The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c10.46

c10.46

The Method I is described in full by Āpastamba.¹ It is noted and partly described by Baudhāyana.² This seems to be the oldest Hindu method for the construction of a square on a given straight line. For, the practice of the measurement of the Fire-altar with the bamboo-rod is mentioned as early as the *Taittirīya Saṃhitā* (c. 3000 B.C.)³ and indeed reappears in almost all the early *Saṁhitās* and *Brāhmaṇas*.¹ It is found to have been gradually replaced by the measurement with a cord which was introduced about the time of the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* (c. 2000 B.C.).²