Does no one remember the Hindu contribution to Mathematics? -- B. Shantanu

[Guest guest]

Srinivasan Kalyanaraman <kalyan97@g...> wrote:

 

Does no one remember the Hindu contribution to Mathematics?

 

By: B Shantanu

December 10, 2005

 

Views expressed here are author's own and not of this website. Full

disclaimer is at the bottom.

 

Whenever I read about the great "Arabic" contribution to Mathematics

and

Science (often in an apologetic tone of "how could these great people

come

to such a pass?") the thing that really upsets me is the complete

omission

of any reference to the Hindu contribution to mathematics and numbers.

 

Slightly more than a year ago (Aug '04), in an article in the Sunday

Times

http://www.michaelportillo.co.uk/articles/art_nipress/islam.htm,

Michael Portillo, eminent Conservative party leader in the UK and a

one-time

aspirant to the leadership of the Tory Party, wrote that, "Islam

brought

back to the West knowledge of architecture,

mathematics and astronomy that had been lost during the Dark Ages."

 

In response, I wrote,

 

"…The phrase "brought back" is at best, condescending and at worse,

historically inaccurate.

 

For this knowledge, which Arab traders brought to Europe (typified in

the

Arabic numeral system - itself a misnomer, since the Arabs did not

invent it

but merely acted as the purveyors of this knowledge) was not Islamic

or

Arabic. In fact much of this knowledge was originally derived from

ancient

Vedic literature from India and passed through Arab traders and

conquests to

Middle East and

eventually reaching Europe.

 

To quote from Carl B. Boyer in his "History of

Mathematics", "...Mohammed

ibn-Musa al-Khwarizmi, ..., who died sometime before 850, wrote more

than a

half dozen astronomical and mathematical works, of which the earliest

were

probably based on the Sindhind derived from India. Besides ... [he]

wrote

two books on arithmetic and algebra which played very important roles

in the

history of mathematics. ... In this work, based presumably on an

Arabic

translation of Brahmagupta, al-Khwarizmi gave so full an account of

the

Hindu numerals that he probably is responsible for the

widespread but false impression that our system of numeration is

Arabic in

origin. ... [pages 227-228]...".

 

In a translation of Alberuni `s "Indica", a seminal work of this

period (

c.1030 AD), Edward Sachau, writes this in his introduction, "Many Arab

authors took up the subjects communicated to them by the Hindus and

worked

them out in original compositions , commentaries and extracts. A

favourite

subject of theirs was Indian mathematics..." etc.

 

Needless to say, the letter never got published.

 

Then, more recently, while reading the "The World is Flat", by Thomas

L.

Friedman http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/worldisflat.htm, I came

across this

text in Chapter 11, "The Unflat World" (Pg 405), "As Nayan Chanda, the

editor of YaleGlobal Online pointed out to me, it was the Arab-Muslim

world

that gave birth to algebra and algorithms, terms both derived form

Arabic

words. In other words, noted Chanda, "The entire modern information

revolution, which is built to a large degree on algorithms, can trace

its

roots all the way back to Arab-Muslim civilization and the great

learning

centres of Baghdad and Alexandria," which first introduced these

concepts,

then transferred them to Europe through Muslim Spain.

 

Dismayed, I wrote the following email to Nayan:

 

"May I respectfully point out that is not historically accurate and

continuing research is providing evidence that the roots of the so-

called

Arab contribution to Mathematics and Science were further east in the

lands

of India and in the works of Indian mathematicians and scholars from

several

centuries ago."

 

"I hope that you will re-consider your views in the light of these

excerpts

and a significant body of research that is now publicly available on

this

subject. I would be more than happy to provide more

details if you wish."

 

No acknowledgement was expected and none was received. I wanted to

copy

Thomas Friedman on it but could not find his contact details on his

website

?the only email address was that of his literary agent and PR agency.

 

This apparently widespread misunderstanding and ignorance - about the

Hindu

contribution to the number system and sciences - prompted me to dig

deeper.

Here is what I found:

 

>From an online research piece on Al-Khwarizmi and his work (by Shawn

Overbay, Jimmy Schorer, and Heather Conger)

http://www.ms.uky.edu/~carl/ma330/project2/al-khwa21.html

 

" Al-Khwarizmi wrote numerous books that played important roles in

arithematic and algebra. In his work, De numero indorum (Concerning

the

Hindu Art of Reckoning), it was based presumably on an Arabic

translation of

Brahmagupta where he gave a full account of the Hindu numerals which

was the

first to expound the system with its digits 0,1,2,3,....,9 and

decimal place

value which was a fairly recent arrival from India. Because of this

book

with the Latin translations made a false inquiry that our system of

numeration is arabic in origin. The new notation came to be known as

that of

al-Khwarizmi, or more carelessly, algorismi; ultimately the scheme of

numeration making use of the Hindu numerals came to be called simply

algorism or algorithm, a word that, originally derived from the name

al-

Khwarizmi, now means, more generally, any peculiar rule of procedure

or

operation.

 

Interestingly, as the article notes, "The Hindu numerals like much new

mathematics were not welcomed by all. In 1299 there was a law in the

commercial center of Florence forbidding their use; to this day this

law is

respected when we write the amount on a check in longhand

(ernie.bgsu.edu)."

 

>From a very well-researched online article, "Numbers: Their History

and

Meaning"

http://home.c2i.net/greaker/comenius/9899/indiannumerals/india.html

 

"It is now universally accepted that our decimal numbers derive from

forms,

which were invented in India and transmitted via Arab culture to

Europe,

undergoing a number of changes on the way. We also know that several

different ways of writing numbers evolved in India before it became

possible

for existing decimal numerals to be marred with the place-value

principle of

the Babylonians to give birth to the system which eventually became

the one

which we use today.

