Fundamentals of arithmetic according to Śarikara Vāriyar (Kerala, 1500--1560) (Q2928874)

Sankara Variyar was an Indian mathematician and belonged to the southern state of Kerala. He was a direct disciple of Nilakantha Somayaji. Sankara Variyar composed a commentary on Tantrasamgraha entitled as `Yuktidipika' (`The lamp of rationale'). Yukti means logic in Sanskrit. It refers to a logically organised body of ideas providing a basis or general frame for particular operations. At every opportunity, Sankara introduces long and detailed expositions of fundamentals, concepts, characterizations, principles useful for a lucid handling of computation. `Yuktidipika' is entirely composed in verses. `Yuktidipika' gives the concept of numbers and describes the procedures of various arithmetical operations that can be performed on numbers. The present paper focuses on `Yuktidipika' and shows an original quest of the rationale of arithmetic, taking as instances the concept of natural numbers and elementary operations as they have been expounded by Sankara Variyar.