ryabhat ya (499 A.D). The clue given by him in sutra 10 with respect to his
birth date is as follows:
Sutra: 1.1. ryabhat ya: Kalakriyapada-10.

Translation:
When three quarter Yugapada and sixty times sixty years past since then 23 years
of mine life had passed.
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Explanation:
According to ryabhata there were four Yugapadas of equal years, first is
Satyayuga, second Tretayuga, third Dvaparayuga and fourth and the last one is
Kaliyuga. Connecting this with sutra 10, three out of four Yugas are over which
implies fourth Yuga-Kaliyuga is going on and further he added sixty times sixty i.e.
60 × 60 = 3600 years of the Kaliyuga past, according to Julian calendar Kaliyuga
begins at midnight 17th/18th February 3102 B.C if one assume that he has taken 3102
B.C as beginning of Kaliyuga then the year he wrote his ryabhat ya is the
difference between 3600 years and 3102 years i.e. 499 A.D, further he add that his
age was 23 when he was writing his treatise that means he was born 23 years before
499 year i.e. 499-23=476 year, in short he was born in 476 A.D.
Even his birth place is far from certain, in this connection Paramesvara says that
no final verdict can be given in connection with the location of Asmakajanapada and
Kusumapura. No evidence is there that ryabhata wrote his ryabhat ya in
Kusumapura, but there are numerous other places where historians assumes that
ryabhata can be from. According to Bhaskara I and Nilakantha Somayaji he was
born in Asmaka country for that reason he was called Asmakiya. Varahmira in his
commentary specifies that Asmaka country was situated in North-West of India but
one of the Buddhist texts Dighanikaya tells that Asmaka people shifted from north to
south and settled in South of Gujarat- North of Maharashtra near the river Godavari
and Narmada. Some of them suggested, Kerala could have been the birth place for
ryabhata, reason possibly behind this statement might be the Sanskrit meaning of
word Asmaka i.e. stone, it is stated that Kotunnalur in Kerala currently known as
Kotumkallur which means city of stones is the birth place of ryabhata, this city is
also famous for its learning Centre. The non-feasibility of Kerala to be the birth place
is strengthened by the fact that ryabhata in his both the treatise has not specified the
place Kerala and even the three disciples of ryabhata Pandurangasvami, Nisanku
and Latadevado not have any connection with Karalite personal names. Second reason
to support above stanza is if he had born in Kerala, all of his commentary should have
been in Malayalam which is not the case maximum are in Sanskrit and even his
second treatise ryabhatasiddhanta is not known to Kerala at all.
Some believes that he was born in South India where some claims that he was
from North East of India i.e. Bengal but whatever the case may have been he did his
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major work in Kusumapura. In this era Kusumapura was one of the two major and
famous Mathematical Centre the second one was Ujjain. Patliputra was the capital of
Gupta Empire and said to be the Centre of network communication as it is near
Ganges and more towards North. This allowed the exchange of the learnings to and
fro. It was one of the reason for ryabhata work to reach Islamic world, where it was
translated into Arabic as Arajbahara which in turn influenced western world. It is
claimed that ryabhata was the author of three texts out of which only one survived
i.e. ryabhat ya and second one is claimed to be ryabhata-Siddhanta which is
known because of its reference in other treatise. He took the references from Surya
siddhanta for reproducing ryabhat ya. ryabhat ya influenced Indian astronomers
and was treated as one of the great treatise of that era for centuries. It is a treatise
written in 118 verses and divided into four Padas or Chapters i.e. Gitika pada (10
verses), Ganita pada (33 verses), Kalakriya pada (25 verses) and Gola pada (50
verses). Many Mathematician had given comments on his mathematical and
astronomical work including Bhaskara I (Mahahaskariya & Laghubhaskariya), Lalla
(sisyadhivrddhida), Brahmadeva (Karanaprakasa), Damodara (Bhatatulya),
Virasimhaganaka (Aryasiddhantatulyakarana), Someswara, Paramesvara, Nilakantha
Somayaji and others which helped in understanding the influential work of ryabhata
and to prove the genuinity of ryabhat ya one can refer siddhantas of Varahamira,
with Surya Siddhanta, with Lalla’s Sisyadhivrddhida, with Brahmagupta
Brahmasphuta Siddhanta and Khandakhadayaka.
Some of the commentators have given commentaries on the ryabhat ya which were
as below:
Commentators in Sanskrit:
• Prabhakara in 525 A.D.
• Bhaskara I of Valabhi, Gujarat in 629 A.D.
• Somesvara (11th or 12th Century) of Gujarat.
• Suryadeva Yajvan of Gangaikonda, Colapuram, Tamilnadu in 1191 A.D.
• Yallaya of Skandasomesvara in Telugu country in 1482 A.D.
• Raghunatharaja of Ahobilam, Karnataka in 1597.
• Madhava (son of Virupaksa) of Andhra Pradesh.
• Bhutivisnu (son of Devaraja) of Kancipuram, Tamilnadu.
• Kondandarama (1807-1893) of Andhra Pradesh.

- 20 -
 Commentators in Telugu:
• Virupaksa Suri of Andhra Pradesh whose son has done a commentary
in Sanskrit.
• Kondandarama (1807-1893) of Andhra Pradesh, He also did
commentary in Sanskrit.
Beside this Commentary/Translator of ryabhat ya in Marathi is available in
the Bombay University Library No. 334 whose author is Anonymous. Arabic
translation was done by Abul Hasan Ahwazi from Caliphate, Baghdad. Second
treatise of ryabhata i.e. Aryasiddhanta also influenced the astronomical writings of
Andhra Pradesh, North west India, Iran and Caliphate.

