Indian Mathematics gives a unique insight into the history of mathematics within a historical global context. It builds on research into the connection between mathematics and the world-wide advancement of economics and technology. Joseph draws out parallel developments in other cultures and carefully examines the transmission of mathematical ideas across geographical and cultural borders.Accessible to those who have an interest in the global history of mathematical ideas, for the historians, philosophers and sociologists of mathematics, it is a book not to be missed.
This textbook is a culmination of multiple efforts of the authors to fill in the gap for offering a required course on Indian Knowledge System (IKS), recently mandated by AICTE. Moreover, the New Education Policy (NEP) has also provided a clear trajectory for imparting IKS in the higher education curriculum, necessitating a book of this kind in several higher education institutions in the country in the days to come. The book seeks to introduce the epistemology and ontology of IKS to the Engineering and Science students in a way they can relate, appreciate and explore further should there be a keen interest in the matter. After a brief section on the key concepts of IKS, the remaining part of the book traces IKS and brings out the applications. After a formal and concise introduction to IKS, the book provides certain foundational concepts applicable across all domains of Science and Engineering. These form the second part. The Science applications are laid out in Part 3, Engineering applications in Part 4 and other important topics in the final part of the book. The authors have rich expertise and background in both 'mainstream issues' and 'traditional knowledge' to present IKS in a contextually relevant fashion. They have delicately balanced the 'why' or 'how' of IKS and the 'what' of IKS. Although the book has been primarily developed for use by the Engineering institutions, the structure and the contents also address the requirement in other University systems (Liberal Arts, Medicine, Science and Management). This textbook incorporates several pedagogical features including a companion website https://www.phindia.com/ introduction_to_indian_knowledge_system that will make learning effective and enjoyable for the students. TARGET AUDIENCE Students at: • Engineering Institutes • Higher Education Institutes
Based on extensive research in Sanskrit sources, Mathematics in India chronicles the development of mathematical techniques and texts in South Asia from antiquity to the early modern period. Kim Plofker reexamines the few facts about Indian mathematics that have become common knowledge--such as the Indian origin of Arabic numerals--and she sets them in a larger textual and cultural framework. The book details aspects of the subject that have been largely passed over in the past, including the relationships between Indian mathematics and astronomy, and their cross-fertilizations with Islamic scientific traditions. Plofker shows that Indian mathematics appears not as a disconnected set of discoveries, but as a lively, diverse, yet strongly unified discipline, intimately linked to other Indian forms of learning. Far more than in other areas of the history of mathematics, the literature on Indian mathematics reveals huge discrepancies between what researchers generally agree on and what general readers pick up from popular ideas. This book explains with candor the chief controversies causing these discrepancies--both the flaws in many popular claims, and the uncertainties underlying many scholarly conclusions. Supplementing the main narrative are biographical resources for dozens of Indian mathematicians; a guide to key features of Sanskrit for the non-Indologist; and illustrations of manuscripts, inscriptions, and artifacts. Mathematics in India provides a rich and complex understanding of the Indian mathematical tradition. **Author's note: The concept of "computational positivism" in Indian mathematical science, mentioned on p. 120, is due to Prof. Roddam Narasimha and is explored in more detail in some of his works, including "The Indian half of Needham's question: some thoughts on axioms, models, algorithms, and computational positivism" (Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 28, 2003, 1-13).
This book critically examines different aspects of scientific and technological development in Ancient India. It studies the special contribution of the history of science in our scientific understanding and its relationship with the philosophy and sociology of science. The volume: Discusses diverse and wide-ranging themes including Tibetan Buddhist tradition of neuro-biology; Sheds light on the unique developments within iron technology and urbanization in ancient Odisha; Studies the trajectory of proto-historic astronomy in India and the science of monsoon in early India; Evaluates the legacy of Aryabhata based on his major works related to astronomy and mathematics through a multidimensional perspective; Analyses the traditional knowledge of medicine in early India, the golden age of surgery with reference to the ancient Greek and Arabic systems of medicine, and the Buddhist influence on the science of medicine in Tibet. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of ancient history, Indian history, history of science, history of technology, science and technology studies, and South Asian studies.
