Indian Mathematics/Indian mathematicians
VII.
25. Of the personalities of the Indian mathematicians we know very little indeed but Alberuni has handed down Brahmagupta's opinion of Āryabhata and Puliśa[1] and his own opinions are worth repeating. We have also Bhāskara's inscription. The following notes contain, perhaps, all that is worth recording.
Alberuni writes (1,376): 'Now it is evident that that which Brahmagupta relates on his own authority, and with which he himself agrees, is entirely unfounded; but he is blind to this from sheer hatred of Āryabhata, whom he abuses excessively. And in this respect Āryabhata and Puliśa are the same to him. I take for witness the passage of Brahmagupta where he says that Aryabhata has subtracted something from the cycles of Caput Draconis and of the apsis of the moon and thereby confused the computation of the eclipse. He is rude enough to compare Āryabhata to a worm which, eating the wood, by chance describes certain characters in it, without intending to draw them. "He, however, who knows these things thoroughly stands opposite to Āryabhata, Śrīshena and Vishnuchandra like the lion against gazelles. They are not capable of letting him see their faces." In such offensive terms he attacks Āryabhata and maltreats him.'
Again: '"Āryabhata…… differs from the doctrine of the book Smriti, just mentioned, and he who differs from us is an opponent." On the other hand, Brahmagupta praises Puliśa for what he does, since he does not differ from the book Smriti.' Again, speaking of Varāhamihira, S'rīshena, Āryabhata and Vishnuchandra, Brahmagupta says: 'If a man declares these things illusory he stands outside the generally acknowledged dogma, and that is not allowed.'
Of Varāhamihira. Alberuni writes: 'In former times, the Hindus used to acknowledge that the progress of science due to the Greeks is much more important than that which is due to themselves. But from this passage of Varāhamihira alone (see paragraph 2 above) you see what a self-lauding man he is, whilst he gives himself airs as doing justice to others;' but in another place (ii, 110) Alberuni says: 'On the whole his foot stands firmly on the basis of truth and he clearly speaks out the truth……Would to God all distinguished men followed his example.'
Of Brahmagupta, Alberuni writes (ii, 110): 'But look, for instance, at Brahmagupta, who is certainly the most distinguished of their astronomers……he shirks the truth and lends his support to imposture……under the compulsion of some mental derangement, like a man whom death is about to rob of his consciousness……If Brahmagupta……is one of those of whom God says, "They have denied our signs, although their hearts knew them clearly, from wickedness and haughtiness," we shall not argue with him, but only whisper into his ear—"If people must under circumstances give up opposing the religious codes (as seems to be your case), why then do you order people to be pious if you forget to be so yourself"……I, for my part, am inclined to the belief that that which made Brahmagupta speak the above mentioned words (which involve a sin against conscience) was something of a calamitous fate, like that of Socrates, which had befallen him, notwithstanding the abundance of his knowledge and the sharpness of his intellect, and notwithstanding his extreme youth at the time. For he wrote the Brahmasiddhānta when he was only thirty years of age. If this indeed is his excuse we accept it and drop the matter.'
An inscription found in a ruined temple at Pātna, a deserted village of Khandesh in the Bombay Presidency, refers to Bhāskara in the following terms: 'Triumphant is the illustrious Bhāskarachārya whose feet are revered by the wise, eminently learned……who laid down the law in metrics, was deeply versed in the Vaiseshika system,……was in poetics a poet, like unto the three-eyed in the three branches, the multifarious arithmetic and the rest……Bhāskara, the learned, endowed with good fame and religious merit, the root of the creeper—true knowledge of the Veda, an omniscient seat of learning; whose feet were revered by crowds of poets, etc.
The inscription goes on to tell us of Bhāskara's grandson 'Changadeva, chief astrologer of King Simghana, who, to spread the doctrines promulgated by the illustrious Bhāskarachārya, founds a college, that in his college the Siddhāntaśiromani and other works composed by Bhāskara, as well as other works by members of his family, shall be necessarily expounded.'
Bhāskara's most popular work is entitled the Līlāvatī which means 'charming.' He uses the phrase "Dear intelligent Līlāvatī," etc., and thus have arisen certain legends as to a daughter he is supposed to be addressing. The legends have no historical basis.
Bhāskara at the end of his Vīja gaņita refers to the treatises on algebra of Brahmagupta, Śrīdhara and Padmanābha as "too diffusive" and states that he has compressed the substance of them in "a well reasoned compendium, for the gratification of learners."
- ↑ According to Alberuni Pulis'a was an Indian and Paulis'a a Greek.