Figure: 1.6. ryabhata (476 A.D. – 550 A.D.)

It is likely that ryabhata knew the term zero as his alphabetical notation fails
without taking zero in consideration but there is no fact stating this. He gave an
accurate value of PI which is approximately same as Modern value of PI. ryabhata
was the master of Astronomy and considered to be pioneer in many work areas.
Further he calculated one day is equal to 23:56:4:1 and according to the Modern value
one day is equal to 23:56:4:091 which is approximately same. ryabhata took length
of a year as 365 days 6 hours 12 minutes and 30 seconds whereas the modern value is
365 days 6 hours 9 minutes and 10 seconds almost same, the error is negligible. He is
one of the Gem in Indian mathematical History. He died approx. in 550 A.D.

- 21 -
 ryabhat yam: ryabhata great work is ryabhat yam or ryabhat ya written
somewhere around in 499 A.D. It is also known as Aryasiddhanta and written in
Kusumapura modern Patna, Bihar. The ancient Suryasiddhanta undoubtedly preceded
ryabhat ya, the abstract of the same is given by Varahamira in his five treatise
Pancasiddhantika early in 6th century. The preserved text Suryasiddhanta has
undergone many revisions possibly after ryabhata wrote his treatise ryabhat ya,
there is no doubt that ryabhata was highly influenced with Suryasiddhanta, traces of
which can be seen in his treatise ryabhat ya. Of the ancient Paulisa, Romaka and
Vasistha siddhantas nothing has been preserved, except the abstracts given by
Varahamira in his treatise Pancasiddhantika. Many more Mathematicians and
Astronomers who preceded ryabhata and were his contemporaries are known but
nothing of their work exists, except a few fragmented abstracts. This is one of the
reason for ryabhat ya to hold an important place in the history of ancient Indian
mathematics and astronomy.
The ryabhat ya is divided into four chapters called Padas: Gitika Pada,
Ganita pada, Kalakriya Pada and Gola Pada.
Gitika pada or Dasagitika- Dasagitika stands for ten Giti stanzas i.e. 10 sutras or
verses. This chapter gives the system of expressing numbers by letters of alphabet.
Dasagitika deals with large unit of time Kalpa and yuga, the revolution of Sun, Moon,
Earth and Planets in yuga, Division of circle, table of Sine difference, position of
ascending nodes of Planets, circumference of Earth etc.
Ganita pada or Mathematics- Ganita pada is made up of 33 verses dealing with his
Mathematical work. Some of his work listed here are: Square (varga), cube (ghana),
square root (varga mula), cube root (ghana mula), area of triangle, volume of prism,
area and circumference of a circle, volume of sphere, area of quadrilateral
(visamacaturasra) and any plane figure, calculation of Rsine table, reversed Sine,
shadow problems, Arithmetic progression, interest, reductions of fractions, rules of
three (trairasika), Inverse method (vyasta), determinate and indeterminate equation,
kuttaka method and many more. He has given the solution of quadratic equation with
one positive root and has credited himself by earning the name as founder of algebra
science.
Kalakriya pada or the reckoning of time- It includes 25 verses dealing with
different unit of time and their division on the basis of days, months and year.
According to this pada 1 year (varsa) = 12 months (masa), 1 month = 30 days
- 22 -
(divasa), 1 day = 60 nadis (minutes), 1 nadi = 60 vinadi (seconds).This pada also
gives the sutra which tells the correct age of ryabhata at the time he wrote treatise
ryabhat ya: according to him solar year is manusya or human year, 30 human
years =1 pitr year, 12 pitr years = 1 divya year (divine year), 12000 divya years =
yuga, the first half of yuga is called utsarapini kala and later half is called avasarapini
kala which are calculated from the apex of the moon, a yuga = 60 years and such type
of 60 yugas i.e. 3600 years passed since kaliyuga when ryabhata was of 23years of
age this way he gives his age at time when he wrote this siddhanta. Other work
included in this pada were: angular division, twelve signs of zodiac, solar day (ravi
masa), lunar day (sasi masa), intercalary month (adhi masa),Movement of Planets in
epicycle, movements of epicycles, calculation of true places of Planets from mean
places, distance between Earth and Planet, different types of years.
Gola pada or the sphere-This pada includes 50 verses dealing with sun path,
ascending nodes of planets, shadow of the Earth moving on the path of the sun,
degree of Venus, Jupiter, Mercury (budha), Saturn (Sani) and Mars, relation between
Earth and cosmos, shape of the Earth, Diameter of Earth, Radius of day circle,
amplitude of Sun, cause of day and night, Earth is surrounded by atmosphere, the half
part of Earth, Moon, Planets and stars is dark because of their own shadow whereas
the other part is bright as it faces the sun, the sphere of Earth is increased by one
yojana during Brahma divas or day and decreased by one yojana during Brahma
night, person who is seating on the moving boat feels that stationary trees are moving
in the opposite direction similarly stationary stars are felt moving towards west from
Lanka- which states that Earth is moving towards east and stars are stationary, Planets
rise and set towards the west, four cities which are situated at the difference of 90
degree each on the equator is also stated, distance between Ujjain and Lanka is given
and many more.
The Panchangas are prepared on the basis of rules and formulas given in
ryabhat ya and still regarded with veneration by the Vaisnavas in the South.
ryabhat ya was translated in Arabia as Arajbahara. Brahmagupta was a great critic
of ryabhata work but maximum of his work in Khandakhadayaka simulates
ryabhata work. The four commentaries of ryabhat yam available in Sanskrit are
commentary by Bhaskara I, commentary by Suryadeva Yajva, commentary by
Paramesvara and finally the commentary by Nilakantha. The two English translation
of ryabhat ya by P.C. Sengupta and W.E Clarke is also available.
- 23 -
1.5. Brahmagupta Life &Works
Brahmagupta was the prodigious 7th Century ancient Indian Mathematician
and Astronomer. He was born in 598 A.D, Bhinmal, Rajasthan (North West India) in
the reign of king Vyaghramukha. His father was Jisnugupta and was the grandson of
Visnugupta. His family suffix Gupta indicate that he belongs to the Vaisya family and
was in the service of Vyaghrabhata, King of Rewah. He is also referred as
Bhillamacarya i.e. the teacher from Bhillamala and later he became the head of Ujjain
Astronomical observatory, leading Mathematical center of ancient India. He was best
known for his Siddhanta work Brahmasphuta Siddhanta (1008 verses) composed in
628 A.D i.e. 550 Saka where in 24th Chapter he has made a reference to his own
biography Brahmasphuta Siddhanta XXIV.7.8 i.e. Brahmasphuta Siddhanta was
written for the benefit of Astronomer by Brahmagupta, son of jisnugupta at the age of
30 in the year 550 Saka and in the reign of Vyaghramukha, belonging to the family of
Capa.
He along with Bhaskaracharya or Bhaskara I were the first to make use of zero
in their respective siddhantas. Brahmagupta was a great critic and criticized many of
the mathematicians like ryabhata, Varahmihira, Visnucandra etc. Bhaskara II in his
Bijaganita has acknowledged him and placed him in the first place amongst the
galaxy of mathematicians. Brahmagupta other works includes square, cube, square
root and cube root calculation, solution of linear, quadratic and indeterminate
equations, series summation, Fibonacci identity, properties and rules of zero and
many more. He died in 668 A.D.
His Works:
Brahmagupta works include Cadamakela (624 A.D), Brahmasphuta Siddhanta
(628 A.D)- means corrected treatise of Brahma and Khandakhadyaka where
Khandakhadyaka is a book on astronomy which consists of two parts
Purvakhandakhadyaka and Uttarakhandakhadyaka. Uttarakhandakhadyaka mainly
consists of the innovative ideas for the calculation of Natakala, Mandapasidhi and
Sighraparidhi which were used for calculation of an eclipse. His other works like
motions of planets and stars longitudinal, distance between planets etc. are also based
on mathematical calculations which he reproduced by further progress on works of his
earlier mathematicians. His most important and glorious contribution is
Bhogyakhanda calculation by the method of second interpolation formula.

