History of Hindu Mathematics: A Source Book v1.c8.s14.46

v1.c8.s14.46

(3) In a garden beautified by groves of various kinds of trees, in a place free from all living animals, many ascetics were seated. Of them the number equivalent to the square-root of the whole collection were practising *yoga* at the foot of a tree. One-tenth of the remainder, the square-root (of what remained after this), 1/9 (of what remained after this), then the square-root (of what remained after this), ⅛ (of what remained after this), the square-root (of what remained after this), 1/7 (of what remained after this), the square-root (of what remained after this), ⅙ (of what remained after this), the square-root (of what remained after this), ⅕ (of what remained after this), the square-root (of what remained after this)—these parts consisted of those who were learned in the teaching of literature, in religious law, in logic, and in politics, as also of those who were versed in controversy, prosody, astronomy, magic, rhetoric and grammar, as well as of those who possessed an intelligent knowledge of the twelve varieties of the *aṅga-śāstra*; and at last 12 ascetics were seen (to remain without being included among those mentioned before). O excellent ascetic, of what numerical value was this collection of ascetics?¹