INDIA: A PLACE WHERE ZERO ('शुन्य') IS INVENTED

In India people are diverse in their culture, language, nature etc. This is because of the various reasons. If we start to find the roots of it we have to go way beyond the time to see where people were actually used to stay and have developed their culture near river banks. The development of any civilization is closely associated to their development in social and cultural aspects. But what if this whole world has a starting point? Or it might have a time where nothing was there. Any culture in the world has been developed due to the people from their community who have taken thinking to the altogether different platform. Physics Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology, and Arts in every field humans have developed themselves and not only survived but also evolved new things. But from where it started, it might have a starting point. At point where it was nothing there, an empty minds, vacuum of thoughts. Then something happened and humans learned counting and things became countable, humans improvised themselves and introduced new fields of knowledge and arts. They called it mathematics. Later, he had developed other branches of it like Physics, Chemistry, and Biology etc. Means all roots come to the history of Mathematics, which can be solved without ‘Zero’.‘Zero’ also known as ‘शुन्य’(Shoonya) in Sanskrit, was invented in India by Indian mathematician ‘Pingala’. The evidences take us to the 2nd or 3rd century BC.

This is one side of the coin that most of us know. But other side of it is yet to be known. When we think that this digit zero which is one of the central part of entire mathematics, is not just a digit and it’s a philosophy. If we see its properties it has surprising qualities in terms of mathematics. If we put it before any digit it has its original value and if we put it after a digit it has its maximum value. If we keep this thought aside and move into the computer science binary numbers are hearts of the system. So right from the number systems to the current technology everywhere we use the invention that has contributed to the development of the human race.

The dot (at right) is now recognized as the oldest known version of our zero.

The concept of zero is evolved in India by the great mathematician Aryabhatta who have also given number system to the whole world. Here it got it’s rules here by another mastermind in India named Bramhagupta who also wrote the behavior of this zero and helped us by creating the rules to use it. This rishi has symbolized the concept of ‘Shoonya’. This era was the time when in India education system was based on the Vedas and the mantras which were taught to students by their gurus. The entire mathematics was not symbolic but it was through mantras and descriptions. This has given wings to the world for the development of the physics, chemistry, mathematics, and finally the technology flew off.

Till this it’s fine. Now question arises why it has been invented? Do really these people know that there was a real need of such concept to discover something? The concept of this ‘Shoonya’ has also been associated with the terms of the astronomy, like space, or vacuum. It also represents the state of an empty mind psychologically. If we think about the time before the invention of the zero. There were lot of questions which were unanswered by the nature. Humans were still searching the answers to such questions. If we consider that the people from that era know the skill of counting, for which world thinks that it was given by Babylonians, then the questions can be how to count a thing which is not there? This might be the big question. Scientifically humans were not so developed at that time. Then why Indians have thought of developing such concept? And moreover to use such concept to solve such questions which were unanswered. This may give rise to the one more thought that do Indians know about counting before the rest of the world knows it? There are lots of such doubts; questions may create huge chaos in our minds. If we keep thinking in this manner sometimes we try to create our own answers. But let this quest will be continued for the next stage of time travel.