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“Hindu” is even somewhat misleading, as plenty of early Indian mathematicians were Jain or Buddhist. Likewise “Arabic” is misleading, considering Islamic mathem

“Hindu” is even somewhat misleading, as plenty of early Indian mathematicians were Jain or Buddhist. Likewise “Arabic” is misleading, considering Islamic mathematicians working with such numerals were from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds, such as Al-Khwarizmi who was Persian. Anyway, if you’re interested in Indian mathematics, check out this lecture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HmMzhZ8zJg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HmMzhZ8zJg (Sadly I don’t know of any other good online lectures about the subject.)

nileshtrivedi 10y ago
"Hindu" refers to people living across the Sindhu (Indus) river. It's a geographic label, not religious one, given by the Persians.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- devnonymous 10y ago
  This needs to be emphasised more. In India, the right wing Hindu brigade try very hard to appropriate ancient Indian history as that of the Hindu religion (while also conveniently even denying that it is indeed a religion). Most modern day Indians do not take the trouble to learn about India (the notion of which was created by the British). If they did they'd realise that speaking about ancient Hindu culture as something that they can associate with is as silly as the British claiming they invented Democracy just because they were part on the roman empire at some point (as also was Greece who actually could make that claim)
  - shripadk 10y ago
    > This needs to be emphasised more This is a well known fact for many in India. > In India, the right wing Hindu brigade try very hard to appropriate ancient Indian history as that of the Hindu religion (while also conveniently even denying that it is indeed a religion). This is where you are wrong. There is no "ancient Indian history". "India" was formed in 1947 and if at all there is any history for India it is the past 70 years. We were called Hindustan before 1947. The word Hindustan was not based on the religion that we know today as "Hinduism". The religion was called Sanathan Dharma. The word Hindu however, as was rightly said in the grandparent comment, a name given by the Persian invaders. What the right wingers do propagate is "Hindutvawadi" or that we are all Hindus -> Hindu-Christians, Hindu-Muslims, Hindu-Sikhs, Hindu-Buddhists, Hindu-Jains, Hindu-Sanatanis etc. Hindu being the geographical name of the Country we reside in and Sanathan Dharma/Islam/Christianity/Jainism/Buddhism etc being the actual religion. Does this make sense? Mahatma Gandhi said the following: "I call myself a Sanatani Hindu, because I believe in the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas, and all that goes by the name of Hindu scripture, and therefore in avataras and rebirth; I believe in the varnashrama dharma in a sense, in my opinion strictly Vedic but not in its presently popular and distorted crude sense; I believe in the protection of cow. I do not disbelieve in murti puja.". Was Mahatma Gandhi a right winger to call himself a "Sanatani Hindu"? Why call himself a "Sanatani Hindu" if Sanatan and Hindu both mean the same? It is very evident that the word Hindu in pre-independence India mean't geographical boundary and the word Hindu post-independence India means religion. > Most modern day Indians do not take the trouble to learn about India (the notion of which was created by the British). If they did they'd realise that speaking about ancient Hindu culture as something that they can associate with is as silly as the British claiming they invented Democracy just because they were part on the roman empire at some point (as also was Greece who actually could make that claim) The problem is that no one claims to be "associating" with ancient Hindu culture because the context of the word "Hindu" changed drastically over the past century. What was once a geographical association pre-Independence has now turned into a religious association. It's extremely sad that it has been distorted in this manner all in the name of Secularism.
- panglott 10y ago
  It's essentially cognate with "Indian" or "Indo-". But "Hindu" has religious connotations in English that "Indo-" does not.
  - shripadk 10y ago
    Indo, Hindu, Sindhu all point to geography and not religion. Hindu only has religious connotations in English because the West chose to recognize the word as a religion. The actual name of the religion is "Sanathan Dharma". I'm sure it was easier to say Hindu than say "Sanathan Dharma".
    - panglott 10y ago
      There is no Wikipedia page for "Sanathan Dharma". The closest I can get is Sanātanī, but it appears this term does not cover significant elements of Hinduism. Wikipedia says that this term was popularized in 1921, but etymonline says "Hinduism" has been present in English since 1786. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San%C4%81tan%C4%AB https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San%C4%81tan%C4%AB Hinduism is ancient, but a living, evolving, and extremely diverse religion. To an outsider, it looks more like a cluster of religions than a unified religion. So it's hard to name appropriately. "Vedic religion" is mostly used for historical traditions more than living ones.
shripadk 10y ago
It is not misleading. Most Mathematical concepts originated from Hindu Mathematicians. For example, the definition of "Infinity" from the Isha Upanishad (Written in 1st millenium BC. You can find the pronunciation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pn5oo24THM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pn5oo24THM. This was written way before Buddhism or Jainism were founded): ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदम् पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते | पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते || ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः || It's literal transliteration: "Om, That is complete, This is complete, From the completeness comes the completeness If completeness is taken away from completeness, Only completeness remains Om, Peace peace peace" Jainism or Buddhism were later offshoots of Hinduism (almost centuries after Brahmi numerals were invented). They adopted a lot of Hindu scriptures and practices while rejecting the authority of the Vedas at the same time. Their founders were themselves Hindus. For example: Do you know that Yoga is inadvertently associated with Buddhism even though the origins, scriptures and teachings are from Hinduism? I would have linked various lectures that talk about Hindu mathematicians but unfortunately they are in Hindi. But there is one video by Dr. Dean Brown on Sanskrit, the Upanishads etc which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxzXxQrX2Mc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxzXxQrX2Mc Another video relevant to this discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxgK0dX872k&list=PL6m6y6YFPjxfdqcK1HnXmekRJaXNFW9lo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxgK0dX872k&list=PL6m6y6YFPj...
- libeclipse 10y ago
  Define "most". Edit: I don't mean to take away from your point that Hindu mathematicians contrubuted a significant amount, but I think the word most here is misleading.
  - shripadk 10y ago
    I have explained it here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13642268 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13642268
- jacobolus 10y ago
  With all due respect to the many wonderful Indian mathematicians throughout history, this.. > Most Mathematical concepts originated from Hindu Mathematicians .. is nonsense. For instance, many core tools of mathematics, measuring systems, astronomy, etc. were developed by Sumerians and Akkadians living in Mesopotamia in 4000–1000 BCE. If you’re curious about it, I recommend this recent book, http://amzn.com/069109182X http://amzn.com/069109182X Other important advances have been made by Chinese, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Turks, Italians, English, French, Russians, Germans, Hungarians, Americans, ...
tn13 10y ago
Aryabhatta to Bramhagupta were all pretty much Hindus. Jain or Buddhists might be distinct religions in modern political parlance but were generally considered from the same family of Hinduism.

