Math Forum Discussions

Dr. Jai Maharaj

Posts: 276
Registered: 1/30/06

Re: Dictionary traces math concepts to Vedas
Posted: Sep 4, 2012 3:38 PM

Plain Text

Dr. Jai Maharaj posted:
>
> > Dictionary traces maths concepts to Vedas
> >
> > By Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey, TNN
> > The Times of India
> > August 30, 2012
> >
> > Kolkata: For eight years, a few mathematics and Sanskrit
> > scholars of the Calcutta University have been working on
> > a mammoth project. They have been trying to establish a
> > tall claim that at least 5,000 basic and advanced modern
> > mathematical concepts have their roots in Sanskrit and
> > most of these have Vedic antecedents.
> >
> > At the end of this painstaking research, the first kosa
> > or dictionary of Sanskrit to English mathematical terms
> > is ready and there are four more to follow. This central
> > government project is being touted as the first of its
> > kind in the world as never before have the Indian
> > etymology of so many modern technical terms been so
> > radically established.
> >
> > The project was given to these scholars by the Rashtriya
> > Sanskrit Sansthan, a wing of the ministry of human
> > resources development, through the city-based Sanskrit
> > Sahitya Parishat. The chief investigators of the project
> > are retired faculty members of Jadavpur and Calcutta
> > universities, Manabendu Banerjee and Pradip Kumar
> > Majumdar, respectively.
> >
> > While the world gives credit to India for invention of
> > the concept of 'zero', not much else in modern maths is
> > attributed to this country. "Also, while it is generally
> > believed that it was the fifth century AD mathematician
> > Aryabhatta who invented zero, we have been able to
> > establish in our project that zero or ananta was a
> > concept as old as the Rig Veda. Similarly, eka or number
> > one also has roots in this Veda," explained Majumdar.
> >
> > All branches of mathematics are well represented in the
> > Vedas, Aranyakas, Brahminical literature, Upanishads,
> > Panini's Ashtadhyayi and Yaska's Nirukto, the dictionary
> > explains. It goes on to prove that most solutions that
> > can be arrived through algebra, geometry and trigonometry
> > have Sanskrit roots. Thus, what the world knows as
> > Pythagoras' theorem existed in the Sulbasutras provided
> > in the manuscripts of Boudhayan, Apostombo, Manaba and
> > Katyayan. A large number of formulae developed thousands
> > of years ago, which lead to the same assumption as modern
> > theorems, have been provided in the dictionary, with
> > their places of occurrence in Indian punthis.
> >
> > "Take the case of Euclid's concepts, on which modern
> > geometry is based. You will find that all of today's
> > geometric shapes and angles were present in the way the
> > yajnabedis or the holy sacrificial fires were erected.
> > Each design had a typical astronomical or cosmic meaning
> > to it and a specific purpose for which the yajna was to
> > be conducted," explained Banerjee, who is also the former
> > vice-president of Asiatic Society. The dictionary is
> > replete with the designs of these yajnabedis and go on to
> > explain their modern geometrical equivalents. The
> > additional benefit is that the ancient custom and belief
> > system surrounding these bedis have also been explained
> > in the dictionary. It says that the origin of most of
> > these designs can be found in Vedanga Jyotish of 12th
> > century BC.
> >
> > Similarly, what the world associates with trigonometry
> > today can be found in the ancient Indian texts. Take one
> > of the most common formulae in Trigonometry - sin 2A = 2
> > sin A cos A. The dictionary explains that you can find
> > such formulae that are used to measure area or height in
> > the manuscripts of not one but several scholars of
> > ancient India. The term jyotpotti (trigonometry) and the
> > integral formulae therein can be traced back to
> > Aryabhatta in his Siddhantasiromani, in the 12th century
> > manuscripts of Bhaskaracharya II, in the 7th century
> > Brahmasputasiddhanta of Brahma Gupta and in the 16th
> > century Siddhantatattobibek of Kamalakar, the dictionary
> > says.
> >
> > More at:
> >
> > http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-08-30/kolkata/33498839_1_dictionary-concepts-rashtriya-sanskrit-sansthan
>
> Forwarded post:
>
> Highly Exciting. Let this be done with all out efforts.
> Let this be done please.
>
> - Subrata Mukhopadhyay, Kharagpur
>
> End of forwarded post.

Forwarded post:

This will be an astounding and perfect discovery! Guys,
keep it up

- Shyamsunder Haobam, Imphal

End of forwarded post.

Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti