‘VYVAHARA GANITA’ – RAJADITYA

1. Name of the Work:: ‘Vyavahara Ganita’ (vyavahAra gaNita) (ವ್ಯವಹಾರ ಗಣಿತ)
2. Name of the author: Rajaditya (rAjAditya) (ರಾಜಾದಿತ್ಯ)
3. Time: 12^th and 13^th century (Approximately)
4. Subject Matter: Business Mathematics
5. Introduction: Rajaditya the author of Vyavahara Ganita is one of the early mathematicians of Karnataka. ‘pUvinbAge’ a town in konDi manDala was his native place. He was called alternatively as Rajavarma and Bachiraja and he had titles such as ‘gaNita virinchi’ and ‘gaNita viLAsa’. He was a courtier in the royal court of BallALa-2(1173-1220) of the Hoysala dynasty. Other than ‘Vyvahara Ganita’, he has composed treatises on mathematics such as ‘KshEtra gaNita’, ‘lIlAvati’, ‘vyavahAra ratna’, ‘citra hasuge’ and ‘jainagaNitasutra TIkOdAharaNa’. None of the above works are printed with exception of ‘Vyavahara Ganita’. Unfortunately other manuscripts are corrupt and incomplete.

‘Vyavahara Ganita’ is written in a combination of prose and poetry. The definitions and theorems are given in poetry and the commentaries and illustrations are presented in prose. It contains eight chapters called ‘adhikAra’s. The chapters deal with technical matters such as ‘sahaja trayarAshi’, ‘vyasta traya rAshi’, ‘sahaja pancha rAshi’, ‘vyasta pancha rAshi’, ‘sahaja sapta rAshi’, ‘vyasta saptha rAshi’, ‘sahaja navarAshi’, vyastha nava rAshi’, ‘padapina sUtra’, ‘baNNAntarada sUtra’, ‘hodeyambina sUtra’, ‘vidhure’, ‘tUbina sUtra’, ‘harivariya sUtra’, ‘Chakra baDDi’ etc. Technical matters are presented in this work in a transparent and attarctive manner. The author has shown great skill in reducing mathematical notions in to easy prose. Apparently ‘Vyavahara Ganita’ was a popular text amomg students and scholars. It has drawn some material from the works of Bhaskaracharya.

1. Publication History: 1956, Ed. by M. Mariyappa Bhatta, Madras University, Madras.
2. Further Readings and Links:
3. Translations:

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