Shulba Sutras - Purpose and Origins

Purpose and Origins

The Shulba Sutras are part of the larger corpus of texts called the Shrauta Sutras, considered to be appendices to the Vedas. They are the only sources of knowledge of Indian mathematics from the Vedic period. Unique fire-altar shapes were associated with unique gifts from the Gods. For instance, "he who desires heaven is to construct a fire-altar in the form of a falcon"; "a fire-altar in the form of a tortoise is to be constructed by one desiring to win the world of Brahman" and "those who wish to destroy existing and future enemies should construct a fire-altar in the form of a rhombus".

The four major Shulba Sutras, which are mathematically the most significant, are those composed by Baudhayana, Manava, Apastamba and Katyayana, about whom very little is known. The texts are dated by comparing their grammar and vocabulary with the grammar and vocabulary of other Vedic texts. The texts have been dated from around 800 BCE to 200 CE, with the oldest being the sutra that was attributed to Baudhayana around 800 BCE to 600 BCE.

There are competing theories about the origin of the geometry that is found in the Shulba sutras, and of geometry in general. According to the theory of the ritual origins of geometry, different shapes symbolized different religious ideas, and the need to manipulate these shapes lead to the creation of the pertinent mathematics. Another theory is that the mystical properties of numbers and geometry were considered spiritually powerful and consequently, led to their incorporation into religious texts.