Eurocentrism Killed Aryabhatta

Ordinarily, I would not even pay attention to things like "India invented mathematics" and "The vedas have formulas for ICBMs." Statements like this originate from over-zealous chauvinism and Indocentrism, more than anything else. However, there is a book out (it's not new) called The Origin of Mathematics by V. Lakshmikantham and S. Leela which claims that several concepts in math, which are generally attributed to Westerners were discussed in ancient Indian texts millenia before they came into being in the West. The reason for them not being uncovered or being made public was, well, large-scale Eurocentrism. To be honest, I haven't read the book (but it's on its way). But I did read this review by the fraternal Bhaiyya Joshi.

Firstly, to establish some kind of credibility, he says that

[T]his is not a rhetorical proclamation of some overzealous Indian chauvinists. Two India-born American university professors, V. Lakshmikantham and S. Leela, have documented extensive new data on ancient Indian mathematics and on the bankruptcy of the theory of Aryan invasion of India from the northern-central plains in Asia.

Along with their own meticulous research of original Sanskrit texts and related vernacular literature, the authors draw upon the works of a few European scholars. With the publication of this amazing monograph on Indian mathematics, the cloud of ignorance and deliberate misrepresentation of the many achievements in ancient India is beginning to lift.

Apparently, there was a mix-up between Chandragupta Maurya of the Mauryan dynasty and Chandragupta of the Gupta dynasty. Moreover, it seems that this mix-up was deliberate. I don't follow exactly what Joshi is saying here, but it seems that the names were deliberately "confused" to bring all the ancient Indian scriptures into the Christian era. In his words:

Thanks to the inventive and resourceful William Jones of the IHS, the entire chronology of events was summarily shortened by more than 1,200 years. Consequently, the times of ancient astronomers and mathematicians had to be moved into the Christian era.

It seems that even the famous indologist Max Mueller got things screwed up.

Max Mueller, concocted the age of the Rig Veda to be 1200 B.C., with the stipulation it was written by nomadic Aryans (riding on horseback, presumably with a mobile library). Actually, the Rig Veda was compiled well before 3000 B.C.

A few other interesting facts that follow from this re-dating of things:

Contrary to popular belief, Gautam Buddha lived during 1887–1807 B.C., and the short but remarkable life’s mission of Adi Shankaracharya was accomplished between 509 and 477 B.C. The first known mathematician and astronomer from India, Aryabhatta, was born in 2765 B.C., and the Sulvasutras, heralding the discipline of geometric algebra, were completed before his birth. But in the occidental “scholarship,” Aryabhatta’s year of birth was changed to 476 C.E. with the misreading of his epoch-making Aryabhatteeum.

And this is where I get confused:

These were not accidental errors, but were the result of a carefully planned alteration of manuscript copies. Notice that the four Vedas preceded the Sulvasutras. Note also none of the Vedangas, the Upangas, the Brahmanas, the Aranyakas, and the Upanishads could possibly have been written later than the second millennium B.C.

Methinks Mr. Joshi has fallen prey to the very over-zealous chauvinism that he criticized in the beginning. However, some more interesting facts that come to light through the review are that the Indians invented (or discovered) quite a few mathematical concepts that are attributed to Egyptions and Greeks.

For example, we are told the Gregory-Leibniz series for p/4 was first discovered by Nilkanta and was clearly stated in his Tantra Sangraha (1500 C.E.). The so-called Pythagoras’s Theorem (sixth century B.C.) and its converse was known to the Indian sages of the third millennium B.C. The general principle of trigonometric functions was enunciated in the Surya Siddhanta, preceding even the Sulvasutras period. Brahmagupta (30 B.C.) solved the second order indeterminate equation Nx^2 + 1 = y^2, and foresaw Newton’s Law of Gravitation. The authors also demonstrate that Bhaskara II (486 C.E.) had the expertise in the area that was re-invented and, of course, systematized as Differential Calculus by Newton and Leibniz in the late 17th century. The Greeks got their plane geometry from India and their language was derived from Sanskrit. Incidentally, the Greeks “themselves had supposed or conjectured, that they had received their intellectual capital, especially in geometry” either from China or from India.

Now that is interesting: Indians discovered Pythagoras' Theorem, trigonometric functions and a whole lot more. Well, Mr. Joshi then goes into a rant towards western civilization in general, so I'm not going to get into all of that. If you're interested in reading it, then go to the link above by all means. However, I think the book would make an interesting readt. Definitely worth the $26 (which just about puts it into the Free SuperSaver Shipping category at Amazon).