nileshtrivedi 10y ago

"Hindu" refers to people living across the Sindhu (Indus) river. It's a geographic label, not religious one, given by the Persians.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
devnonymous 10y ago
This needs to be emphasised more. In India, the right wing Hindu brigade try very hard to appropriate ancient Indian history as that of the Hindu religion (while also conveniently even denying that it is indeed a religion). Most modern day Indians do not take the trouble to learn about India (the notion of which was created by the British). If they did they'd realise that speaking about ancient Hindu culture as something that they can associate with is as silly as the British claiming they invented Democracy just because they were part on the roman empire at some point (as also was Greece who actually could make that claim)
- shripadk 10y ago
  > This needs to be emphasised more This is a well known fact for many in India. > In India, the right wing Hindu brigade try very hard to appropriate ancient Indian history as that of the Hindu religion (while also conveniently even denying that it is indeed a religion). This is where you are wrong. There is no "ancient Indian history". "India" was formed in 1947 and if at all there is any history for India it is the past 70 years. We were called Hindustan before 1947. The word Hindustan was not based on the religion that we know today as "Hinduism". The religion was called Sanathan Dharma. The word Hindu however, as was rightly said in the grandparent comment, a name given by the Persian invaders. What the right wingers do propagate is "Hindutvawadi" or that we are all Hindus -> Hindu-Christians, Hindu-Muslims, Hindu-Sikhs, Hindu-Buddhists, Hindu-Jains, Hindu-Sanatanis etc. Hindu being the geographical name of the Country we reside in and Sanathan Dharma/Islam/Christianity/Jainism/Buddhism etc being the actual religion. Does this make sense? Mahatma Gandhi said the following: "I call myself a Sanatani Hindu, because I believe in the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Puranas, and all that goes by the name of Hindu scripture, and therefore in avataras and rebirth; I believe in the varnashrama dharma in a sense, in my opinion strictly Vedic but not in its presently popular and distorted crude sense; I believe in the protection of cow. I do not disbelieve in murti puja.". Was Mahatma Gandhi a right winger to call himself a "Sanatani Hindu"? Why call himself a "Sanatani Hindu" if Sanatan and Hindu both mean the same? It is very evident that the word Hindu in pre-independence India mean't geographical boundary and the word Hindu post-independence India means religion. > Most modern day Indians do not take the trouble to learn about India (the notion of which was created by the British). If they did they'd realise that speaking about ancient Hindu culture as something that they can associate with is as silly as the British claiming they invented Democracy just because they were part on the roman empire at some point (as also was Greece who actually could make that claim) The problem is that no one claims to be "associating" with ancient Hindu culture because the context of the word "Hindu" changed drastically over the past century. What was once a geographical association pre-Independence has now turned into a religious association. It's extremely sad that it has been distorted in this manner all in the name of Secularism.
panglott 10y ago
It's essentially cognate with "Indian" or "Indo-". But "Hindu" has religious connotations in English that "Indo-" does not.
- shripadk 10y ago
  Indo, Hindu, Sindhu all point to geography and not religion. Hindu only has religious connotations in English because the West chose to recognize the word as a religion. The actual name of the religion is "Sanathan Dharma". I'm sure it was easier to say Hindu than say "Sanathan Dharma".
  - panglott 10y ago
    There is no Wikipedia page for "Sanathan Dharma". The closest I can get is Sanātanī, but it appears this term does not cover significant elements of Hinduism. Wikipedia says that this term was popularized in 1921, but etymonline says "Hinduism" has been present in English since 1786. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San%C4%81tan%C4%AB https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San%C4%81tan%C4%AB Hinduism is ancient, but a living, evolving, and extremely diverse religion. To an outsider, it looks more like a cluster of religions than a unified religion. So it's hard to name appropriately. "Vedic religion" is mostly used for historical traditions more than living ones.

