गणितसारसंग्रह (महावीराचार्य - प्रो. लक्ष्मीचन्द्र जैन सविस्तार हिन्दी अनुवाद सटीक)

६६ गणितसारसंग्रह
It is a fortunate circumstance about the Gaṇita-sāra-saṅgraha
that the time when its author Mahāvīrācārya lived may be made
out with fair accuracy. In the very first chapter of the work, we have,
immediately after the two introductory stanzas of salutation to
Jina Mahāvīra, six stanzas describing the greatness of a king, whose
name is said to have been Cakrikā-bhañjana, and who appears to have
been commonly known by the title of Amōghavarṣa Nṛpatuṅga; and
in the last of these six stanzas there is a benediction wishing progre-
ssive prosperity to the rule of this king. The results of modern
Indian epigraphical research show that this king Amōghavarṣa
Nṛpatuṅga reigned from A. D. 814 or 815 to A. D. 877 or 878.* Since
it appears probable that the author of the Gaṇita-sāra-saṅgraha
was in some way attached to the court of this Rāṣṭrakūṭa king
Amōghavarṣa Nṛpatuṅga, we may consider the work to belong to
the middle of the ninth century of the Christian era. It is now gene-
rally accepted that, among well-known early Indian mathematicians
Āryabhaṭa lived in the fifth, Varāhamihira in the sixth, Brahma-
gupta in the seventh and Bhāskarācārya in the twelfth century of
the Christian era; and chronologically, therefore, Mahāvīrācārya
comes between Brahmagupta and Bhāskarācārya. This in itself is a
point of historical noteworthiness; and the further fact that the
author of the Gaṇita-sāra-saṅgraha belonged to the Kanarese speak-
ing portion of South India in his days and was a Jaina in religion
is calculated to give an additional importance to the historical value
of his work. Like the other mathematicians mentioned above,
Mahāvīrācārya was not primarily an astronomer, although he knew
well and has himself remarked about the usefulness of mathematics
for the study of astronomy. The study of mathematics seems to have
been popular among Jaina scholars; it forms, in fact, one of their
four Anuyōgas or auxiliary sciences indirectly serviceable for the
attainment of the salvation of soul-liberation known as mōkṣa.
A comparison of the Gaṇita-sāra-saṅgraha with the correspon-
ding portions in the Brahmasphuṭa-siddhānta of Brahmagupta is

• Vide Nilgund Inscription of the time of Amoghavarṣa I, A. D. 866; edited
  by J. F. Fleet, PH. D., C. I. E., in Epigraphia Indica, Vol. VI, pp. 98--108.