- 24 -
 Figure: 1.7. Brahmagupta (598 A.D – 668 A.D)
Brahmagupta was the first to give the rules for dealing with zero as a number.
He also gave rules for dealing with positive and negative numbers. He explained how
to find square, cube, square root and cube root. He also gave rules for dealing with
five types of fraction combinations. He gave the formula for sum of squares and cubes
( )( ) ( )
of first n natural numbers i.e. & . He gave the solution for linear

and quadratic equation. He further went ahead in solving the system of simultaneous
equation and quadratic equations with two unknowns which was rediscovered by
Fermat in 1657 A.D. Brahmagupta was the pioneer in giving the rules dealing with
zero, fortunes (positive number) and debts (negative number). The rules and
properties are stated below:
- Debt minus Zero is a debt i.e.(−2 − 0 = −2).
- Fortune minus Zero is a fortune i.e.(2 − 0 = 2).
- Zero minus Zero is a Zero i.e. (0 − 0 = 0).
- Debt subtracted from Zero is a fortune i.e.(0 − (−2) = 2).
- Fortune subtracted from Zero is a debt i.e. (0 − 2 = −2).
- Product of Zero and debt or fortune is Zero i.e.(0 × −2 = 0 × 2 = 0).
- Product of Zero by Zero is Zero i.e. (0 × 0 = 0).
- Zero divided by debt or fortune is either Zero or the fraction of 0 and the debt
! !
or fraction i.e. ( = " = 0).

- Debt or fortune divided by Zero is a fraction of debt or fortune with Zero i.e.

- 25 -
 debt or fortune is numerator and Zero is denominator
"
i.e. (2 ÷ 0 = & − 2 ÷ 0 = ).
! !

- Zero divided by Zero is Zero i.e. (! = 0).

!

- Product or quotient of two fortunes is fortune

i.e.(6 × 2 = 12 & = 3).

- Product or quotient of two debts is fortune

"
i.e.(−6 × −2 = 12 & " = 3).

- Product or quotient of debt and fortune is debt

"
i.e.(−6 × 2 = −12 & = −3).

- Product or quotient of fortune and debt is debt

i.e.(6 × −2 = −12 & " = −3).

