Vedic period is a period in which oldest scripts of world, in Sanskrit, called as Vedas were made which were based on Hinduism. Initially for many years these Vedic scripts, texts, hymes were transferred orally. The Vedic period starts around in 1700 BC and ends in the year 500 BC. People initially were present in north-west part of ancient India but slowly moved towards eastern India and also towards south (Deccan). People from the Vedic period cannot be termed as mathematicians by professions; they were priests/ pandits/ rishis who made use of mathematics for carrying out their religious rituals. Thus emphasis was not given on the proofs but used as properties/sutras. Vast knowledge of mathematics was also used in fields of astronomical and astrological topics like calculation of year duration, eclipses, zodiac signs etc. Vedic period can be divided in 2 periods (approx dates): [wptabs style="wpui-narrow" effect="slide" mode="horizontal"] [wptabtitle] Early Vedic Period[/wptabtitle] [wptabcontent] Early Vedic Period (1700 - 1000 BC): No mathematical texts are found from this period as in those days each information was transferred orally and was recited number of times so that they are well remembered. But still they used mathematics on large basis and used mathematical knowledge for carrying out their rituals. As stated in Rigveda, like Babylonians, they were able to independently predict the date of solar eclipse. Vedic people did name very large numbers (upto till 1062) and surprisingly they used all these big numbers just for their rituals.For one of the ritual, one of the Rishi counts till 1012. He after preparing bricks for a Vedic ritual, prays to the Lord of fire (Agni). Imā me Agna istakā dhenava Santvekā ća desa ća satam ća Sahasram ćāyutam ća niyutam ća Prayutam ćārbudam ća nyarbudam ća Samudrasća madhyam ćāntasća Parārdhasćaita me agna ishtakā Dhenavasantvamutrāmushmimlloke. Meaning: Oh Agni! Let these bricks be … [Read more...]