For a long time, the debate about the origin and discovery of zero and the numerals has been a matter of great interest to the historians of science as well as humanities.
Rightly so, as the discovery of zero and its incorporation in the numerals has revolutionized our capabilities of not just counting, but also computing and comprehending in great details complex and large systems and phenomena using large data ensemble and tools of binary coding.
Today, when we are deep into a world of Digital Transformation, the importance of One, Ekam and Zero, thePurna has suddenly become so indispensable that the entire construct of our imagination and comprehension of large size data and its analysis using most advanced computing is empowering the humanity with capabilities and competence beyond imaginations of a human mind. The age of big data and artificial intelligence has truly arrived. Our creative endeavors and critical thinking abilities are being driven today by artificial intelligence applications and augmented realityboth of which acknowledge no bounds. Great excitement is already prevailing in the world aroundin fact, in all spheres of human endeavors.
Thanks to those who thought of numerals one to nine, and zero, that laid the rock-solid foundation for the march of humanity on pathways of great scientific explorations and technology innovations from time immemorial. This march has, however, become far more rapid and with a greater clarity of goals, redefining often the meaning and purpose of development, even the purpose of life and that of the vast and magnificent creation, of which we are a part.
Many around the world however,may not know that the numerals 1 to 9 as well as 0 are the foundation of India’s Sanatan Vedic dharma founded on the principles of ‘oneness of diversity’ and the ‘diversity of oneness’. It is here we begin to get to the mindset of the great scientists of the Vedic times, usually referred to as Vedic Rishis who proclaimed as early as the Rig Veda that ‘ekam sat viprabahudavadanthi’, (Rigveda 1:164.46), meaning there by that the truth is one but is propounded in different ways by learned quarters. At same time, the Vedic Scientists also proclaimed as early as the Isha-Upanishad dedicated to the Rig Veda;
‘Om purnamadapuanamidam, purnaathpurnamudachyathey;
Purnasyapurnamaadhayapurnamevavasidhyathey’, – IshaUpanishad 1.0
The above proclamation of the Vedic Rishis clearly ordains, that all that we have around us, here and even beyond in the cosmos is the manifestation of Purna, the Whole and the eternal. It functions within the broad consciousness of being purna, to manifest its innate potential and having lived its finite life ultimately goes back to purna, the whole from where it originated. For the Vedic Rishis the numerals one to nine and Zero, were a means to connect seamlessly with thispurna, the eternal and the whole and to comprehend this vast creation is all about.
We find in the Yajur Veda, in the Rudra, Akamchame, Triyamchame, Panchamchame, Saptamchame, Navamchame, Ekadaschame, Thriyodaschame …, as also Chatushchame, Sashtamchame, Ashtamchame, Dasamchame, Dwadashchame….., (Krishna Yajurveda’s Taittiriya Samhita, TS 4.5, 4.7)
The discovery of Zero by the Vedic Rishis as early as the Vedic times some 10000 years ago, enabled the humankind to have the decimal system of counting and the binary system of One and Zero, the Ekam and the Purna to comprehend this complex world of being and the multitude of its creation, the manifestation of Purna.
The basic issue of referring Zero as Sunya, is primarily a misunderstanding of the context as well as the power of zero by the Arabs who received the numerals including zero from Indians and handed over to the Europeans by distorting Zero as Cipher, the Sunya. The primary misinterpretation of zero as sunyathus originated from this misconception of zero as ‘cipher’ and not as Purna, the whole as it originally was in India from the Vedic times.
Robert Kaplan in his famous book “The Nothing that is: A Natural History of Zero” published by Oxford University Press in 1999 is on record to state that “If you look at Zero you see nothing; but look through it and you will see the world”. Here also the zero is not sunya but in fact, the whole world, if you see through it as Robert Kaplan mentioned in his opening remarks on Zero.
We need to thus correct this misconception to give India’s Santan Vedic Heritage, its due for discovering both the numerals one to nine, as well as the Zero that to the Sanatan Vedic Scientists, the Vedic Rishis were the numerals to comprehend and decipher the vast diversity of creation and the underlying oneness of its creation through its emphasis on Zero as Purna and not as Sunya, the Cipher as has been grossly misrepresented by the Arabs of the medieval times and later literally adopted by the Europeans !
In the new digital age in which we are today, thebinary, one and zero have a much bigger significance, both for AI as well as for the augmented reality. As we move forward into a world of AI empowered humanity, the pride position of Zero as Purna be reinstated and its importance as a game changer in science of numbers and the science of mathematics be reestablished. Let the global scientific community recognize that mathematics is the “Mother of all Sciences” and the numerals one to nine and zero, the whole are the instruments to comprehend and describe the magnificent world with clarity and objectivity. The time to restore the pride position of Zero as Purna, the whole has come now that the power of Zero and the importance of the binary is of great value to the humanity at large as well as for the Interface of human mind with the smart and intelligent machines of tomorrow.
*The Author Prof PB Sharma is the founder Vice Chancellor of DTU and past President of AIU, and currently is the Vice Chancellor of Amity University Gurugram
