The Imperishable Seed: How Hindu Mathematics Changed the World and Why this History was Erased

by Bhaskar Kamble, Sankrant Sanu (Editor), Subhash Kak (Foreword)

In The Imperishable Seed, Bhaskar Kamble assembles compelling evidence to show how this knowledge was created and transmitted to the rest of the world. Students of mathematics learn of “Pascal’s Triangle”, “Fibonacci Sequence”, “Rolle’s Theorem” and “Taylor Series.” But they do not learn that these concepts were expounded much earlier than their supposed discoveries in Europe by Indian mathematicians such as Pingala, Hemachandra, Bhaskara and Madhava. Many of the fields of mathematics today— from the decimal representation of numbers and simple arithmetic to algebra, trigonometry, and even calculus—were developed by Hindu mathematicians or owe their origins to their works. In The Imperishable Seed, Bhaskar Kamble assembles compelling evidence to show how this knowledge was created and transmitted to the rest of the world. He discusses the contributions of ancient and medieval India not only to mathematics, but also to fields such as astronomy and linguistics and how these contributions continue to find applications even today in areas such as computer science. Finally, he traces why and how the tradition of Hindu mathematics in India came to an end and why most people today do not know about its history.

Genres: Hinduism

454 pages, Hardcover

Published September 21, 2022

Reviews

[Lakshmisha K S · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Imperishable seed: How Hindu Mathematics Changed the World and Why this History was Erased is a brilliant book that draws on from a deep and detailed study of Indian Mathematical history.

I would highly recommend everyone to read this book because,
a. The book is well researched and grounded on facts. The author Bhaskar Kamble has beautifully weaved the narrative where the author starts from the original Sanskrit sholka, its literal english translation, followed by the commentary to demonstrate how various mathematical concepts (including value π, sum of arithmetic and geometric series, combinatorics, calculus and others) were discovered by Indian mathematicians. This is not a pseudo scientific book but based on facts that can be independently verified.

b. The book is extremely well written. The author takes great care to ensure that the book is not amalgamation of facts printed block after block. The book is written in a narrative style with a lot of historical context weaved in a story format making it easy for anyone to read. A high school student should be able to read through the book with minimal effort. This is not a text or academic book filled with mathematical jargon and is written with ample and simple explanation to make it easy for most readers

c. The scope and breadth of the book makes it truly comprehensive both historically and mathematically. While a subject of this nature, it is difficult to cover everything, the book does a very good job of giving appropriate focus on both the various topics of mathematics and an historical perspective.

I would like to compliment the author Bhaskar Kamble for this tremendous effort in bringing out this book, a real contribution to Indian thought.

[Divya Goel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an illuminating read. The author describes himself as someone who used to dismiss Hinduism and Sanskrit as all about the caste system. His moment of truth came during a talk where he heard that the Pythagoras theorem was known in India much before Pythagoras. While he dismissed it as uneducated right-wing Hindu propaganda, he was surprised when he came across an article written by John Playfair making the same claim. He decided to delve deeper into academic journals and books, and found a treasure trove of information that was eye-opening.

This book attempts to provide, with references, a comprehensive overview of the contributions of Hindu mathematicians. Most of these discoveries or knowledge have been attributed to the Greeks, even in India, due to the Eurocentric view of the history of sciences.

The author tells us that the development of sciences, including mathematics, was intertwined with Hindu philosophy. He gives some context into various concepts of Hindu philosophy, such as the notions of knowledge (para and apara vidya), the notions of Self and God, and how these had an influence on mathematicians.

The book covers a wide range of mathematical fields, starting with numbers to arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, the Fibonacci sequence, binary numbers, algorithms, calculus, and astronomy. The author also gives compelling evidence for the Pythagoras theorem and Fibonacci series being discovered in India, and the knowledge then transmitted to Europe. This displays the range that Hindu mathematicians were working on.

Further, the author presents evidence of how this knowledge was transmitted to Europe through the Greeks, Arabs, and Jesuit priests, and how it wasn't taken seriously until much later. He also provides a detailed analysis on why Indians were not given credit for these discoveries, and why this situation continues. He hopes that this knowledge will evoke pride in Indian students and encourage interest in mathematics.

The book is not a difficult read, but there are mathematical proofs and other technical details in the text. These can be skimmed over if not interested.

