The Vedas and Geometry

It is generally known and believed that the geometrical concepts that has been identied as originated or prevalent in India came from the statements of the ulbastras. Indeed the ulbastras were totally devoted to the geomes u s u try as prevalent at the time of formatting those texts. The ulbastras came s u as parts of the rautastras which prescribed the details of the Vedic yaja s u n rituals. In India, earlier to the advent of the studies conducted by the scholars of the West, on the subjects of the Vedas, the language of Sanskrit, the innumerable outputs of literature and stras, no one was really concerned sa about geometry as such or its history. The Vedic rituals in which the geometry congured conspicuously were not that much important for the general public. Geometrical congurations also appeared before the people in the form of various kaLams and kolams along with the many rituals, that might not fall under the denition of the Vedic rituals. Thus, somehow the geometrical patterns were all too familiar for the Indian people for millenniums. It was only that we were not much interested in the history of geometry as such. However, in India, no culture, rituals, language or literature got formed without the inuence of the Vedas and the language of Sanskrit. The many languages of India, borrowed heavily from the Vedas not only in terms of ideas but also for the coining of many terms, almost without a care for any of the grammatical rules of Sanskrit. Several local improvisations were eected in forming these terms as per the local needs and aspirations. Not much dierently, the origins of geometry also could be traced to the Vedas. In India, it was something that naturally occurred, until the history of such occurrences is enquired into. It is necessary to enquire into, for the reason that many outside and inside India believe and propagate the theory that the geometrical principles that we see in the ulbastra, were expressly devised s u for accurate formation of Vedic altars, most probably using what originated in Greece, Babylonia etc. The question is that at what stage in the development of the Vedic rituals, basically conned to a space, well demarcated by its two dimensional boundaries, an enquiry could have occurred that sought help from a distant technology? How the rituals could take o without any dimensional specicity getting incorporated from the very beginning? Were those rituals perpetuation of blind beliefs without basing on any text and without a script 1

of its own? The inseparable nature of yaja and the Vedas by way of the ideas n mooted and the terms used point out that geometry was equally present and important for both the Vedas and the rituals. One could not progress without the other. Moreover, while the ancient geometry of India, though relied on instruments like the compass and rule, did not seek to dene shapes out of mathematical curiosity alone. It strove to formulate and communicate what once felt was principles of great importance. Those came more as esoteric creations conrming one or the other of a theory. What is signicant here is that it is reasonable to assume that the basic geometrical contents that were presented by the Baudhyana Sulbastra, such as those that appeared as the a u rst set of stras, came almost by a process of reverse engineering than as u the fundamentals. Those came as the preliminaries of the ulbastra much s u after many an accurate geometrical conguration already getting manifested. These geometrical presentations and several oblique references to them were very much part of the Rgveda. These aspects of the history of geometry was brought out earlier by this author by going into the specic geometrical details of RV1.164.48 and later as the contents of the 4th verse of Svetavataropanisad . It is all too clear s . that geometrical concepts played an important role in the Rgveda and often got randomly presented in some of the upanisada. It is evident that without . certain arithmetical operations, in some level, the geometry could not have taken to the esoteric and exotic levels. Though it used to be averred that the arithmetical operations came much later and as part of the Apastamba and Mnava Sulbastra, the fact remains that even the simple trapeziums that a u congured in the descriptions of the Rgveda used such arithmetic calculations. Even the upanisada mentioned it, as could be seen from the 3rd verse of . Mndukya Upanisada. a. . . jgaritasthno bahi: praja: saptnga ekonavimatimukha: a a n a .s sthlabhugvaivnara: prathama: pda: u s a a Which could be interpreted as:As a state of wakefulness, coming forth as the knowledge that pervaded to the surroundings of the seven quarters and 19 directions and coming into massive existences, being omnipresent till man, was the rst stage. First, there arises a necessity here to clearly realise the signicance of saptnga and ekonavimatimukha:, which was literally translated as seven a .s quarters and 19 directions. The fact remains that the interpretation is not 2

sucient or satisfactory. While ekonavimati is 19, the term mukha: could .s be face, mouth or an opening. Almost taking all the three into consideration, it could be concluded that the mukha: here to mean a circularity. A workout that is given below would dene the circle. 192 1 = 361 1 = 360 It would be found that the function of deducting one, suggested by the term ekona, was applied twice to obtain the value of 360 which represented the divisions of a circle (now known as degrees),1 and that it was altogether a reference to the 7 vyhrti s. a . A total breakdown of communications immediately or gradually after the establishment of the 4 Vedas is all too evident. However, sticking to the subject of geometry, it should be stated that even the later and now current interpretations of the two bird altars that Baudhyana presented vide chapa ters 10 and 11 did not follow the text, word by word. These parts of the interpretations were based on what was observed on the ground as executed and not as what was described. For, Baudhyana brilliantly sketched out a a process of execution of the bird congurations as systematic processes of checks and counter-checks to obtain a perfect shape. These processes were perhaps not used for several centuries and possibly for this reason, did not appear in the interpretations. Altogether, the interpretations of the geo metrical content of the Sulbastras are found decient and often defective. u Repeated conrmations and quotes, of what is known and stated, legitimizes even errors and wrongful statements, but here the history and content of the ancient geometry suered. However, the sincerity and devotion of the interpreters could not be found faulted. It was the stra styles that erected obstacles in the path of the u interpreters. The stra styles might not completely respond to the rules of u grammar and as it happened for a long time, any interpreter would think twice before sidestepping those rules. The recourse obviously would be what Baudhyana cryptically put - One has to respectfully reect on all these a things. Parameswaran Murthiyedath

The methods of the stras could have several forms and could be locally inventive, as u could be realised from the Baudhyana ulbastra etc. a s u