The Jain Legacy of Mathematics

Description

SHRI RATNAKUMAR SHAH has undertaken a comprehensive study of nearly all the major Jain scriptures, meticulously extracting their inherent mathematical content. It is noteworthy that throughout the thousands of pages of mathematical material contained in these ancient scriptures, not a single instance presents mathematics in the conventional form of equations. Instead, the content is conveyed descriptively through poetic verses and prose-without the use of numerical values or symbolic equations.

For any scholar to identify and extract mathematical concepts from such texts originally written in Prakrit (a precursor to Sanskrit) or preserved in translations into other Indian languages and then translate them into modern mathematical expressions with numbers and equations, is an exceptionally complex and monumental task.

In this book, Shri Ratnakumar Shah presents a carefully curated collection of essays that explore the key mathematical concepts found in major Jain scriptures dating from 500 BCE to about 1000 A.D. The original mathematical content in these texts is expressed through elaborate sentences or evocative poetic stanzas in Prakrit, the linguistic predecessor of Sanskrit. Shri Shah has accomplished the formidable task of converting these ancient descriptions into contemporary mathematical forms, employing equations with numbers and symbols that are accessible and comprehensible to modern readers. His achievement not only illuminates the mathematical richness of Jain literature but also significantly aids future scholars in this emerging field of study.