Monies, Measures, and Arithmetic(s): a Brief Glimpse into the Śubhaṅkarī Tradition

The term Śubhańkarī usually denotes a corpus of computational instruction enshrined in verses, most commonly used for mathematical instruction in the pāthśālās—the elementary schools in rural Bengal. The verses, occasionally no more than doggerels, were called ārjyās. On closer examination one finds that the contents of the Śubhańkarī corpus can be divided into three categories—algorithms for practical computation; arithmetical and simple algebraic problems; and playing with and exploring the properties of numbers. The Śubhańkarī tradition was largely oral, with the quantity of written material being relatively small (i.e., manuscripts were relatively few and far between). Further, the units and measures used were traditional. More importantly, the terminology and the system of numerical notation used became almost undecipherable by the late twentieth century. As a result, very few modern scholars have attempted to make sense of this tradition. This article attempts to revisit the Śubhańkarī tradition in a manner that will place it in its social, economic, cultural, and pedagogic context, and, at the same time, try to explain its mathematical features.