Research On Bodhayan

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www.ijcrt.

org © 2021 IJCRT | Volume 9, Issue 10 October 2021 | ISSN: 2320-2882

BODHAYAN: FATHER OF GEOMETRY


1
Dr. Chetan Kumar Sahu,
1
Assistant Professor
1
Department of mathematics
1
Govt. Dr. Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar P. G. College Dongargaon, Rajnandgaon C.G., India

Abstract: अंतिम प्रभा का है हमारा तिक्रमी संिि यहााँ


है तकन्तु और ं का उदय इिना पुराना भी कहााँ ?
ईसा मु हम्मद आतद का जग में न था िब भी पिा
कब की हमारी सभ्यिा है कौन सकिा है बिा मै तथतिशरण गु प्त

These lines of poetry by Rashtrakavi Maithilisharan Gupta remind us of our glorious past and inspire that we, who have become
accustomed to look at other countries in the matter today, are nothing but forgetting our past. An important pillar of this past was
Rishi Bodhayana.
Baudhayana was the ancient mathematician of India and the author of Shulba Sutra and Shrauta Sutra. Euclid's geometry is
taught all over the world, considering it to be authentic in the subject of geometry. But it should be remembered that even before
Euclid, the great Greek geometry, many geometry scientists in India had discovered important laws of geometry, among those
geometry, the name of Bodhayana is paramount, in India Geometry or Geometry was called Shulva Shastra.

Keywards - Shulba Sutra, Shrauta Sutra, Rhombus, Sage Baudhayan, Yagya, pi, Hypotenuse.
I. INTRODUCTION
Geometry of Euclid is taught all over the world, considering it to be authentic in the subject of geometry. But it should be
remembered that even before the great Greek geologist Euclid, many geometry scientists in India had discovered important laws
of geometry, among those geometry the name of Bodhayana is paramount. Geometry or Geometry in India at that time was called
Shulva Shastra.
The sutras of Baudhayana are in Vedic Sanskrit and are related to religion, daily rituals, mathematics etc. They related to the
Taittiriya branch of the Krishna Yajurveda. These are probably the oldest texts in the Sutra texts. They were probably composed
in the 8th-7th century BC. Most notably, Bodhayana's Shulbasutras contain many results and theorems of early mathematics and
geometry, including an approximate value of the square root of 2, and a statement of the Pythagorean theorem.
LIFE STORY OF BODHAYANA: It is not possible to write a biography of Bodhayana as nothing is known about him except
that he was the author of one of the earliest Sulbasutras. We don't know his dates exactly, even can estimate his life span, which is
why we have given the same estimated birth year as death year. Born in 800 BC, Bodhayana composed more than two hundred
religious texts. He gave many important principles of mathematics. It is told by a verse that in a rectangle the square of the
hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the base and the perpendicular. This verse, described in his work Vriti Granth, is
known as Bodhayana Theorem. The theorem was elaborated by the Greek scholar Pythagoras. Later on its basis Aryabhatta made
discoveries in the field of space science.
The famous grammarian of Sanskrit, Panini, in his treatise Ashtadhyayi, has described Bodhayana as a guru. Bodhayana was
a great scholar of philosophy, religion, mathematics and language. He wrote more than two hundred treatises. Among them,
Vedavruti, Vedanta, Ratna Manjush, Dharmasutra and Grihasutra are prominent.
He certainly must have been a man of much learning, but was probably not interested in mathematics for himself, only
interested in using it for religious purposes. There is no doubt he wrote the Sulbasutra to provide rules for religious rites and it
would seem almost certain that Bodhayana himself would have been a Vedic priest. The mathematics given in the Sulbasutras is
meant to enable the precise construction of the altars required for the sacrifice. It is clear from the writings that Bodhayana must
have been a priest as well as a skilled craftsman. He must have been proficient with life-useful use of mathematics, which he
described as a craftsman who himself constructed sacrificial altars of the highest quality.
WORK OF BODHAYANA:
1.Square root of 2
Bodhayana verse number i.61-2 (explained in Apastamba i.6) describes the method of finding the length of a diagonal given the
lengths of the sides of a square. In other words, it describes the method of finding the square root of 2. The verse related to this
solution is as follows:-

