In AD 628, the Indian mathematician Brahmagupta made a groundbreaking discovery by defining the concept of zero as a number, enabling the use of a positional numeral system with ten symbols – incorrectly becoming known as the “Arabic numerals”.
Brahmagupta authored a 25-chapter treatise that introduced rules for arithmetic with zero and negative numbers, and even described gravity as an attractive force a millennium before Isaac Newton.
Brahmagupta built upon the work of Aryabhata, who accurately calculated the value of pi and the length of the solar year, and proposed a rotating spherical Earth. Yes, it was Aryabhata who discovered the inner workings of the solar system, centuries before Copernicus.
These advancements from ancient India significantly influenced the Arab world and later the West. The numeral system, including zero, was transmitted to Baghdad by the Barmakids, leading to the development of algebra by Khwarizmi. Fibonacci later introduced these “Arabic numerals” to Europe, facilitating the commercial and banking revolutions that fueled the Renaissance.
Despite these contributions, British and Western education often overlooks Indian mathematicians and scientists, attributing numerical and scientific advancements to Arab or European sources.
William Dalrymple highlights India’s extensive cultural and scientific influence across Asia, forming an “Indosphere” that spread Indian ideas without conquest.
“Out of India came not just pioneering merchants, astronomers and astrologers, scientists and mathematicians, doctors and sculptors, but also the holy men, monks and missionaries of several distinct strands of Indic religious thought and devotion, Hindu and Buddhist.”
Colonialism and Victorian-era Indology contributed to the undervaluation of India’s historical achievements.
But that was then, but today the question remains: why are the extraordinary mathematical and scientific discoveries of India and its influence not better and more widely known?
Today, India’s legacy in mathematics and science continues, with its economy rapidly growing and its professionals playing key roles globally. The text questions whether India, China, or the US will dominate the future, reflecting on India’s historical ability to transform the world through its ideas.
