ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on what is called ‘Vedic mathematics’ and its relationship to ancient Indian or ‘true’ Vedic mathematics, i.e. the Śulvasūtras or geometrical treatises of the Vedic literature. It refers especially to Vedic Mathematics, a book written by a former Sankaracharya of Puri, the late Jagadguru Swami Shri Bharati Krishna Tirthaji Maharaj. It is supposed to be based on 16 formulas, in Sanskrit called sūtras, which he allegedly reconstructed from the Atharvaveda. In the following, I argue that ‘Vedic Mathematics’ appears to be a ‘scientifistic’ attempt to make calculative tricks a sort of science sanctioned by the Veda. I demonstrate through examples that these aphorisms nothing to do with the Vedas and are very general. In fact, there is no difference between the laws of Mathematics and Vedic Mathematics. Hence, the term ‘Vedic Mathematics’ is inaccurate. I argue that the epithet of ‘Vedic’ is simply added in order to stake claim to a higher truth. I further argue that the Śulvasūtras were a combination of magico-religious and practical requirements. But this did not exclude the possibility of a theoretical interest, as is evidenced by an elementary relationship between proposition and proof.
