Overview

This book studies the regional tradition of mathematics in the Tamil-speaking areas of Southern India. It questions the established nature of Indian history of mathematics, which is based only on the Bhatta-Bhaskara tradition. Instead, it brings in practitioners like village accountants and school teachers as primary agents in the practice of mathematics. The author studies these hitherto unexplored historical sources and presents them in a new light. He talks about mathematics at the workplace, at the school, and at the village square in precolonial Tamil society. Finally, the author studies what happened to these practices when encountered by the colonial revenue administration and brings out a social history of mathematics in India.

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9788194831600

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Reviews

Mathematics and Society is a truly impressive piece ofscholarship-an important corrective to the groundless intellectual history of mathematics in South Asia that Sanskrit textualists have been peddling for generations. For the historian and those familiar with the historiography of colonialism and knowledge production, Senthil Babu's book presents a distinct and refreshingalternative to what the author rightly calls ""feel-good"" histories of science and globalization that have embraced ideas of localization, circulation, and ""interconnectedness"" in recent times. * Daud Ali, Isis: A Journal of the History of Science Societ *

Author Information

Senthil Babu D. is a historian in the Department of Social Sciences, French Institute of Pondicherry, India. Having completed his PhD from the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, he is currently involved in shaping a research programme in the regional and vernacular mathematical traditions in India. His other interests include the historical study of the changing relationship between nature, knowledge, and labour in Indian history. He is also a member of the Politically Mathematics Collective, India.

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