Bharat has a rich culture and heritage. It has a long history with concrete evidence as a knowledge society from time immemorial. The mention of many scriptures and scholars who contributed not only that domain ot Philosophy and religion but scientific literature leading from Music, Mathematics, Medicine to Metaphysics. Three thousand years old astronomical treaty, vedanga Jyotisha of Lagada states, the importance of mathematics among different branch as of knowledge as “Yatha Shikha Mayooghanam, Naganam Manayo taatha, tatvedanga sastranam, ganitam moortani stithi. Means, Mathematics is like Crest of a peacock and Juwell on the surpent. It is highest among all branches of vedic knowledge”. Mathematics is a world of ideas, from the finest, to the infinite Brahman.
Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887-1920) was the greatest genius of all time in the world of mathematics. That life was full of mathematics. Robert Kanigel, one of Ramanujan’s most notable biographers, says that his life story cannot be told apart from mathematics. He describes Srinivasa Ramanujan as ‘the man who knew infinity’. In connection with the 125th birth anniversary of Srinivasa Ramanujan, 2011 was celebrated all over the world as Year of Mathematics. Subsequently, the Government of India declared December 22, his birthday, as National Mathematics Day. It provides an opportunity to delve deeper into the invaluable contributions that India has made to the world of mathematics since Vedic times. National Mathematics Day is an opportunity to get to know and get acquainted with the mathematics tradition of India
According to David E.Smith, a renowned mathematician and historian ‘there was no mathematical genius in India after Bhaskaracharya (1114)’. Moreover, he says that India would have been mathematically stagnant if, had not been under Western cultural influence in the 18th and 19th centuries. (Mathematical History1925 Vol. 1 p. 435). This can only be seen as an example of their inability to acknowledge scientific achievements out side the Europe as a result of racial or intellectual supiority complex of Europe. Smith wrote all these even after John Warren in 1825 and Charles Wish in 1835 had introduced the unique significance of Indian mathematics to the Western world. Wish’s article is a serious look at the Kerala school of Mathematics . It is also true that no significant historical research has taken place for the next hundred years. However, it is surprising that even Jawaharlal Nehru in his Discovery of India (Pg. 253) sang the same refrain in the 1940s, despite the publication of Bibhuti Bhushan Dattas volumous book ‘History of Hindu Mathematics’ which published in 1935. Our contribution at a world of Science as recogonised by great minds, or example Albert Einstein put it as “We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made.” German philosopher Arthur Schopemhauer had gone further and said “One day, Indian Wisdom will flow again on Europe and will totally transform our knowledge and thought.”
Some of the significant milestones of Indian Mathematical and astronomical tradition includes, Decimal system of numerals from vedic period, Pingadas theories of permutation and combination, geometry of salvasutras, mathematics of Jains, Astronomy of Surya siddhanda, Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, Sreedhara, Bhaskara Madhava and Neelakanda and number theories of Sreenivasa Ramanuja, where everything the culminate into one.
Unfortunately, we Indians have not endeavored enough to promote a general awareness about the greatness of our scientific heritage. Ancient Indian scholars like Baudayana Aryabhat a Brahma gaysta Bhaskara and Madhava were the pioneers of scientific thinking. They had contributed a lot for the evolution of modern mathematics, astronomy and other sciences. It is our fundamental duty to educate every indian about our great past. National Mathematics Day opens an opportunity to peep into the mathematical tradition of our people. Srinivasa Ramanuja is a symbol of our unique tradition of mathematics and mathematicians. That life was full of mathematics. Robert Canigel, one of Ramanujan’s most notable biographers, says that his life story cannot be told apart from mathematics. He describes Srinivasa Ramanujan as ‘the one who knows infinity’.
