Thank you very much, Lubomir, for uploading this edition, and David, for pointing to the book, which I will certainly use for my course on History of Indian mathematics (and astronomy).
Also for this course, I am nowadays struggling with a part of the Lalitavistara, where the Buddha is showing his ability in numbers. His enumeration of powers of 10, from the koṭi to the tallakṣaṇa, is very clear. But things become obscure when he continues his enumeration with other (supposed) powers of 10. The problem is that he says that the next one, the dhvajāgravatī, is able to count all the sand of the Gaṅgā, while the sixth one, the sarvanikṣepa, is able to count all the sand of ten Gaṅgā. How is it possible if every unit equals the previous one multiplied by ten (and what else could it be) ? Apart from noting that this kind of enumeration and its use for counting the sand reminds very much Archimede's Sandreckoner, I must add that there are discrepancies between the two translations I know (de Foucaux 1988 (1884) and Goswami 2001) and also with the 'sanskrit' text of Śāntibhikṣu Śāstrī 1984. After this enumeration, comes a scale which rely the last unit, the paramāṇurajaḥpraveśānugata, to the yojana, by multiplying it by 7 ten times, and then again by 12, 2, 4, 1000 and 4, so that a yojana equals 710.12.2.4.1000.4 paramāṇurajaḥpraveśānugatas. And, of course, the Buddha asks if somebody can tell how many paramāṇurajaḥpraveśānugatas would contain a bowl of 1 yojana. Here again, the answer seems awkward for it amounts to 1028 while it should be more than 1041. Does anyone have an explanation for these mistakes, or know of a paper or a book which discusses these problems ?
Best regards,
Jean Michel
Jean Michel DELIRELecturer on History of mathematics - IHEB (ULB)
Lecturer on Science and civilisation of India - Sanskrit Texts - IHEB (ULB)
Member of the Centre National d'Histoire des Sciences (KBR, Bruxelles)
Member of the Société Asiatique (Paris)