He was the first one to use second order interpolation formula for constructing
Sine tables. He proved √10 (3.162277) as a practical approximation
for (3.141593). He gave a formula for the area of Cyclic Quadrilateral which is
now known as Brahmaguptas formula. The statement for the same is stated below:
Area is equal to square root of product of half the sum of sides diminished by
each side of quadrilateral i.e.
%&'( = )(* − ()(* − +)(* − ,)(* − -)Where * = (( + + + , + -).
Along with formula he also came up with Brahmagupta theorem based on the
diagonals of cyclic quadrilateral i.e. if cyclic quadrilateral diagonals are perpendicular
then the perpendicular to a side from the point of intersection of the diagonal and will
bisect the opposite sides.
0000, 12
0000%1
i.e. ./ 0000 → |%2
00000.3 0000 | = |2/
0000|

- 26 -
 Figure: 1.8. Brahmagupta Theorem on Cyclic Quadrilateral
Apart from Arithmetic he had also contributed a huge amount in Astronomy.
He states that Moon is closer to Earth rather than Sun, Earth is round else the trees
might have been fallen from Earth, Lunar and solar eclipses etc. He stated that Earth
has the tendency or nature to attract bodies which fall towards it (Gravitational force),
almost 1000 years before Newton’s discovered the law of gravitation (1687) came in
scene. It is believed that Muhammad al- Fazari translated Brahma Sphuta Siddhanta
into Arabic and which gave rise to Arab Astronomy and their calendar. His other
work include Khandakhadayaka (665 A.D) - a Practical text.
Brahmasphuta Siddhanta manuscripts: Sudhakara Dvivedi in his Bhumika has
given a description of some of the manuscripts of Brahmasphuta Siddhanta. First
manuscript is available in the library of the government college, Kashi (Varanasi) i.e.
Kasika-Rajakiya-Pathalaya second one is Dr. Thibaut’s Manuscript which was the
copy of the manuscript which is available in Deccan College Pune and the third one is
the manuscript in the possession of Yajnadatta Sharma chief astronomer. The third
one is assumed to be incorrect. The manuscripts by which Colebrooke translated out
in English appeared to be different from the three manuscripts listed above. He
obtained the manuscript of Bhramasphuta siddhanta from India which is now
available in India office library, London.
Brahmasphuta Siddhanta &Khandakhadayaka: Brahmasphuta Siddhanta made
up of 1008 verses is one of the illustrious treatise of that era which is captioned and
has proper legends.

- 27 -
Following table provides the number of verses in each chapter.
Table 1.1. List of Verses from each Chapter of Brahmasphuta Siddhanta.
Brahmasphuta Siddhanta
Chapter Title Number of verses
I Madhyamadhikarah 63
II Spastadhikarah 67
III Triprasanadhikarah 66
IV Candragrahanadhikarah 20
V Suryagrahanadhikarah 26
VI Udayastadhikarah 12
VII Candrasrngonnatyadhikarah 18
VIII Candracchayadhikarah 09
IX Grahayutyadhikarah 26
X Bhagrahayutyadhikarah 70
XI Tantra-Pariksadhyayah 63
XII Ganitadhyayah 66
XIII Prasnadhyayah 49
XIV Sphutagatyuttaradhyayah 54
XV Triprasnottaradhyayah 60
XVI Grahanottaradhyayah 46
XVII Srngonnatyuttaradhyayah 10
XVIII Kuttadhyayah 103
XIX Sankucchayadinanadhyayah 20
XX Chandascityuttaradhyayah 20
XXI Goladhyayah 70
XXII Yantradhyayah 53
XXIII Manadhyayah 12
XXIV Sanjnadhyayah 13

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 Khandakhadyaka
Chapter Title Number of verses
I Tithi-Naksatradhikaradhyayah 32
II Grahagatyadhyayah 19
III Triprasnadhyayah 16
IV Candragrahanadhyayah 07
V Suryagrahanadhyayah 06
VI Udayastadhikarah 07
VII Candrasrngonnatyadhayah 04
VIII Samagamadhyayah 06
Uttara Khandakhadyaka
IX Corrections and new methods 14
X Stars and planets conjunctions 16
Total: 127
According to Brahmagupta his treatise Brahmasphuta siddhanta consists of
1008 verses whereas his treatise contains 1020 verses including the verses of
Sanjnanachyaya i.e. 12 verses but above table shows only 1016 verses.
Uttara-Khandakhadyaka is basically the corrected version of Khandakhadyaka
and its English edition gives two chapters IX and X where the Sanskrit edition
consists of three chapters: chapter IX contains 3 verses, chapter X contains 21
verses and chapter XI contain 24 verses. His name can’t be erased from the

history of mathematics because of his contribution to the mathematics world and

especially the rules and properties connected with zero.
1.6. Spread of Indian Mathematics.
Spread or propagation is always a resultant of factors like migration or
geographical changes, it is possible that because of continental drift the humans
area might have changed as a result wherever these learned men travelled
propagated their culture, literature, science, religion etc. also the migration of
humans in search of better location, temperature, land, climate etc. resulted in
spread of culture, literature, science, religion etc. from one region to other.
Ancient Indian mathematical journey was very slow and steady starting from
Harappan culture which the historians claim to be the older civilization (8000 B.C).
There was not much left of this civilization but whatever is left (geometrical layout

