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

ABOUT THE BOOK:

“Not only has Dr. Kamble collected facts about ancient Indian mathematics, he has also analysed how it flowed naturally from the central philosophy and thought process of Indian society. Understanding such connections will help us in deciding the right direction of our efforts in the future.”

—Prof. H C Verma, Padma Shri

Professor of Physics (Retd.), IIT Kanpur, Author, “Concepts of Physics”

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“Comprehensive, yet accessible to the non-expert.”

—Rajiv Malhotra

Author and Founder, Infinity Foundation

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“... a welcome addition to the literature on Indian mathematics with new perspectives and insights.”

—M S Sriram

Former Professor (University of Madras) and author of books on Indian astronomy and mathematics

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“Well-researched and well-written with deep empathy and pride in the Indian tradition ... a book to be read again and again and to be imbibed.”

—Prof. V S Ramamurthy, Padma Bhushan, Nuclear scientist &

—Prof. Dinesh Kumar Srivastava, Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru

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“A scholarly work in decolonizing the history of mathematics, documenting its foundations in Indian schools of knowledge.”

—Sankrant Sanu

Author, The English Medium Myth

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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.