History of Hindu Mathematics: A Source Book v1.c7.s5.10

v1.c7.s5.10

At another place in the *Ṛgveda* (x. 34), we find mention of a gambler lamenting his lot and saying that "having staked on one,³ he lost his faithful wife...." Again, in the *Atharvaveda* (vii. 50, (52), 5) we find the mention of the word "written amount".⁴ Pâṇini's grammar (*c.* 700 B.C.) contains the terms *yavanânî* ("Semitic writing") and the compounds *lipikâra* and *libikâra* (iii. 2. 21) (writer), which show that writing was known in his time. In addition to these passages, the Vedic works contain some technical terms, such as *akṣara* (a letter of the alphabet), *kâṇḍa* (chapter), *paṭala*, *grantha* (book), etc., which have been quoted as evidence of writing. These specific references to written documents when considered with the advanced state of Vedic civilisation, especially the high development of trade and complicated monetary transactions, the use of prose in the *Brâhmaṇas*, the collection, the methodical arrangement, the numeration, the analysis of the Vedic texts and the phonetic and lexicographic researches found in the *Vedâṅgas*, form sufficient grounds for assigning a very early date to the use of writing in India.¹ Although these arguments possess considerable weight, they were not generally recognised, as will always happen if an *argumentum ex impossibili* is used. R. Shamasastry (1906) has published a derivation based upon ancient Indian hieroglyphic pictures which he believes to be preserved in the *tântric* figures. His learned article has not attracted the attention it deserves.