You are on page 1of 3

It is without doubt that mathematics today owes a huge debt to the outstanding contributions made by Indian mathematicians over

many hundreds of years.


Yajnavalkya

Yjavalkya (Devanagari:

) of Mithila was a legendary sage of Vedic India,[3] credited with the

authorship of the Shatapatha Brahmana (including theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad), besides the Yoga Yajnavalkya and the Yjavalkya Smti.[3] He is also a major figure in the Upanishads.
Life

According to tradition, Yjavalkya was the son of Devarta and was the pupil of sage Vaisampayana .[3] Once, Vaisampayana got angry with Yjavalkya as the latter argued too much to separate some latter additions to Yajurveda in being abler than other students. The angry teacher asked his pupil Yjavalkya to give back all the knowledge of Yajurveda that he had taught him.[3] As per the demands of his Guru, Yjavalkya vomited all the knowledge that he acquired from his teacher in form of digested food. Other disciples of Vaisampayanatook the form of partridge birds and consumed the digested knowledge (a metaphor for knowledge in its simplified form without the complexities of the whole but the simplicity of parts) because it was knowledge and they were very eager to receive the same.[3] The Saskt name for partridge is "Tittiri". As the Tittiri (partridge) birds ate this Veda, it is thenceforth called the Taittirya Yajurveda. It is also known as Ka Yajurveda or Black -Yajurveda on account of it being a vomited substance. The Taittirya Sahit thus belongs to this Yajurveda.[4] Then Yjavalkya determined not to have any human guru thereafter. Thus he began to propitiate the Sun God, Surya. Yjavalkya worshipped and extolled the Sun, the master of the Vedas, for the purpose of acquiring the fresh Vedic portions not known to his preceptor, Vaiampyana.[5] The Sun God, pleased with Yjavalkya penance, assumed the form of a horse and graced the sage with such fresh portions of the Yajurveda as were not known to any other. This portion of the Yajurveda goes by the name of ukla Yajurveda or White-Yajurveda on account of it being revealed by Sun. It is also known as Vajasaneya Yajurveda, because it was evolved in great rapidity by Sun who was in the form of a horse through his manes.The rhythm of recital of these vedas is therefore to the rhythm of the horse canter and distinguishes itself from the other forms of veda recitals. In Sanskrit, term "Vaji" means horse. Yjavalkya divided this Vajasaneya Yajurveda again into fifteen branches, each branc h comprising hundreds of Yajus Mantras. Sages like Kanva, Madhyandina and others learnt those and ukla Yajurveda branched into popular recensions named after them.[3] It is important to note that within the hierarchy of Brhmaas, certain sects believe in the Ka Yajurveda while others practice from the ukla Yajurveda. Two important sects of Telugu Brhmaas with a belief in

ukla Yajurveda are the Niyogis who are further sub-divided into sub-sects like Prathama Sakha Niyogis (ukla yaju) and Aaru Velu Niyogis (ka yaju) (aaru-velu = six-thousand Saskt). Yjavalkya married two wives. One was Maitreyi and the other Katyaayanee.[6] Of the two, Maitreyi was a Brahmavadini (one who is interested in the knowledge of Brahman).The descendant sects of Brahmans are the progeny of the first wife Katyaayanee. When Yjavalkya wished to divide his property between the two wives, Maitreyi asked whether she could become immortal through wealth. Yjavalkya replied that there was no hope of immortality through wealth and that she would only become one among the many who were well-to-do on.[3] When she heard this, Maitreyi asked Yjavalkya to teach her what he considered as the best. Then Yjavalkya described to her the greatness of the Absolute Self, the nature of its existence, the way of attaining infinite knowledge and immortality, etc. This immortal conversation between Yjavalkya and Maitreyi is recorded in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.[7] Wisdom of Yjavalkya is shown in Brhadaranyaka Upanishad where he gives his teachings to his wife Maitreyi and King Janaka.[3] He also participates in a competition arranged by King Janaka about the selecting great Brhama Jnani (knower of Brahman). His intellectual dialogues with Gargi (a learned scholar of the times) form a beautiful chapter filled with lot of philosophical and mystical question-answers inBrhadaranyaka Upanishad.[3] In the end, Yjavalkya took Vidvat Sanyasa (renunciation after the attainment of the knowledge of Brahman) and retired to the forest. It is believed that during the spiritual cleansing of Kshatriya males by Parshurama, the noble families were unable to find suitable male suitors for the princesses. During this period, some of the descendants of Yjavalkya were offered these princesses as brides as they were the only sects bestowed with the quality of pride amongst the various Brahman sects. Thus a new line of brahman nobility was created in thesocial hierarchy (prathama shakhi) advising the king on the spiritual and administrative aspects of ruling the kingdom Yjavalkya was one of the greatest sages ever known. His precepts as contained in the Upanishads (the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad) stand foremost as the crest-jewel of the highest teachings on knowledge ofBrahman.[3] Most of the Hindu Laws today are based on the Yjavalkya Smriti.
[edit]Works

Main articles: Shatapatha Brahmana and Brhadaranyaka Upanishad If the ascription of the Shatapatha Brahmana and the Brhadaranyaka Upanishad is genuine, Yjavalkya has made important contributions to both philosophy,[3] including the apophatic teaching of 'neti neti', and to astronomy, describing the 95-year cycle to synchronize the motions of the sun and the moon. He was described as the greatest Brahmajnyani by all the sages at the function organised by king Janaka.[8][page needed]

Vedic mathematics is a system of mathematics consisting of a list of 16 basic stras The calculation strategies provided by Vedic mathematics are said to be creative and useful, and can be applied in a number of ways to calculation methods in arithmetic and algebra, most notably within the education system.

You might also like