![]() (Indian Mathematician, Brahmagupta) The Arab sea-merchants who frequented the coasts The rise of the decimal system enabled the writing of vast numbers, of huge value, a practice that has been traced to even Vedic texts written around 1000 BCE, values that are not seen in any other parts of the world. The mathematician Brahmagupta, 638 AD, is associated with giving form to the number zero, and formulating the first rules with its usage. This happened around the same time that the Gupta kings built the temple in Deogarh. Photo courtesy- blog ) India’s philosophical obsession with infinity and zero led to mathematicians not just conceptualising the idea of zero, but also giving it a form (a dot), andįinally using it in a decimal system. ![]() There he met a Gymnosophist ( the naked wise man). (Alexander (the great) while on his quest to conquer the whole world came to the last remaning bit. The denominator of life is one, the world is different from when the denominator of life is infinity. But belief in rebirth, hence infinite lives, which is the hallmark of Indic worldview, makes achievements meaningless, and puts the focus on wisdom and understanding. Hallmark of Greek worldview, and later Abrahamic, results us in valuing achievements. For the sage, Alexander was wasting his time trying to conquer a world that has no limits, with a sense of urgency that made no sense when one lives infinite lives. ![]() The sage was wasting his one and only life doing nothing. Alexander replied, "I am conquering the world.” Both laughed. Alexander asked him what he was doing and the sage replied, "Experiencing nothingness.” The sage asked Alexander what was he doing. This sage sat on a rock and spent all day staringĪt the sky. The story goes that when Alexander, the Great, after having conquered Persia, visited India, he met a sage on the banks of the river Indus, who he referred to as a gymno-sophist or naked wise man, in Greek. The Greek and Abrahamic worldviews inform what we call the Western worldview today that is obsessed with organisation, and is terrified of disorder,Īnd unpredictability, something Indians are used to and rather comfortable with, even thriving in it. World out of nothingness and the world he creates in seven days has a definite expiry date: the Apocalypse. It is also different from the Abrahamic worldview where God creates the And with order comes definitions, boundaries, certainty, and predictability. This is in stark contrast to the Greek worldview where the world begins as chaos until the gods create order. Jainism spoke of a world of endless possibilities Buddhism came up with ideas such as nirvana (oblivion) and shunya (which literally means zero). More than Hindu, it is the Indic worldview, the substratum of thought which gave rise to three major ideas: Hinduism,īuddhism and Jainism, all of which speak of rebirth, cyclical time, and a world where there are no boundaries. The Hindu worldview has always been obsessed with infinity (everything-ness) and zero (nothingness) and with the number one (the beginning). Of beginnings, of limitless possibilities, and of nothingness that existed before the first moment. For with consciousness, we become aware of the first moment Its name is: Adi-Ananta-Sesha, which literally means Primal-Limitless-Residue, which is numerically visualised as One-Infinity-Zero. What is interesting is the serpent on whose coils Narayana reclines. Narayana is thus a visual representation of human consciousness, which awakening heralds the creation of our world. When he is in dreamless slumber, the world does not exist. Narayana is the god reclining on the serpent with multiple-hoods. (Deogarh-UP-INDIA) vaticanus) For Hindus, the world is created when Narayana awakes. (An idol of Vishnu at Dasavatara temple at Deo Garh, Photo Courtesy: Flickr page of DASAVATARA TEMPLE But it is clearly a celestial scene, visualisation of the Its clearly inspired by a scene from the royal court. On its walls, there is the image of a man reclining on the coils of a serpent with many hoods, surrounded by his wife and many warriors and sages. If you travel to the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, and visit a place called Deo-garh, which literally means citadel of the gods, you will find the ruins of a Hindu temple, one of the oldest, at least 1500 years old, built by the kings of the Gupta dynasty.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |