The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c6.30

c6.30

In the *Mānava Śulba*³ and *Maitrāyaṇīya Śulba*,⁴ the science of geometry is called the *Śulba-vijñāna* (or "the Science of the *Śulba*").⁵ One who was well versed in that science was called in ancient India as *saṁkhyājña* (or "the expert in Numbers"), *parimāṇajña* ("the expert in measuring"), *sama-sūtra-nirañchaka* ("uniform-rope-stretcher"), *Śulba-vid* ("the expert in the *Śulba*") and *Śulba-paripṛcchaka* ("the inquirer into the *Śulba*").¹ Of these, one term, *viz.*, *sama-sūtra-nirañchaka*, perhaps deserves more particular notice. For we find an almost identical term, *harpedonaptae* ("rope-stretcher"), appearing in the writings of the Greek Democritos (*c.* 440 B.C.). It seems to be an instance of Hindu influence on Greek geometry. For the idea in that Greek term is neither of the Greeks nor of their acknowledged teachers in the science of geometry, the Egyptians, but it is characteristically of Hindu origin.) In the Pāli literature, we find the terms *rajjuka* and *rajju-grāhaka* ("rope-holder") for the king's land surveyor.² The first of these terms appears copiously, in its various case-endings, in the inscriptions of the Emperor Aśoka (250 B.C.). In the comparatively later *Śilpa-śāstras*, the surveyor is spoken of as *sūtra-grāhī* or *sūtra-dhāra* ("rope-holder") and he is further described as an expert in alignment (*rekhā-jña*, lit. "one who knows the line").