ABSTRACT
Let us begin by recalling that an n × n magic square is a square array consisting of n2 numbers whose rows columns and principal diagonals add up to the same number. In this article, we discuss some aspects of the history of magic squares in India and in particular, some of the work of the renowned mathematician Na¯ra¯yan. a Pan.d. ita on magic squares. Na¯ra¯yan. a Pan.d. ita gave a systematic account of magic squares in the fourteenth chapter of his work Gan. itakaumudi¯ (c.1356 CE), entitled Bhadra-gan. ita or “auspicious mathematics” (See (Padma¯kara Dvivedi, 1936; Kusuba, 1993; Singh, 2002)).