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www.ijcrt.org © 2021 IJCRT | Volume 9, Issue 10 October 2021 | ISSN: 2320-2882
समस्य तिकतणि प्रमाणं िृ िीयेन िर्ि येि।
िच् चिु थेनात्मचिु स्त्रंश नेन सतिशेषः ।।
Meaning: To get the value of the diagonal of a square, by adding one-third to the side, then adding one-fourth of it, then
subtracting thirty-fourth of it, what is obtained is approximately the value of the diagonal.
2. Constructing a circle of area equal to the area of the square
चिु रस्रं मण्डिं तचकीषिन्न् अक्षयार्ं मध्यात्प्राचीमभ्यापाियेि् ।
यदतितशष्यिे िस्य सह िृ िीयेन मण्डिं पररतिखेि् ।। (I-58)[1]
Draw half its diagonal about the center towards the East-West line; then describe a circle together with a third part of that which
lies outside the square. That is, if the side of the square is 2a, then the radius of the circle r = [a+1/3(√2a – a)] = [1+1/3(√2 – 1)] a
3. Constructing a Square of Area Equal to the Area of the Circle
मण्डिं चिु रस्रं तचकीषिस्त्िष्कम्भमष्टौ भागान्कृत्वा भागमे क नतरं शर्ा।
तिभाज्याष्टातिंशतिभागानुद्धरे ि् भागस्य च षष्ठमष्टमभाग नम् ॥ (I-59))[2]
If you wish to turn a circle into a square, divide the diameter into eight parts and one of these parts into twenty-nine parts: of these
twenty-nine parts remove twenty-eight and moreover the sixth part (of the one part left) less the eighth part (of the sixth part).
4. Circling a square
Bodhayana was able to draw a circle roughly equal to the area of a square and vice versa. These processes are described in their
sources (I-58 and I-59). Possibly in his quest to build circular altars, he constructed two circles enclosing the two squares shown
below.

Now, as in the area of squares, he realized that the inner circle should be exactly half of the larger circle in area. He knew that
the area of a circle is proportional to the square of its radius and the above construction proves to be the same. By the same logic,
as the circumference of two squares, the circumference of the outer circle must also be 22 times the circumference of the inner
circle. This proves the known fact that the perimeter of a circle is proportional to its radius. This led to an important perusal made
by Bodhayan. that the areas and perimeters of many regular polygons, including the squares above, can be related to each other as
in the case of circles.
5. Bodhayana theorem
Bodhayana listed the Pythagorean theorem in his book Bodhayana Sulbasutra.
दीर्िचािु रास्रास्याक्ष्नाया रज्ु ः पार्च्र्च्ििमानी तियिङ्मानीच यत्पद्ययग्भूिे कुरुिस्तदु भयं कर ति ||
For example Bodhayana used a rope in the above verse/verse, which can be translated as: The areas produced by the length and
breadth of a rectangle separately are equal to the areas produced by the diagonal together. The described diagonals and sides are
those of a rectangle, and the areas are those of the squares whose sides are those of these line segments. Since the diagonal of a
rectangle is the hypotenuse of a right triangle formed by two adjacent sides, this statement appears to be equivalent to the
Pythagorean theorem.Various arguments and explanations have been given for this.While some have assumed that the sides relate
to the sides of a rectangle, others say that the reference may be to a square.There is no proof to suggest that Baudhayana's formula
is limited to right-angled isosceles triangles so that it can be linked to other geometric figures as well. So it is logical to assume
that the sides he mentioned can be sides of a rectangle. Bodhayana seems to have simplified the learning process by encapsulating
the mathematical result in a simple verse in a layman's language. As we see, it becomes clear that this is probably the most
innovative way to understand and visualize the Pythagorean theorem (and geometry in general).
Comparing his findings with Pythagoras’ theorem:
In mathematics, the Pythagorean theorem is a relation between the three sides of a right-angled triangle. According to this
theorem area of square at hypotenuse is equal to sum of areas of square at other two sides.If c is the length hypotenuse of the
right angled triangle with a and b being the other two then

