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'Aryastasta (Arya-Bhatıya) contains only one independent chapter consisting of 33 verses on mathematics Similarly the other great mathematician Brahmagupta (628 AD) has added only one chapter on mathematics in his book 'Brahmasphuta Siddhanta' It appears that the text, Ganıtasara Smagraha by the Jaina scholar Mahaviracarya(850 A D) is perhaps the first book wholly dealing with mathematics However, long before Mahaviracarya, the Indian mathematicians including the Jainas had developed mathematical sciences, which in turn helped in the development of many other subjects of Science, Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences-a fact which Mahaviracarya has himself acknowledged in the following words, With the help of the holy accomplished sages who are worthy to be worshipped by the lords of the world and of their disciples and disciples' disciples who constitute the well known jointed series of preceptors, I glean from the great ocean of the knowledge of numbers, a little of its essence, in the manner in which gems are picked up from the sea, gold from the strong rock and the pearl from the oyster shell and give out according to the power of intelligence, the Sara-samgraha, a small work on arithmetic which is, however, not small in value” He further remarks, 'In all transactions which relate to worldly, Vedic or other similar religious affairs or in the science of love, in the science of economics, in music or in drama, in the art of cooking, in medicine, in architecture, in prosody, in poetry, in logic and grammar and in many other things, the science of calculation ie mathematics is held in high esteem Not only this, but in relation to the movement of the sun, the moon and other heavenly bodies,in all astronomical phenomena and summarly, in all the spheres of life which the man can think of, ganita is used In other words, whatever there is in all the three worlds, cannot exist apart from ganita' Such was the importance of ganita recognised by Mahaviracarya even during those old days. During the modern times also, looking to the importance of mathematics and its applications to all other abstract sciences, the great social philosopher Comte has placed mathmemates as first in the heirarchy while considering certain subjects like mathematics, physics chemistry, biology, sociology etc
As in some other parts of the world, so in India also the stream of spiritual thinking has been going on for the last so many centuries Through this spiritual thinking only, man has achieved his spiritual progress Many preceptors have worked in this field and guided men All have worked in their own manner for the welfare of mankind The efforts made by Lord Mahavira and his followers for achieving love and affection towards all, unity in diversity through the great principles of Ahimsa and Syadvada are worth mentioning As a matter of fact, in India the aims of most of the philosophies specially of the Jaina Philosophy, have been mainly Atma-trptı, Ananta-Trpti, and Svarupa-Praptı And for all these it is necessary that one should be able to concentrate on one's Atma One of the aims of mathematical teaching is to develop the concentration of mind
Thus the possibility of having a close relationship between a sound philosophy and mathematics is natural and self-evident Now for the study of cosmos
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