It is not an exaggeration to state that the monumental computational achievement of the human race which fuels innovations such as digital networking & 3D reconstruction of MRI images – all can be traced back to a single invention – the invention of zero.
Ancient Indians pioneered the concept of zero and used it to advance applications in fields such as beejganit (algebra), jyamiti (geometry), trikonomiti (trigonometry), yuktibhasha (calculus), goladhyaya (spherical geometry).
While other civilizations like Mayan and Babylonain had the notion of “nothing” in a rudimentary sense, it’s functionality & versatility were nonexistent in comparison to the numerical zero invented by the Indians.
The apparent reality of zero is that it is found nowhere in the physical world. But the Indian mind being integral in nature, probed into the depth of nothingness & found the root of everything in the universe. In Sanskrit, this concept is called “Shunya”
Shunya or zero has been conceptualized in Hinduism as the very essence of undifferentiated consciousness. It is represented with a circular shape, because it holds the complete potential of the static self which can express itself in infinite multiplicities
Rig Veda (Mandala 10, Sukta 121) refers to that zero-state potential as Hiranyagarbha – a golden cosmic womb which holds the potential of the Self itself. हिरण्यगर्भः समवर्तताग्रे भूतस्य जातः पतिरेक आसीत्॥ स दाधार पृथिवीं द्यामुतेमां कस्मै देवाय हविषा विधेम ॥
Rig Veda has references to “Shunam” & “Shune” both implying a state of emptiness: RV 3.33.1 उद व ऊर्मिः शम्या हन्त्वापो योक्त्राणि मुञ्चत मादुष्क्र्तौ वयेनसाघ्न्यौ शूनमारताम RV 1.105.3 मो षु देव अदः सवरव पादि दिवस परि मा सोम्यस्य शम्भुवः शूने भूम कदा चन वित्तम
Hindu epic Ramayana also refers to Zero in the sense of lack, nullity & absence Ramayana 2.52.41 दैन्यम् हि नगरी गच्चेद् दृष्ट्वा शून्यम् इमम् रथम् सूत अवशेषम् स्वम् सैन्यम् हत वीरम् इव आहवे
A Sanskrit Lexicon called Amarakosha by Amarasimha (no later than CE 375) defines shunya or zero as शून्ये तु वाशिकम तुच्छारिक्तके “Shunya is also called vashikam (void or empty), tuccha (negligibly small, trifling), riktaka (emptied or devoid of)”
Shunyata is also an integral concept in Hindu Upanishads where a “neti-neti” approach is used describe the attribute-less nature of Reality. Brihadaranyaka 3.8.8 तेजस्कमप्राणममुखममात्रमनन्तरमबाह्यम्, न तदश्नाति किंचन, न तदश्नाति कश्चन
The Shaiva Agama text “Vigyana Bhairava Tantra” uses the same concept of nothingness (shunyata) to show to achieve that state Vigyan Bhairava Tantra – Verse 32 शिखिपक्षैश् चित्ररूपैर् मण्डलैः शून्यपञ्चकम्। ध्यायतोऽनुत्तरे शून्ये प्रवेशो हृदये भवेत्
Indian mathematician Pingala (no later than 2nd century BCE) in his seminal work Chhanda Sutra refers to zero. In the 8th chapter of Pingala’s Chhanda Sutra, verse 28 (द्विरर्ध्रे), verse 29 (रुपे शून्यम) & verse 30 (द्वि: शून्ये) all use zero
Pingala used zero to find the number of arrangements of syllables in a meter containing n syllables. The above verses show that practical usage of zero in solving complex combinatorial problems was in practice in India well before even Pingala’s time.
Brahmagupta (born no later than 598 CE) a Hindu polymath (mathematician, astronomer & philosopher) who wrote the text Brahmasphuṭasiddhānta – the first book that provides rules for arithmetic manipulations which apply to zero, positive & negative numbers.
Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta 18.30 धनायोस धनं ऋणम ऋणायोस धन ऋणायोस अन्तरम सम ऐक्य खम “Sum of two positive numbers is positive, sum of two negatives is negative, sum of one positive and one negative is the difference, and sum of two equals (opposite signs) is zero”
First known writing to include the numerical zero is found in Bakhshali Manuscript from India which consists of 70 leaves of birch bark. At Bodleian Library, UK a radiocarbon dating revealed one of the samples to be in the range of 224–383 CE.
One of the earliest inscriptions of zero on a structure is found in the Hindu Temple Chaturbhuj in the Gwalior Fort, in Madhya Pradesh, India. It was constructed no later than 875 AD by King Alla, the son of Vaillabhatta of the Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty.
In an ancient temple at Sambor on Mekong in Cambodia established by the Hindu king Ishanavarman I, had an inscription (referred to as K-127) with reference to zero from the 605 of the çaka era (683 CE).
Indian mathematical treatises began to be spread via trade and migration across the pre-Islamic empires of West Asia, particularly the Sasanian Empire.
In 662 AD, a Syria bishop named Severus Sebokht wrote about “science of the Indians,” & “their subtle discoveries in astronomy, that are more ingenious than those of the Greeks & the Babylonians, & their valuable methods of calculation which surpass description.
Hindu numerals became known to the Arabs during the earlier period of the Abbasid dynasty (750 – 1258 AD). Historian P.K. Hitti writes “While the Arabs, we have learned, did not invent cipher (zero), they nevertheless introduced it to Europe.”
Persian mathematician Al-Khwarizmi (800–850 CE) wrote a text called al-Jam wal-tafriq bi hisal-al-Hind (“Addition and Subtraction in Hindu Arithmetic”), which was translated into Latin in the 13th century as Algorithmi de numero indorum.
Around 1200 A.D Italian mathematician Fibonacci returned from Algeria to Italy where he was introduced by a Moorish teacher to the world of Hindu numerals. In his book the Liber Abaci, Fibonacci formally introduced the Hindu numeral system to the West.
In Europe, many considered concept of zero as a satanic teaching because “nothing” was viewed as equivalent to being empty of God. In 1299, Florence banned the usage of Hindu numerals & limited the merchants to only the usage of very inefficient Roman numerals.
Perhaps the most profound impact of the Indian invention of the numerical zero is the democratization of mathematics. The Hindu numeral system (catalyzed by zero) enabled complex computation that exponentially drove the growth & advancement of the human race.
(This article has been compiled from the tweet thread posted by @DisinfoLab on August 29, 2021, with minor edits to improve readability and conform to HinduPost style guide)
