History of Hindu Mathematics: A Source Book v1.c7.s5.7

v1.c7.s5.7

Other scholars, who held that writing was known in India as early as the Vedic age, based their conclusion upon literary evidence. The *Vasiṣṭha Dharmasûtra*, which originally belonged to a school of the *Ṛgveda* offers clear evidence of the use of writing in the Vedic period. Vasiṣṭha (xvi. 10, 14-15) mentions written documents as legal evidence, and the first of these sûtras is a quotation from an older work or from traditional lore. Another quotation from the *Ṛgveda* itself (x. 62. 7), which refers to the writing of the number eight is: *Sahasraṁ me dadato aṣṭakarṇyaḥ*, meaning "gave me a thousand cows on whose ears the number eight was written." The above interpretation, although doubted by some scholars, seems to be correct, as it is supported by Pâṇini.¹ Moreover, the practice of making marks on the ears of cows to denote their relation to their owners, seems to have been prevalent in ancient India.²