[INDOLOGY] Next online talk on CHSTM Science in South Asia: Monday, Jan 26, 10:30 a.m. EST

[Dagmar Wujastyk]

Dear colleagues,

I am pleased to announce our next online presentation on Monday, January
26, 10:30 a.m. EST. Dr. Satyanad Kichenassamy will be speaking on
"Mathematical reasoning as an outgrowth of Vedic ritual."

Abstract:
The earliest text that formulates the theorem on the square of the diagonal
of an oblong as a universal statement is Baudhāyana’s Śulvasūtra. This
theorem is embedded in a discourse without diagrams, that indicates the
first extant rigorous derivation of it. The invention of mathematical
activity and based on inferences on word-representations reflects closely
the relations between language, thought and action in Vedic ritual. Later
Indian mathematical inventions were still based on this view, combined with
the relatively late introduction of writing. This accounts for the
invention of two new forms of representation, namely the positional system
with zero, and literal algebra. While these developments are best
understood against the backdrop of modern Indology, especially at EPHE in
Paris, we will show here on a few texts that do not require familiarity
with Indology, how the view that mathematical activity is a process
of inferences on word representations, to be performed by free individuals,
was part and parcel of a reflexive analysis of the successes and failures
of Vedic ritual.

Please join us! If you are not yet registered with CHSTM and signed up to
our group, please do so a few days before the talk, so that the zoom link
for the talk becomes available to you. Our group and the schedule can be
found here: https://www.chstm.org/group/history-science-early-south-asia

With best wishes,
Dagmar Wujastyk and Lisa A. Brooks
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