Zero has been axial in human development, but the origin and discovery of zero has never been satisfactorily addressed by a comprehensive, systematic and above all interdisciplinary research program. In this volume, over 40 international scholars explore zero under four broad themes: history; religion, philosophy & linguistics; arts; and mathematics & the sciences. Some propose that the invention/discovery of zero may have been facilitated by the prior evolution of a sophisticated concept of Nothingness or Emptiness (as it is understood in non-European traditions); and conversely, inhibited by the absence of, or aversion to, such a concept of Nothingness in the West. But not all scholars agree. Join the debate.
FROM THE AWARD-WINNING, BESTSELLING AUTHOR AND CO-HOST OF THE CHART-TOPPING EMPIRE PODCAST – A REVOLUTIONARY NEW HISTORY OF THE DIFFUSION OF INDIAN IDEAS 'A master storyteller' Sunday Times 'Richly woven, highly readable ... Written with passion and verve' Spectator 'A more masterful and accessible survey ... would be hard to find ... Enthralling' Literary Review India is the forgotten heart of the ancient world For a millennium and a half, India was a confident exporter of its diverse civilisation, creating around it a vast empire of ideas. Indian art, religions, technology, astronomy, music, dance, literature, mathematics and mythology blazed a trail across the world, along a Golden Road that stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific. William Dalrymple draws from a lifetime of scholarship to highlight India's oft-forgotten position as the heart of ancient Eurasia. For the first time, he gives a name to this spread of Indian ideas that transformed the world. From the largest Hindu temple in the world at Angkor Wat to the Buddhism of China, from the trade that helped fund the Roman Empire to the creation of the numerals we use today (including zero), India transformed the culture and technology of its ancient world – and our world today as we know it. Praise for William Dalrymple and The Anarchy 'A superb historian with a visceral understanding of India' The Times 'Magnificently readable, deeply researched and richly atmospheric' Francis Wheen, Mail on Sunday
The collection of twenty one articles by B.S.Harishankar contemplates recent approaches on various aspects of India’s cultural past in a global context. The work discusses intervention by colonial and post colonial groups on our archaeology, anthropology and historiography and the changing dimensions of our social and cultural perspectives. The essays have been grouped thematically in four sections comprehending various themes. It includes dimensions of cultural terrorism, eastern and western nationalisms, Aryan issues, imperial census, colonial castes, dalit and subaltern issues, Ramayana, Mahabharata and cultural geography, Abhinava Gupta’s legacy and Kashmir’s connectivity with greater India, traditional knowledge systems, classical Tamil and the greater Indian tradition, global alignment between Marxism and church, crusades and its current impact on west Asia and Europe, Indo Jewish fraternity, foreign interventions at Pattanam and Keezhadi archaeological sites, and espionage in global universities by left and Wahabbi groups. B.S.Harishankar is an archaeologist historian and has authored seven books.
This book covers the works of Bhāskara, in particular, his monumental treatise on astronomy, the Siddhāntaśiromaṇi, his astronomical handbook, the Karaṇakutūhala, and his two mathematical treatises, the Līlavatī and the Bījagaṇita, on arithmetic and algebra, respectively. It is a collection of selected papers presented at Bhāskara 900, an international conference commemorate the 900th birth anniversary of the great Indian mathematician Bhāskarācārya. Bhāskara-prabhā, the radiance of Bhāskara, presents the Indian mathematical tradition and the place of Bhāskara in it. The aim of this book is to instill a sense of pride in younger generations of one of their most celebrated thinkers, by sketching some details of his mathematical achievements and capturing their imagination through his poetic flair. It is intended to raise a greater awareness among students and teachers of India’s rich mathematical heritage.
