To expand search, see India. Laterally related topics: The Hindu-Arabic Numerals, Bhaskara, Mahaviracarya, Varahamihira, Brahmagupta, Pingala, Halayudha, The Tamil of South India, and The Sulvasutras.
The Mathematics and the Liberal Arts pages are intended to be a resource for student research projects and for teachers interested in using the history of mathematics in their courses. Many pages focus on ethnomathematics and in the connections between mathematics and other disciplines. The notes in these pages are intended as much to evoke ideas as to indicate what the books and articles are about. They are not intended as reviews. However, some items have been reviewed in Mathematical Reviews, published by The American Mathematical Society. When the mathematical review (MR) number and reviewer are known to the author of these pages, they are given as part of the bibliographic citation. Subscribing institutions can access the more recent MR reviews online through MathSciNet.
Deshpande, M. N. Archaeological sources for the reconstruction of the history of sciences of India. Indian J. History Sci. 6 (1971), 1--22. (Reviewer: A. I. Volodarskii.) SC: 01A25 (01A10), MR: 58 #15813.
A broad review of the archaeology of ancient India, focusing on the sciences. Perhaps a third of the article is devoted to a discussion of the Harappan civilization, and particularly Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro. Little is directly known about Harappan mathematics, but there are strong suggestions that there would have been some significant knowledge of surveying and possibly astronomy. The author also discusses the Harappan system of weights and measures. A good area for future research, particularly if some progress is made in reading the Harappan script. Closely related topics: Surveying, Astronomy, The Balance and the Measurement of Weight, The Measurement of Distance, and Archaeology.