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www.ijcrt.org © 2021 IJCRT | Volume 9, Issue 10 October 2021 | ISSN: 2320-2882

The question may well be asked why the theorem is attributed to Pythagoras and not Bodhayana. Bodhayana used area
calculations and not geometry to prove his calculations. He came up with geometric proof using isosceles triangles.
6.Value of π
Bodhayana is considered among one of the first to discover the value of ‘pi’. There is a mention of this in his Sulbha sutras.
According to his premise, the approximate value of pi is 3.3.Several values of π occur in Bodhayana's Sulbasutra, since, when
giving different constructions, Bodhayana used different approximations for constructing circular shapes.
Some of the major theorems propounded by Bodhayan are-
1.Diagonals of a rectangle cut each other at their middle point.
2. Diagonals of a rhombus cut each other at ninety degree
3.The area of a square formed by joining the mid-points of the sides of a square is half the area of the original square.
4.A rhombus is formed by joining the mid-points of the sides of a rectangle whose area is half the area of the original rectangle.
It is clear from the above description that Bodhayana had studied the properties and areas of rectangle, square, right angled
triangle, rhombus. The Yaj was probably due to the importance of the 'Yagya Bhumika' being made for the Yagya at that time.
CONCLUSION: Bhodhayana's place in the field of mathematics will remain immortal for ages. Bhodhayana's important
contribution was to take science out of superstitions and give new thinking, new vision. He is the first mathematician in the world
to discover famous theorem which gives the relation between sides of right angle triangle, but the credit is given to Pythagoras,
which is wrong.
.With time people's thinking has changed and here along with the interest of the people of the world has also started to know
and understand Indian culture. Perhaps it is the result of this that the attention of the people towards the great works of ancient
sages and mathematicians. The biggest example of this is the theorem of Pythagoras, which is now known as the Bodhayana-
Pythagoras theorem. The aim of the Indians from the very beginning has been “Vasudhaiva-Kutumbakam”. Everything
discovered by them was dedicated to the welfare of the people. We forgot our great tradition and got lost in the depths of
ignorance. Today there is a need to re-research on the beliefs established by our sages so that their discovery can be planned in the
direction of public welfare.
We have all heard our parents and grandparents talk of the Vedas. Still, there is no denying that modern science and
technology owes its origins to our ancient Indian mathematicians, scholars etc. Many modern discoveries would not have been
possible but for the legacy of our forefathers who made major contributions to the fields of science and technology. Be it fields of
medicine, astronomy, engineering, mathematics, the list of Indian geniuses who laid the foundations of many an invention is
endless

REFERENCES:
1. G G Joseph, The crest of the peacock (London, 1991).
2. R C Gupta, Baudhayana's value of √2, Math. Education 6 (1972), B77-B79.
3. S C Kak, Three old Indian values of π, Indian J. Hist. Sci. 32 (4) (1997), 307-314.
4. G Kumari, Some significant results of algebra of pre-Aryabhata era, Math. Ed. (Siwan) 14 (1) (1980), B5-B13
5. S. Balchandra Rao Indian Mathematics and Astronomy: Some Landmarks. Jnana Deep Publications, Bangalore, 1998.
ISBN 81-900962-0-6
6. Vincent J. Katz. A History of Mathematics: An Introduction, 2nd Edition Addison-Wesley, 1998.ISBN 0-321-01618-1
7. https://www.jagran.com/bihar/sitamarhi-today-the-birthplace-of-mathematician-bodhayan-will-be-developed-as-a-
tourist-center-18810738.html
8. https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Baudhayana

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