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(196) Nandanavana
contains sufficient matter on the subject with reference to earlier Jaina mathematicians like Bhadrabahu, Bhaṭṭopala, Siddhasena and others whose works are not now available. Besides mention of different sections of mathematics in Th and ADS, we find a good amount of mathematical calculations and operations in Triloka-prajñapti (TP, Enunciation of Three worlds, 5th century CE) and Tattvārtha-sūtra (Formulae on Reals, 3rd 4th century CE) and many later texts of Nemicandra Cakravarti (10-11th century CE) and others. The SK and Dhavalā commentary descriptions fall in between these periods. Singh12 has opined that Dhavala author may not be a mathematician and, hence, he must have taken it from other earlier sources ranging from 200-600 CE, thus, his commentary serving as a source book for the dark period of the history of Indian mathematics. The later authors like Mahāvīra and Nemicandra have developed the Dhavala mathematics. Likewise, Vīrasena might have developed the TP and other earlier contents. This requires a comparative study as TP mathematics represents a status roughly at the beginning of Christian era. However, Vīrasena has described many processes not found in earlier texts, of course with some imperfections and lesser refinement that Aryabhaṭīya.
L.C. Jain13 has mentioned that one finds the basis of set and system theoretic approach in the theoretical description on karma theory in the texts. Many scholars have attempted to present the mathematical contents of Dhavala and expressed their enormous historical value relating to many centuries before it was composed. This paper describes some important contents under three sections: (a) arithmetic (b) algebra and (3) geometry. The Dhavala mathematics is taken as included in worldly mathematics. However, Akalanka was the first to divide all these varieties into two groups: (1) Worldly and (2) Super worldly (i.e. larger numbers) not mentioned in Th., ADS and Dhavalā indicating these texts to be earlier than Akalanka. Ten-fold Topics of Mathematics
14
The third Jaina canonical text Th. (~ 300 BCE) has mentioned ten areas of numeration involving the above three categories which can be compared with the Chinese JZSS, Nine Chapter (~ 200 BCE)15 containing 246 problems related with practical life as given in Table 1.
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