Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c4.s2.65

v1.c4.s2.65

Of these five generations, Gautama Siddha (about mid-7^th^ ~ early 8^th^ centuries CE) was the most famous. He compiled the 120-volume *Treatise on Astrology of the Kaiyuan Era*, introducing various astrological theories and schools in ancient China and recording Chinese observation of heavenly bodies and their knowledge about the universe. Such information is very valuable for the history of science. *Navagraha Calendar*, translated by him in 718 CE, is also of great research value. With the translation of the *Navagraha Calendar*, Chinese began to know of Indian arithmetic. It showed how to write Indian numerals and listed 10 numbers from zero to nine ie the predecessors of the current numerals 0 to 9. This proves that the so-called Arabic numbers originally were invented by Indians.