shripadk 10y ago

It is not misleading. Most Mathematical concepts originated from Hindu Mathematicians. For example, the definition of "Infinity" from the Isha Upanishad (Written in 1st millenium BC. You can find the pronunciation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pn5oo24THM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Pn5oo24THM. This was written way before Buddhism or Jainism were founded): ॐ पूर्णमदः पूर्णमिदम् पूर्णात् पूर्णमुदच्यते | पूर्णस्य पूर्णमादाय पूर्णमेवावशिष्यते || ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः || It's literal transliteration: "Om, That is complete, This is complete, From the completeness comes the completeness If completeness is taken away from completeness, Only completeness remains Om, Peace peace peace" Jainism or Buddhism were later offshoots of Hinduism (almost centuries after Brahmi numerals were invented). They adopted a lot of Hindu scriptures and practices while rejecting the authority of the Vedas at the same time. Their founders were themselves Hindus. For example: Do you know that Yoga is inadvertently associated with Buddhism even though the origins, scriptures and teachings are from Hinduism? I would have linked various lectures that talk about Hindu mathematicians but unfortunately they are in Hindi. But there is one video by Dr. Dean Brown on Sanskrit, the Upanishads etc which you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxzXxQrX2Mc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxzXxQrX2Mc Another video relevant to this discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxgK0dX872k&list=PL6m6y6YFPjxfdqcK1HnXmekRJaXNFW9lo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxgK0dX872k&list=PL6m6y6YFPj...

libeclipse 10y ago
Define "most". Edit: I don't mean to take away from your point that Hindu mathematicians contrubuted a significant amount, but I think the word most here is misleading.
- shripadk 10y ago
  I have explained it here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13642268 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13642268
jacobolus 10y ago
With all due respect to the many wonderful Indian mathematicians throughout history, this.. > Most Mathematical concepts originated from Hindu Mathematicians .. is nonsense. For instance, many core tools of mathematics, measuring systems, astronomy, etc. were developed by Sumerians and Akkadians living in Mesopotamia in 4000–1000 BCE. If you’re curious about it, I recommend this recent book, http://amzn.com/069109182X http://amzn.com/069109182X Other important advances have been made by Chinese, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Turks, Italians, English, French, Russians, Germans, Hungarians, Americans, ...

tn13 10y ago

Aryabhatta to Bramhagupta were all pretty much Hindus. Jain or Buddhists might be distinct religions in modern political parlance but were generally considered from the same family of Hinduism.