History of Hindu Mathematics: A Source Book v1.c8.s4.5

v1.c8.s4.5

The term *abhyâsa* has been used both for addition and multiplication in the *Śulba* works (800 B.C.). This shows that at that early period, the process of multiplication was made to depend on that of repeated addition. The use of the word *parasparakṛtam* (making together) for multiplication in the Bakhshâlî Manuscript⁴ is evidently a relic of olden times. This ancient terminology proves that the definition of multiplication was "a process of addition resting on repetition of the multiplicand as many times as is the number of the multiplicator." This definition occurs in the commentary of the *Âryabhaṭîya* by Bhâskara I. The commentators of the *Lîlâvatî* give the same explanation of the method of multiplication.⁵