Petrocchi Alessandra - The Gaitatilaka and Its Commentary

The Gaitatilaka and its Commentary

The Gaitatilaka and its Commentary: Two Medieval Sanskrit Mathematical Texts presents the first English annotated translation and analysis of the Gaitatilaka by rpati and its Sanskrit commentary by the Jaina monk Sihatilakasri (13th century CE ). Sihatilakasris commentary upon the Gaitatilaka is a key text for the study of Sanskrit mathematical jargon and a precious source of information on mathematical practices of medieval India; this is, in fact, the first known Sanskrit mathematical commentary written by a Jaina monk, about whom we have substantial information, to survive to the present day.

In presenting the first annotated translation of these two Sanskrit mathematical texts, this volume focusses on language in mathematics and puts forward a novel, fresh approach to Sanskrit mathematical literature which favours linguistic, literary features and textual data. This key resource makes these important texts available in English for the first time for students of Sanskrit, ancient and medieval mathematics, South Asian history, and philology.

Alessandra Petrocchi completed a PhD in Sanskrit and Classical Indian Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK, and is currently a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Faculty of Linguistics, Philology and Phonetics at the University of Oxford, UK, undertaking research into the early vernaculars of Italy and the history of numerals in the Renaissance. She has published several papers on Sanskrit sources on mathematics, comparative and historical Indo-European linguistics, and Italian Renaissance literature. Her research interests include textual criticism, manuscript studies, textual traditions and networks of knowledge across the Mediterranean, and the language-culture-literature interface.

Scientific Writings from the Ancient and Medieval World

Series editor: John Steele, Brown University, USA

Scientific texts provide our main source for understanding the history of science in the ancient and medieval world. The aim of this series is to provide clear and accurate English translations of key scientific texts accompanied by up-to-date commentaries dealing with both textual and scientific aspects of the works and accessible contextual introductions setting the works within the broader history of ancient science. In doing so, the series makes these works accessible to scholars and students in a variety of disciplines including history of science, the sciences, and history (including Classics, Assyriology, East Asian Studies, Near Eastern Studies, and Indology).

Texts will be included from all branches of early science including astronomy, mathematics, medicine, biology, and physics, and which are written in a range of languages including Akkadian, Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit.

The Foundations of Celestial Reckoning

Three Ancient Chinese Astronomical Systems

Christopher Cullen

The Babylonian Astronomical Compendium MUL.APIN

Hermann Hunger and John Steele

The Gaitatilaka and its Commentary

Two Medieval Sanskrit Mathematical Texts

Alessandra Petrocchi

www.routledge.com/classicalstudies/series/SWAMW

The Gaitatilaka and its Commentary

Two Medieval Sanskrit Mathematical Texts

Critically Revised with Introduction, Annotated Translation, and Explanatory Analysis

Alessandra Petrocchi

First published 2019

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2019 Alessandra Petrocchi

The right of Alessandra Petrocchi to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Petrocchi, Alessandra, author. | Sripati (Son of Nagadeva)
Title: The Gaitatilaka and its commentary : two Medieval Sanskrit
mathematical texts : critically revised with introduction, annotated
translation, and explanatory analysis / Alessandra Petrocchi.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2019. |
Series: Scientific writings from the ancient and Medieval world |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018042798 (print) | LCCN 2018049458 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781351022262 (ebook) | ISBN 9781351022255 (web pdf) |
ISBN 9781351022248 (epub) | ISBN 9781351022231 (mobi/kindle) |
ISBN 9781138496217 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: MathematicsIndiaHIstory. |
MathematicsIndiaEarly works to 1800. |
MathematicsHistory11th century. |
Mathematics, Medieval. | Hindu mathematics.
Classification: LCC QA27.I4 (ebook) | LCC QA27.I4 P48 2019 (print) |
DDC 510.954dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018042798

ISBN: 978-1-138-49621-7 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-1-351-02226-2 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman

by Newgen Publishing UK

To Irisha

Contents

The Gaitatilaka and Its Commentary: Two Medieval Sanskrit Mathematical Texts presents the first English annotated translation and analysis of the Gaitatilaka by rpati and its Sanskrit commentary by the Jaina monk Sihatilakasri (13th century CE ). The Gaitatilaka is a Sanskrit mathematical text written by rpati, an astronomer-mathematician from 11th-century CE Maharashtra. The Gaitatilaka has come down to us together with Sihatilakasris commentary in an incomplete manuscript. The only edition available of both Sanskrit texts is by Kpad (1937). Sihatilakasris commentary upon the Gaitatilaka is a key text for the study of Sanskrit mathematical jargon and an important source of information on mathematical practices of Medieval India. To my knowledge, this is, in fact, the first known Sanskrit mathematical commentary written by a Jaina monk, about whom we have substantial information, to survive to the present day. Sihatilakasris commentary has never before been studied or translated into English. The Gaitatilaka has been translated by Sinha and published in 1982 as a journal article; this translation is, however, clumsy, not annotated, and there has been a real need to fully revise it.

In presenting the first annotated translation of these two Sanskrit mathematical texts, this volume focusses on language in mathematics and language and mathematics; as a philologist, my work on ancient sources involves, apertis verbis, text-critical analysis and exegetical methods rather than modern mathematical formalisation. This book put forward a novel, fresh approach to Sanskrit mathematical literature which favours linguistic, literary features and textual data.