The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c6.15

c6.15

The *Śulba-sūtra* of Āpastamba is broadly divided into six *paṭalas* (or "sections"). Of these the first, third and the fifth are each subdivided again into three *adhyāyas* (or "chapters") and each of the remaining sections into four chapters. So that altogether the work contains twenty-one chapters and 223 *sūtras*. The first section of the manual, chapters i-iii, gives the important geometrical propositions required for the construction of altars. The second section or the chapters iv-vii, describe the relative positions of the various *vedis* and their spatial magnitudes. Unlike Baudhāyana, Āpastamba here indicates briefly also the methods of their construction. They are of course the particular applications of the general geometrical theorems taught in the earlier section. The remaining sections of the *Āpastamba Śulba-sūtra*, comprising the chapters viii-xxi deal with the construction of the *Kāmya Agnis*. It is noteworthy that almost the same set of geometrical propositions are taught by both Baudhāyana and Āpastamba. But the latter has treated of a smaller number of varieties of the *Kāmyas* than the former. For instance, Āpastamba teaches only one kind of *ratha-cakra-citi* (or "the wheel-shaped altar") whereas Baudhāyana gives two.