- 29 -
of city and structure of bricks) is proof on that there were mathematical brains in
that era as well. After Indus civilization work the Vedic period (1800 – 800 B.C)
showed that progress in the ancient original mathematical works. The work was in
the form of religious text and coded in mantras form. Vedic religion declined in
400 B.C, after that Jainism and Buddhism became the prominent religion on Indian
continent and this gave rise to Jaina and Buddhayana mathematical works, which
freed the Indian Mathematical work from its religious and ritualistics constraints.
These mathematical works filled the gap or behaved like a bridge between the
ancient and classical mathematical era. The Buddhism and Jainism mathematical
work also travelled to Middle East, China, Europe and Southern continents, the
main reasons being the priests or monks who use to travel across countries to
spread their religious thought. It is said that one of the task for Jaina priest was to
give the knowledge of Sankhya (the science of numbers), the other reason for
spread of Buddhism and Jainism were the kings of that era like Ashoka who
adopted this religion and worked for the peace and spread of this religion. There
was no such decline in their work but beginning of classical era marked the work
of ryabhata which supplement all the previous era work. Jaina and Buddhist
mathematics had an important position in Indian history but very less work is done
to explore and study their mathematical contribution or work.
From Indus the mathematics begun its propogation journey towards north east
part of India which also marked the beginning of classical era. Some of the
mathematical Centre’s were developed during this era, especially the Ujjain and
Patliputra mathematical Centre became the Centre for spreading ancient
mathematical work to other continents.
The spread of Indian mathematical work to the west is through the
intermediacy of the Persians and Arabs. This era saw the exchange of mathematical
work across continents. Classical era ends with the invasion of Islams, the
mathematical work in north and northwest India almost stopped or died. This was
the period when Indian mathematical works were increasingly translated into
Arabic and Persian. Arab scholars depend on Babylonian, Greek, Syriac and
Chinese, and now Indian mathematical works played an important role in their
mathematical knowledge growth. Some of the scholars who were part of
translation of Indian mathematical treatise were:
• Ibn Tariq and Al Fazani (8th Century, Baghdad)
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 • Al-Kindi (9th Century, Basra)
• Al-Khwarizmi (9th Century, Khiva)
• Al-Qayaravlani (9th Century, Maghreb)
• Al-Uqlidisi (10th Century, Damascus)
• Ibn-Sina (10th Century, Avicenna)
• Ibn al-Samh,Granada (11th Century, Spain)
• Al-Nasawi:Khurasan (11th Century, Persia)
• Al-Beruni (11th Century, Afghanistan)
• Al-Razi (11th Century, Teheran)
• Ibn-Al-Saffar (11th Century, Cordobo)
However in the later centuries, the record of Indian origin for many works were
disguised but some of the Arab and Persian mathematicians had liberally
acknowledged like Al-Gaheth-Abbasid scholar who wrote India is the source of
knowledge, thought, idea and insight, Al-Maoudi (10th Century), Al-Andalusian
(11th Century) and many more.
Indian mathematical work from Arab to Spain then finally after many course of
translation reached Europe. At the same time the Greek and Egyptian work
translated in Arabic and Persian were easily available in India.
Although the original mathematical works progress stopped in North area the
south saw the rise of mathematical ideas, so from Indus to northwest and then east
India now finally to south India, which marked the beginning of modern era.
Benaras survived as a mathematical knowledge Centre and important Kerala School
bloomed in South India. The work of southern mathematician reached Europe at
least after 2 centuries. Some of the Madhava (14th Century, Kochi) work like his
series expansion of cos and sine was estimated by Newton in 17th Century. Indian
mathematician like Nilkantha (15th Century) and Jyesthadeva (16th Century)
extended and elaborated the work of Madhava for future explore. Charles Whish
(19th Century) was one of the first western man, who recognized the work of Kerala
school and procured it for further European development in the Mathematical field
almost after 300 years.
The Journey which started near the Indus River moved taking big leaps by
spreading all over the Indian Continent and further across the World.

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1.7. Influence of Other Civilization on ryabhata& Brahmagupta
and vice versa.
Indian astronomy appears to be made up of old religious ideas and geometrical
methods of mathematical calculation. It will be incorrect to say that astronomy is
derived from foreign countries rather its origin appears to be from India. Indians were
always fond of astronomy and geometry from the ancient Vedic times and from the
beginning, they knew the importance of geometry in astronomy. Alongside this, traces
of Greek can be found in ancient Hindu Indian works. The introduction of Greek
planetary theory in India might have happened during the time of Hipparchus and
Ptolemy’s, however Hindus never modified the theory. The influence of ancient Indian
astronomical work can be seen in Arab, Greek and Europe works which is listed and
explained further.
Indo-Greek Contacts:
The association between Indo-Greek is not recent, it is from the period of Alexander
(356-323 B.C) the great or much more before, but no historic records to support this.
The conquest of Alexander the great made the Greek people to get acquainted with
eastern globe and resulted in spread of Greek culture and religion to all eastern
countries including India. After Alexander’s death India culture and religious moved on
and in approximately third century Buddhism started flourishing, which checked the
progress of Hellenism in North India then further the rise of Bactria Greek kingdom
resulted in keeping the relation of Indian civilization and Greek alive for a long time.
The Greek kingdom which started from North India spread towards south and east
rapidly. The astronomical knowledge of two civilizations influenced each other due to
the contact of these two civilizations, which can be seen from the mutual influence on
both the work. Indian authors have acknowledged in their respective works about the
ideas which they borrowed from Greeks example Varahamira has quoted the peoples of
the west in some of the scientific statement he used.
Many Greek works related with astronomy, astrology and geometry have been
transferred from Sanskrit to Greek and vice versa. One of the example is the Romaka
Siddhanta (approximately 400 A.D.) whose origin is Greek, one of the provinces of the
Roman Empire has been translated from Greek to Sanskrit work. The Romaka
Siddhanta which literally means Doctrine of the Romans is one out of five siddhanta’s
of Varahamira Panchasiddhantika, Indian astronomical treatise. It is based on learning

