Geometry in Ancient and Medieval India c8.3

c8.3

**3.2.** The ancient works which are classed as *Gaṇita* texts are the *Sūryaprajñapti*, the *Candraprajñapti* and the *Jambudvīpaprajñapti*. Of these the first two cover more or less the same ground — the peculiar configuration and measurements of the paths of the heavenly bodies worked out into the minutest details. The earth stretches flat with the continents and oceans alternating in concentric circles forming a huge Newton's rings pattern, as it were. The sun and the moon move in concentric circles in planes parallel to the earth, the circles having mount Meru as their centre. The diameter of these circles or *maṇḍalas* goes on increasing gradually. Various views about the diameter and circumference of the *maṇḍalas* are enumerated and rejected by the *Sūryaprajñapti*. According to these the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle¹ i.e. π is 3, while the value accepted by the *S. P.* is the nearer approximation √10. This value appears regularly in the Jaina works and even Brahmagupta adopts it.