Modern mathematics, including calculus, was based on mathematical concepts developed by prominent astronomers in the Kerala mathematical tradition from the 14th to the 16th century. The mathematical development that took place in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries may be a re-enactment or free expression of the mathematical experiments that took place in Kerala two centuries before through venuaroha, spudachandrapti, drikganitha, tantrasamgraha, ganita yuktibhasha and kriyakarmakari of Madhaba, Parameswara, Neelakanda, Jyeshtadeva and Sankara warrior. It is an injustice to history to ignore this golden age of Indian mathematics which carries the most modern Newton’s power series, Gregory’s series and as many of modern intimate mathematical series . Or it may be said as the hangover of the ‘euro-centrism.
The attitude of European hegemonic prejudice due to mental slavery should not continues in our academic arena any more, as it reinforces the notion that Greece was the cradle of knowledge and it was passed on to Europe. And Europe came with a ‘white man’s Borden’. The birthplace of Isaac Newton is sacred to us. At the same time, the birthplace of Srinivasa Ramanujan (Erode,Taminadu), Sangamagrama Madhavan (Trichur,Kerala) who knew the infinity and played with the infinite series of trigonometric functions are gone without the knowledge of even the locals. That of Aryabhatt(5th century) and Bhaskaracharya (12th century) are in dispute. Surprisingly, some have survived the test of time without the support of authorities and academicians.
Contributions of 14th century Madhavan and his disciples are brought to the fore by the research conducted by some Indian scholars in foreign universities, especially on the possibility of a mathematical exchange from India to Europe in the 16th-17th centuries. This is making a huge difference in the perspective of the academic world on the contribution of Indian mathematics.
According to these researchers, Indian knowledge system and texts may have been transported or exchanged to Arabia and Europe along with the trade relations on the west coast of India. The first episode of this has been proven beyond doubt. Translations and manuscripts of Indian texts are readily available from there during this period. Renaissance Europe, however, did not allow itself to be acknowledged that the explosion of knowledge in the Renaissance in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was influenced by India or other civilizations. Therefore, many today are not ready to accept that the mathematical project in medieval Kerala was reinvented in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Historians of this party have not been able to come up with any direct evidence to support the modern European transition of medieval Kerala mathematics. At the same time, George Geevarghese Joseph of Manchester was one of the foremost mathematicians who validated this argument on the basis of circumstantial evidence.
These historians have discovered that Indian mathematical astronomical knowledge was concentrated in Rome during the 16th and 17th centuries and later spread to the nearby Italian university of Padua and from there to Pisa. This knowledge has been spread by Cavilieri(1598 – 1647), Galileo (1564-1642) and by James Gregory(1638 – 1675), a visitor to Padua. Historians record that Marin Mersenne (1588-1648) had spent a long time collecting oriental science. Through his famous correspondence he sought to spread this knowledge throughout Europe. According to Renaissance Europe, mathematicians did not disclose their sources or acknowledge the origins of their ideas. For example, biographers of Galileo and Ranie Dakarte observed that these scholars did not cite the ‘Jesuit collegio scholar’ or ‘Thomas Harriet’ as the source of their theories.
Another theory that gives more acceptance to the European transition of the Indian Mathematics is that ‘technology is exchanged’ without direct evidence through documents. Especially through people who are interested in topics like mapping, calendar making and navigation. However, the role of Kerala school of mathematics under Madhava and his disciples, in laying the foundations for modern mathematics has been recognized by the world today. There needs to be more research to unravel that tradition. In order to motivate young researchers and students, they need to be introduced to this golden age of mathematics in Kerala through the curriculum from the school level onwards. At the same time, the government, universities and the society must be prepared to restore the luminaries of the Mathematical tradition with due importance and to preserve the historical landmarks associated with their lives. There needs to be a change in the scholars outlook and perspective, today view the contribution of mathematics in India to the world of knowledge. As Sri Arabindo said, “Our sense of the greatness of our past must not be made a fatally hypnotizing lure to inertia; it should be rather an inspiration to renewed and greater achievement.” The transformation it would bring about would be astonishing if the new National Education Policy, which emphasis the need of integrating the traditional knowledge system of India with the modern curriculum, could be put into practice.
A.Vinod karuvarakundu is Secretary, Madhava Ganita Kendra, Trichur Kerala and Member National Monitoring Committee for Education, Govt. of India
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