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of Byzantine Rome. Second example is Paulisa Siddhanta (3rd or 4th century) which is
basically a scientific and astronomic treatise of Paulisa muni and it is from Greek
source. It is again one of the five Siddhanta of Varahamira Panchasiddhanta. Thus
Indian astronomy got influenced with Greek work beginning from 4th century B.C.E.
Indian astronomy blossomed in the 5th century with ryabhata whose ryabhat ya
represented the important work of astronomical knowledge in that era his work was
highly inclined by the Surya Siddhanta work, in general the work of ancient
mathematicians, so directly or indirectly he got influenced by other civilizations work.
Later his work was carried by other Indian Hindu mathematicians like Varahamira,
Bhaskara, Brahmagupta etc., though Brahmagupta has criticized the astronomical
treatise ryabhat ya, Romaka and Paulisa Siddhanta. So in short it is not wrong to say
that Greek and Indian civilization influenced each other in such a way that it’s difficult
to figure out which one is the originator and to identify the source and content and how
these contributions was done by each civilizations.
Indo-Arab Link:
Many centuries before the Arabian or Arabistan was considered to be magnificent
and rich Centre of Vedic civilization. Arabistan term which is said to be derived from
Sanskrit term called Arvasthaan which means horses land, Arva means horses and
sthaan means place or land as the exceptional horses were breeded in this area. The
people of this land were named by Semitic which comes from a Sanskrit word Smritic
and were named so because ancients Arabs followed the ancient Vedic smritis like
Manu smriti which they refer as a religious guides.
There is always a debate about Indian and Arabs having a common base or origin
the answer is justified by the above para.
In Mathematical world as well Indian and Arab works were always correlated,
According to William Jones it’s not but Colebrooke holds a different opinion, the two
system coincides so much that it is difficult to tell that it is only by chance, while
William Jones completely disagree with this theory, according to him Arabs derived the
divisions of zodiac in 27 or 28 mansions from Indians or may be from Greek and then
from there on they progressed further. Greek astronomy developed much later so there
is no question arises that Indian took it from Greeks. The atharveda devotes number of
hymn on nakshatras and argya was the first muni to give the explanation of the
nakshatras so it’s not wrong if one says that 27 nakshatras is Vedic or purely ancient

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Indian origin. At the same time the concept of 12 rasis or 12 constellation comes from
Greeks.
In 7th century with the conquest of Persia, the Arabs (1000 years before Greek)
came in interaction with India and from there onwards astronomers found the way to
Caliph Court (before the reign of Harun al Rashid). Man who was skilled in the calculus
of stars called Sind hind (which means Siddhanta) and possess the methods for solving
equations methods for calculating eclipses and many more. Caliph ordered to translate
this work in Arabic and form a treatise which formed the base for the calculation of
motions of the planets, which was done by Muhammed ben Ibrahim al Fazari whose
work was called by the name Sindhind. The abstract of the same was made by Abu
Giafar Muhammad ibn Musa al Kwarizmi for Al Mamun and was further used by him
for preparing tables which achieved great name in the lands of Islam. When Al Mamun
became Caliph he promoted this work and collected learned people to make instrument
for the same.
ryabhata work was recognized in neighbouring countries. He influenced Arabic
science too where he is referred as Arjehir. His work was translated in Arab during 820
C.E Islamic golden age by Abul-Hasan Ahawzi entitled Arajbahara which influenced
Western world and was very significant. Some of his results were cited by Alkhawrizmi
and in 10th century by Al-Biruni who stated that ryabhatas followers believes that
Earth rotate on its axis. ryabhata astronomical calculations influenced Arab world
along with the Jya, Kojya table which was translated as jiba and Kojiba in Arabic
geometry, these tables were used by Arabic mathematician to compute other Arabic
astronomical table, which was further translated into latin as the table of Toledo in 12th
century by Al-Zarqali, this way the ryabhata work reached Europe due to Arabic work
and it remained there for centuries and considered to be accurate ephemeris.
ryabhata Panchangam (calendar) was continuously used in India for the practical
purpose which formed the base for the Islamic world Jalali calendar (1073 C.E) by the
group of astronomers, one of them is Omar Khayyam. The version of this calendar are
still in use today in Iran and Afghanistan.
Brahmagupta work Brahmasphuta Siddhanta and Khandakhadiyaka was also
translated to Arabic by the name Sind Hind and Al-arkand (around 8th century),
Professor Sachau in his translation of Al Biruni states that Arab mathematician learnt
their Astronomy from Brahmagupta before they heard the name of Ptolemy.

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 This Hindu Arabic relation resulted in the development of Hindu Arabic numeral
system which became famous and was adopted by Europe in around 12th century.
There seems to be an invisible link between these mathematicians of this era. It is
evident that a communication channel existed between them but proof to locate or
identify this channel has failed. All these three civilization walked hand by hand and
developed further using each other’s logics and works.
1.8. Oral Tradition-Preaching through Shlokas.
Knowledge was in the form of preaching’s via Shlokas, this proved to be the major
drawback in Indian knowledge system in early period, and this resulted in loss of major
part of ancient mathematical and astronomical facts or knowledge. The Mathematical or
astronomical works were not inscribed or engraved rather it was passed from guru to
pupil orally which in turn was passed to their pupil, ultimately in this process lot of
work got lost which resulted in loss of script in each era.
1.9. Thesis Outline.
This Thesis is organized into 9 chapters, each and every chapter is constructed
and designed to get a view of ancient Mathematic works by various
mathematicians. Algorithm, proofs and explanation are given at apt places to
understand the old forms and system of solving problems and get one acquintated
with the legends used.
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION.
This chapter (The current chapter) presents the introduction, history and
overview of the research study along with the aim and objective of current
research. This chapter also describes the gists of other chapters. The brief list of
ryabhata and Brahmagupta work is also included along with their personal and
work profile information.
Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.
This chapter provides a hypothetical orientation to the research exploration.
The list of research papers, journals and books are studied and reviewed to get a
better picture of the research problem and its future development. Each paper is
sorted out with the author name and year of publishing. The views are extracted
from each and every paper with the intention to provide ideas for the current
research work. The current research work is based on ancient Mathematical works,
not enough research is done in this area in 21st century, and the papers included are

