Scope and development of Hindu Mathematics

The Hindu name for mathematics is Gaṇita , literary meaning of Gaṇita is "the science of calculation". This name is very ancient one and occurs abundantly in Vedic literature. The Vedāṅga Jyotiśa (c 1200 B.C) gives Gaṇita the highest place of honour as mentioned in the below shloka , among the sciences which form the Vedāṅga.

यथा शिखा मयूराणां नागानां मणयो यथा ।

तद्वद् वेदाङ्गशास्त्राणां गणितं मूर्धनि स्थितम् ॥

Meaning : "As the crests on the heads of peacocks, as the gems on the hoods of snakes, so is Gaṇita at the top of the sciences known as Vedāṅga." In ancient Buddhist literature we find mention of three classes of Gaṇita  : (1) mudrā ("finger arithmetic"), (2) gaṇanā ("mental arithmetic") and (3) saṃkhyāna ("higher arithmetic in general"). The word saṃkhyāna has been used for Gaṇita in several old works. At this remote period Gaṇita included astronomy, but geometry (kṣetra-gaṇita) belonged to a different group of sciences known as Kalpasutra.

It is believed that some