 

Because of lack of authentic records, very little is known of the

development of ancient Hindu mathematics. The earliest history is

preserved

in the 5000-year-old ruins of a city at Mohenjo Daro,

located Northeast of present-day Karachi in Pakistan. Evidence of wide

streets, brick dwellings an apartment houses with tiled bathrooms,

covered

city drains, and community swimming pools indicates a civilisation as

advanced as that found anywhere else in the ancient Orient.

 

These early peoples had systems of writing, counting, weighing, and

measuring, and they dug canals for irrigation. All this required basic

mathematics and engineering.

 

And later in the article, "The special interest of the Indian system

is that

it is the earliest form of the one, which we use today. Two and three

were

represented by repetitions of the horizontal stroke

for one. There were distinct symbols for four to nine and also for

ten and

multiples of ten up to ninety, and for hundred and thousand."

 

and further "…Knowledge of the Hindu system spread through the Arab

world,

reaching the Arabs of the West in Spain before the end of the tenth

century.

The earliest European manuscript, which came from the Hindu numerals

were

modified in north-Spain from the year 976." And finally an important

point

for those who maintain that the concept of zero was also evident in

some

other civilisations: "Only the Hindus within the context of Indo-

European

civilisations have consistently used zero."

 

Fortunately, online encyclopaedias came across as less biased and

more open

in acknowledging the true source of the "Arabic" number system. For

example,

from MSN Encarta

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761578291_7/Mathematics.html

 

"The system of numbers that we use today, with each number having an

absolute value and a place value (units, tens, hundreds, and so forth)

originated in India. Mathematicians in India also were the

first to recognize zero as both an integer and a placeholder. When the

Indian numeration system was developed is not known, but digits

similar to

the Arabic numerals used today have been found in a Hindu temple

built

about 250 bc.

 

In the 5th century Hindu mathematician and astronomer Aryabhata

studied many

of the same problems as Diophantus but went beyond the Greek

mathematician

in his use of fractions as opposed to whole numbers to solve

indeterminate

equations (equations that have no unique solutions). Aryabhata also

figured

the value of "P" (pi) accurately to eight places, thus coming closer

to its

value than any other mathematician of ancient times. In astronomy, he

proposed that Earth orbited the sun and correctly explained eclipses

of the

Sun and Moon.

 

The earliest known use of negative numbers in mathematics was by Hindu

mathematician Brahmagupta about ad 630. He presented rules for them

in terms

of fortunes (positive numbers) and debts (negative numbers).

 

…The best-known Indian mathematician of the early period was

Bhaskara, who

lived in the 12th century. Bhaskara supplied the correct answer for

division

by zero as well as rules for operating

with irrational numbers. Bhaskara wrote six books on mathematics,

including

Lilavati (The Beautiful), which summarized mathematical knowledge in

India

up to his time, and Karanakutuhala, translated

as "Calculation of Astronomical Wonders."

 

The reality is that the so-called "Arab" contribution to mathematics

was

substantially built on prior knowledge of the Hindus and the Greeks

and

while the Greek influence and origins are frequently

acknowledged, the Hindu contribution is very rarely mentioned.

 

We need to spread awareness about this and try and establish the facts

whenever an opportunity arises ?unless we do that, this "history"

will be

lost and become so little-known and distant as

to become a myth.

 

Talking of forgotten Indian contribution to sciences and arts, here is

another example of a glaring error in a recent news story in "TIME"

Magazine

and an email I sent in response

http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901051121-

1129488,00.html

 

"May I point out two inaccuracies in your recent news story on an

exhibition

on Arab Science in Paris titled, "Ahead of Their Time" (Time

Magazine, Nov

21, '05; Pp48-49) by Ann Morrison?

 

In a paragraph about the Arab's interest in astronomy, Ann writes, "?

Though

the Arabs built many observatories during the Golden Age, not many

survived.

But viewers can see current images of two of these amazing outdoor

structures in the Indian cities of Delhi and Jaipur?quot;

 

The observatories that Ann refers to in this paragraph were not built

by

Arabs but by the Hindu ruler Sawai Raja Jai Singh between 1724- 1730

and

were amongst the five that he built in Northern India (the other

three were

at Varanasi, Ujjain and Mathura) and are called Jantar Mantar

(actually

"Yantra Mantra", yantra for instrument and mantra for formula).

 

The observatory in Delhi has also been depicted in a postage stamp nd

was

the logo of the 1982 Asian Games, held in New Delhi, India.

 

To call them examples of Arab interest in the sciences is inaccurate

and

misleading.

 

In a later paragraph which details the interest of Arab scholars in

astrology, Ann writes, "…Another manuscript illustration from 17th

century

India, Astrologers working on a Nativity", shows a procession

of music makers and gift bearers wending their way through palace

walls

toward a newborn who would grow up to be the 14th century warrior

Tamerlane..."

 

Again, this is an example of Indian art (and Indian interest in

astrology)

rather than having anything to do with Arabs or Arab art. Tamerlane

himself

was not an Arab king but from Central Asia (as were

the Mughals).

 

As usual, I received neither an acknowledgement nor a response.

 

For those of you who would like to read more:

 

Here's Alberuni on Pre-Islamic India's Science, Math, and Architecture

http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/h_es/h_es_kumar-v_math.htm

 

And an interesting article on the origin of the decimal system

http://answering-islam.org.uk/Science/math.html

 

B Shantanu

 

(Source: http://www.indiacause.com/columns/OL_051210.htm)

 

 

 

 

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