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of 20th century. It also discusses some of the theoretical issues encountered during
the olden times and the methodology adopted to explain them. Have also discussed
extraction and incorporation for further use.
Chapter 3: DECODING OF CRYPTIC LANGUAGE.
India was far ahead of other civilizations, when the rest of the world were
struggling with base value to be 8, 6 and 4 etc. India had set base as 10. In this
chapter the journey of numbers and place value system from the ancient period to
the modern world is given. Numbers travelled from the pictorial format to the
modern form, the evolution was slow and steady. The chapter starts with Hindu
place value notation in Vedic period. The decuple terms goes up to number 96.
Next part deals with Hindu numerals, which starts with the Harappa and Mohenjo-
Daro works, where a stroke was used for representing number. Vedic period also
shows the reference of numbers in their Rig and Yajur Veda. Kharosthi lipi was
found in Ashoka period i.e. around 500 B.C, this script was written from right to
left and famous among clerks and Business men. It is assumed that Kharosthi
numeral system have been derived from Brahmi numeral system, where Brahmi is
written from left to right and assumed to be proper Indian script and invented by
Brahmanas.
After Brahmi and Kharosthi the next important Hindu numeral notation is the
decimal place value notation. The most famous decimal value system is Nagori
script (5th Century). In the beginning of Christian era word numerals were used,
where each and every number were represented by different words like names of
God, Planets, Places, Persons etc. as it is easy for one to formulate in sutras and to
keep its secrecy. The same system was also seen in Bhakashali script.
Around 5th Century A.D. history saw the usage of Alphabetic notations, whose
traces can be seen in Panini period i.e. 700 B.C. In this system vowels of Sanskrit
letters were used to represent numbers. ryabhata was first one to use this system
in his Siddhanta. After this came Katapayadi alphabetic script which was used by
Bhaskara I in his work somewhere around 7th Century. Katayapadi system was also
found in ryabhata II work (950 A.D), Pali manuscript and even in south India.
Along with Katapayadi the 6th Century also saw the usage of Aksarapali script,
where Aksara stands for alphabet.
Modern numeral system is basically the descendent of Brahmi numeral. The
Nagari script is said to be the ancestors of Devangari and Nandinagari script.
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 The chapter finally takes one through journey of Zero which started from
Babylonian period in the form of empty space, then in the form of Kha, further dot
below the number and finally with ‘0’ in modern world. The number and place
value system which one uses today is the gift of ancient Indian Mathematics to this
World.
Chapter 4: TRIGONOMETRICAL ROADWAY PAVED BY RYABHATA
AND BRAHMAGUPTA.
In India trigonometry formed the Soul of Astronomy. In this chapter the
journey of trigonometry in that era along with the working and usage in Astronomy
is given.
This chapter is moduled into four parts, first part deals with the development of
Trigonometry in different civilization and era, second part with ryabhatas work
and his Sine table, third part with Brahmagupta’s work in the field of trigonometry
and the fourth part deals with instruments used in ancient era by Indian
Mathematicians and Astronomers.
In first module one can see the usage and movement of trigonometric
development from 2nd millennium B.C in different civilization including Egypt,
Babylonian, Greece and India. In Egypt Trigonometry was connected with
Pyramid logic, Babylonian with cone, Greece with chord of circle and India with
half chord i.e. Jya but all the four civilizations used trigonometry for the study of
Astronomy and solve the complicated problem of Astronomy. In India the concept
of Jya i.e. half chord (RSin6) is not new it is there from 1200 B.C, which in later
centuries formed the base of Trigonometry.
The second module talks about ryabhata work in this field. In this module the
mathematical calculation of PI value, the radius and arc value how it was
interpreted and calculated, calculation behind formulation of Jya table or Chord
table and proof of all the formulas connected with above calculation is given. The
chapters ends with different Mathematicians interpretation for chord table.
The third module gives the work done by Brahmagupta in development of
Trigonometry. The mathematical calculation behind the derivation of Chord table
done with the help of interpolation formula was done first time in the history of
Mathematics is shown along with the arc calculation needed for chord table.
In general chapter unveils the sutras proof which were not dealt with before and
also the refined proof for the table of half chord which some of the mathematicians
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 had solved by taking sin6 as base but in that era of ryabhata and Brahmagupta
sin6 was not developed rather half chord was taken which now in Modern era is
represented by Rsin6. This chapter also explains few instruments used in ancient
era.
Chapter 5: INSIGHTS BY RYABHATA AND BRAHMAGUPTA IN GANITA.
Ganita means Mathematics, in the ancient era it was considered to be in the
highest place and was developed as all astronomical calculations needed ganita and
Astronomy was the first subject to intrigue mankind.
Till 5th Century ganita was part of Astronomy but in 5th century ryabhata
gave a new look to ganita, He wrote one full chapter called Ganita discussing the
working and calculation of different topics which fell under Mathematics. This
chapter has two parts first part discusses ryabhat ya calculation of square,
square root, cube and cube root and in the second part Brahmagupta work from
Brahmasphuta Siddhanta related with same topic as discussed in first part of
ryabhat ya are discussed. Brahmagupta work in connection with fraction is also
discussed which includes fractions different calculations like addition, subtraction,
multiplication, division, square, square root, cube and cube root. Brahmagupta had
given better methods and systematic solutions with steps. Process followed in this
chapter for each method is: first the connected sutra is located, it is decrypted i.e.
translated into English language, and then the algorithm for the same sutra is built
and finally the sutra is explained with the help of problems. So practical usage of
these sutras are understood correctly.
Chapter 6: EQUATIONS- EMBRYONIC TO EVOLVED FORM.
Unknown term and equations are connected with each other, equations are
formed using unknown terms. Chapter discusses the method of solving different
types of equations like Linear, Quadratic and simultaneous equations along with
proof, methodology and calculation. The work related with equations starts in the
early Egyptian period, traces of equation is also found in Babylonian period, In
India it is seen in Vedic period which was further noted down in classical period by
ryabhata and Brahmagupta. The technical terms related with equations which
were used in that era is discussed in this chapter.
ryabhata methods to solve linear and quadratic equation is stated in the sutra
which is explored, stated, discussed and proved with the help of proper example

