________________
ARHAT VACANA
Kundakunda Jnanapitha, Indore
THE MENSURATION OF A CONCH
IN ANCIENT INDIA
*
**
I. INTRODUCTION
According to Jaina cosmography, at the end of asamkhyāta1 island-oceans here is the Suayambhuramana (self-born-merriment) ocean in which the deeply sunk one is a conch. The dimension (extension, length or diameter) of the conch is 12 yojanas and the diameter of its (circular) face is 4 yojanas. Jainas have calculated that the volume of the conch is 365 cubic yojanas.
Vol. 14, No. 1, 2002, 31-54
Dipak Jadhav
As far as known, from before the time of Yatturṣabha2 the Jaina School of Indian Mathematics has had a deep concern with the mensuration of a conch. Virasena, Mahavira". Nemicandra and Narayana are the other mathematicians whose works contain the elements of its mensuration. Among hem, Narayana is the only non-Jaina mathematician.
classwise order, vide Table-A.
The very object of this article is to make a thorough study on the mensuration of a conch in ancient India from those sources which are extant oday. This article shall definitely provide broad base for further study.
*
In the following sections, we shall give the details of the mensuration of a conch made by the mathematicians mentioned above in such an order hat the subject matter can be well understood.
For chronological, schoolwise and
2. MAHAVIRA
In footnotes (p. 186, Rangacharya) to his own English translation of the Ganita-sara-samgraha, Rangacharya (1912) conceives that the figure intended by Mahavira for a conch-like plane figure is two unequal semi-circles placed so that their diameters coincide in position as shown in Fig. 1a.
Jain Education Internalof My
& Padmavathamma
B
A
Lecturer in Mathematics, J.N. Govt. Model H.S. (Residential) School, Barwani-451551 (M.P.) India.
**Professor of Mathematics, Department of Studies in Mathematics, University For Private & Personal Use Only Mysore, Mysore-570006, India.
Fig. 1a A conch-like plane figure conceived by Rangacharya
www.jainelibrary.org
