The Treatment Of Series In The Gaṇitasārasaṃgraha Of Mahāvīrācārya And Its Connections To Jaina Cosmology
The Gaṇitasārasaṃgraha (850 A.D.) is a well-known and significant mathematical text in Sanskrit, composed by Mahāvīrācārya, a Digambara Jaina ācārya. It has been edited and translated into English in 1912, by M. Rangacharya, and since then, different aspects of its rich content (more than thousand v...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
[publisher not identified]
2017
|
| In: |
International Journal of Jaina Studies
Year: 2017, Volume: 13, Issue: 3, Pages: 1-39 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | The Gaṇitasārasaṃgraha (850 A.D.) is a well-known and significant mathematical text in Sanskrit, composed by Mahāvīrācārya, a Digambara Jaina ācārya. It has been edited and translated into English in 1912, by M. Rangacharya, and since then, different aspects of its rich content (more than thousand verses) have been studied by various scholars. This work certainly belongs to the category of pāṭīgaṇita works (board mathematics), however, it presents some unexplained peculiarities regarding issues of classification of topics and structure. For instance, the usual distinction between the parikarman (operations) and the vyavahāra (procedures) sections is not retained here. But, more importantly, the basic addition and subtraction of numbers have been removed from the list of fundamental operations, to be replaced by two more sophisticated operations, the addition and subtraction with respect to arithmetical and geometrical series. Mahāvīrācārya is the only author to have proceeded in this way, and we do not know why. After presenting some excerpts of the Gaṇitasārasaṃgraha to show how the rules on progressions and series were applied, I will argue that an exploration of the mathematical content of a cosmological work such as the Tiloyapaṇṇaṭṭī can help us shed more light on the subject and bring some answers to explain these peculiarities. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1748-1074 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: International Journal of Jaina Studies
|