Introduction

The circular symbol for the numeral zero used (686 CE) for the first time in an inscription in the Indonesian Archipelago (a part of Greater India where Indian culture and Buddhism formed the most prominent tradition) first found its way to mainland India, thence to Arab. Leonardo Fibonacci (1201 CE) of Italy learned the nine numerals, the art of writing numbers following the place value notation, and the circular zero from Arab merchants and introduced these in his motherland. By the fifteenth century, the round shape of zero changed with one vertically elongated to assume the form of a goose egg, and the style received global circulation by the nineteenth century. As regards the origin of the round symbol of zero, Needham, Pingree, and Wang advanced their conjectures that questioned its Indian origination and diverged much from history (and also the observation of some veteran Western scholars). They did not take into account that the metaphysical source of the symbol was inherent in the monotheistic ideal of the Vedic Age in India, which in the long run, transgressed in the field of mathematics. They also missed the point that the Absolute (later termed Brahman), the imperishable (akșara meaning a letter) appears to be in accord with the later practice of denoting zero elements by letters in abstract algebra.