While reading the book, I felt pride at these achievements, as well as anger and sadness at how this was hidden from us. Perhaps, we need to include this information in our curriculum and find ways to bring back this scientific curiosity to continue the work done by our ancestors.

[Vishal Bagaria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must must read for anyone who loves mathematics or who hates it. Especially for us Indians who are sometimes clueless about the origins of concepts like algebra and trigonometry and calculus, etc. or who limit Aryabhatta’s contributions to Mathematics at 0. The history and antiquity of Hindu Mathematics should be made mandatory in school curricula here and this book is just the beginning of the literature much needed to understand India’s glorious past.

[Richa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A significant contribution of the book lies in a beautiful explanation of how mathematics in the Indian civilization relates to the deeper knowledge framework and the philosophy of Hindu civilization. Dr. Bhaskar emphasizes deep connections between this mathematical knowledge and the Hindu philosophical framework. According to the Hindu worldview, the whole of existence can be divided into two categories: the observed and the observer, or the ‘apara’ and ‘para’ prakriti, respectively.
The concept of apara prakriti is about the ‘observed’, the material world which consists, of the physical universe of matter, space, and energy; it also includes the physical body and all things related to mental and intellectual activities such as emotions, thoughts, and the ego.
The second category of existence is the ‘observer’ or the para prakriti; it is the knowledge of the self, and the supreme consciousness, the Brahman. The observer stands apart as an impartial witness of the observed and consists of pure consciousness. Para vidya aims to obtain knowledge of the self by casting off false associations overcoming ignorance and ‘knowing’ the self. Therefore, before we learn about this transcendental aspect of consciousness, the observer, there is much to unfold to make sure we are not merely looking at the ‘observed’ or apara aspect of consciousness.
Thus, consciousness and matter are not mutually exclusive but two aspects of reality in Indian civilization. This inclusive approach led to profound developments in various fields of apara vidya, such as all the natural sciences, engineering disciplines, medicine, linguistics, and mathematics to gain a better understanding of the world. This is in contrast to the dualism of the Western framework, where spiritual knowledge is reduced to the dogma of religions, and scientific knowledge is considered materialistic hence making the status of consciousness something mystical.
The main contribution of the book lies in explaining how this materialistic framework of the West limits all knowledge to a materialistic worldview, unlike the Hindu knowledge system which brings philosophy and mathematics together as the dominant thought is to know the material to go beyond and experience the non-material, super consciousness.
Dr. Kamble explains the reason why he chose the name of the book as an imperishable seed. While arithmetic deals with vyakta, or known numbers, algebra deals with avyakta, or unknown quantities, and manipulates these symbols to find the unknowns or to express general results or to prove certain propositions, that are represented as symbols. Hence, there is an interplay of the known and the unknown. Algebra shows the interplay between Hindu philosophy and mathematics by revealing how the unmanifest, the avyakta, another name for Brahman could be explored in a symbolic form.
In a nutshell, be it the so-called Pythagoras theorem or trigonometry in the case of mathematics or be it astronomy, or any other science, the Hindu knowledge system began stretching its limits way before the other geographical areas explored and discovered these truths. Dr. Bhaskar mentions that the so-called Pythagoras Theorem appears in the Sulbasutras, which again are part of the Vedas. It is possible that Pythagoras had traveled to India himself and came to know of the theorem, now named after him, from India.
The entire blame for not recognizing the Hindu roots of most of these mathematical concepts lies not only in the Western narratives but also in the ignorance of Hindus and our education system. Due ownership and credit of these lofty mathematical concepts went elsewhere because we have not taken the trouble to understand our heritage and civilization.
This book might encourage the readers to learn more about the origin of mathematical dimensions. We need to include this information in our curriculum and find ways to bring back this scientific curiosity to continue the work done by our ancestors.
What lessons can we learn from this approach? Can we at least muster the courage to develop these works and have confidence in our heritage? In my view, it is less about getting due credibility in the eyes of the West than giving our future generation to look up to where they belong and seek motivation to further work towards contributing to this rich cultural heritage. They should be informed about their vast knowledge system so that we could have more scholars to take this forward.

[Sambasivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prodigious research by the author. He is alert data scientist and therefore goes about proving the hypothesis in a meticulous manner.
At the end of the book, you are left with no doubt that India was the pioneer in many mathematical discoveries including Calculus.
Must read for any Indophile or a math enthusiast.