THE IMPERISHABLE SEED: How Hindu Mathematics Changed the World and Why this History was Erased

Students of mathematics learn of “Pascal’s Triangle”, “Fibonacci Sequence”, “Rolle’s Theorem” and “Taylor Series.” But they do not learn that these concepts were expounded much earlier than their supposed discoveries in Europe by Indian mathematicians such as Pingala, Hemachandra, Bhaskara and Madhava. Many of the fields of mathematics today— from the decimal representation of numbers and simple arithmetic to algebra, trigonometry, and even calculus—were developed by Hindu mathematicians or owe their origins to their works.

In The Imperishable Seed, Bhaskar Kamble assembles compelling evidence to show how this knowledge was created and transmitted to the rest of the world. He discusses the contributions of ancient and medieval India not only to mathematics, but also to fields such as astronomy and linguistics and how these contributions continue to find applications even today in areas such as computer science.

Finally, he traces why and how the tradition of Hindu mathematics in India came to an end and why most people today do not know about its history.