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and an algorithm. Brahmagupta has gone one step ahead, along with linear and
quadratic equations he has also considered simultaneous equations with one or two
unknowns. At the end of this chapter journey of equations from 4th century B.C to
21st century A.D is briefed.
Chapter 7: INDETERMINATE EQUATIONS: ANALYTICAL APPROACH.
Indeterminate equations, considered to be very important for astronomy. Many
mathematicians of that era had worked on the treatment of indeterminate equations.
It is considered to be the very important significant in the field of Mathematics.
ryabhata for treating indeterminate equation has given Kuttaka algorithm which
is equivalent to Chinese remainder theorem. Both the working and methods are
independent of each other, both the algorithm is explored and explained with
proper example by solving different types of indeterminate equations.
Brahmagupta style of working was totally different from ryabhata, he had
taken different sutras for different types of equations. Some of the indeterminate
equations explored by him were: one linear equations with more than two
unknowns, Simultaneous indeterminate equations, quadratic indeterminate
equation and simultaneous indeterminate quadratic equations. All these equations
were connected with a sutra or two sutras, these sutras were studied, explored and
encrypted and then explanation along with algorithm and problems were given. In
case of indeterminate quadratic equations Brahmagupta made use of two lemma for
finding the solution of quadratic equation which is expanded and proved along
with the main sutra connected with quadratic indeterminate equations.
̅ A.
Chapter 8: BRAHMAGUPTA DISAPPROVING RYABHAT7 Y
Brahmagupta in his mathematical journey provided systematic approach to
mathematical and astronomical solutions and harshly criticized the scholar
ryabhata who had lived hundred years before him, dubbing him to not to be
mathematician at all and having not done any original work. Brahmagupta with his
systematic approach also believed in practical and not simply theoretical works.
This chapter also provides a counter to Brahmagupta’s criticism as the modern
mathematical world does not completely agree to Brahmagupta statement.
According to him he was not genius and criticized him for his major works, but in
some places his criticism does not hold true. Different sutras where in
Brahmagupta criticized ryabhata is stated in this chapter with translation, proof
and calculation.
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Chapter 9: ON FUTURE…...
This chapter concludes the thesis with a summary of chapter, limitation of
study and conclusion of the whole work and provides overview of the entire work.
It also provokes to take up further research in this area to overview discover the
ancient crypted treasuries. It also list the difficulties faced during the research
work.
1.10. Honoring Indian Heritage.
India gave birth to innumerable scholars, the flow of knowledge happened through
Gurukul system subjects like Astronomy and Astrology lead the path of subjects for
study along this path and subject’s progress Zero was discovered thus India became the
birth place of most significant and todays mostly used ZERO and many more
mathematical works but one in our todays school/college curriculum one scarcely
studies any theorem or formulas of ryabhata, Brahmagupta or Bhaskara etc. while the
curriculum is adapted to the foreign mathematical formulas and theorem of foreign
mathematician whether it is Euler theorem or Newton’s interpolation formula or laws,
Langranges theorem etc. In short ancient Indian mathematicians were not or never
given that honored which they deserve neither there work was introduced to modern
word so that they can implement and do some further experiments in that line nor their
work was appreciated or cherished.
Lot of work has to be done so that the reestablishment of ancient Indian
mathematics can be done to today’s world. There work and achievements has to be put
forward so the modern generation can implement or use there method of calculation
which is much easier and accurate in today’s world. In this thesis only Mathematics
work is exposed where as many Astronomical and Astrological work is also to be
studied and has to deciphered and brought to the new world.
There are many sutras which were still not explored for the world, if ones all
this sutras were cracked might stir the mathematical world and open the new world
in mathematics and astronomy for the new generation.
Also lot has to be done to save our heritage, the existing manuscript has to be
cared for preventing it from further deterioration, has to be safeguarded, made
accessible and categorized properly so that the modern generation can go through
this treatise, study it conscientiously and present it to the world to get that honour
which it deserves.

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