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Mathematics developed as a support system for religious rituals
Geometry – for construction of vedic altars to given specifications
Chandas Shastra – rules of prosody for ensuring that pronunciation of the hymns is perfect. This is one reason the hymns are recited today, even after 3000 years without much alternations
Grammar – Sanskrit grammar is one of the most structured in the world. It makes it easy to coin compound words to describe any idea
Music – the chanting was also set to elementary musical ideas so that memorizing them becomes easy.
Development of huge numbers required by mythology. Place value system.
√2 was needed to double the area of any square
√n was needed to organize given “n” squares into a larger square
Methods which indicate an understanding of Pythagoras Theorem.
Methods which indicate an understanding of π
Proofs were never given. The tradition was oral possibly because writing materials were scarce and impermanent. Hence much of the logic was expected to be worked out by students. This necessarily meant that such learning was restricted to more intelligent students.
But was the lack of documentation also a reason why this tradition did not spread deep & wide?
What are the reasons for such a decline of math education in India?
Why is such a legacy of our ancestors does not find a place either in math textbooks or history textbooks?
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