The Hindu-Arabic Numerals c8.6

c8.6

"The earliest undoubted occurrence of a zero in India is an inscription at Gwalior, dated Saṃvat 933 (876 A.D.). Where 50 garlands are mentioned (line 20), 50 is written [Figure:]. 270 (line 4) is written [Figure:]." ¹ The Bakhṣālī Manuscript ² probably antedates this, using the point or dot as a zero symbol. Bayley mentions a grant of Jaika Rashtrakúta of Bharuj, found at Okamandel, of date 738 A.D., which contains a zero, and also a coin with indistinct Gupta date 707 (897 A.D.), but the reliability of Bayley's work is questioned. As has been noted, the appearance of the numerals in inscriptions and on coins would be of much later occurrence than the origin and written exposition of the system. From the period mentioned the spread was rapid over all of India, save the southern part, where the Tamil and Malayalam people retain the old system even to the present day.³