The Science of the Shulba: A Study in Early Hindu Geometry c8.60

c8.60

We shall now proceed to show, as briefly as possible, that some of the specifications about the shape and size of the various *Vedi* and *Agni* and about their relative positions, which we find in the *Śulba* can be clearly traced to earlier *Saṁhitā* and *Brāhmaṇa*. This will doubtless corroborate the traditional origin of the science of Hindu Geometry in a very remote age to be true. We have already shown the ancient origin of the three fundamental altars, the *Gārhapatya*, *Āhavanīya* and *Dakṣiṇāgni*. Their relative positions are described in the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa*¹ and *Śrauta-sūtra* ² to be identical. According to all the *Saṁhitā* ³ and *Brāhmaṇa*, ⁴ as in the *Śulba*, the *Gārhapatya citi* must be constructed with the same number of bricks, namely 21, arranged in an identical manner. It is further stated in the *Taittirīya Saṁhitā*: