पाटीगणित (श्रीधराचार्य - प्राचीन संस्कृत टीका एवं प्रो. कृपाशंकर शुक्ल सविस्तार व्याख्या)

INTRODUCTION xxix
meaning of the text without going into unnecessary details.
Under each rule the commentator explains and discusses the
rule and throws light on other relevant matter connected
with the text. Under each example he first paraphrases the
example, explaining it where necessary, and then solves it by
closely following the steps of the rule. At some places the
commentator quotes from earlier writers but on no occasion
does he go out of point. The language used in the commen-
tary is mature and the style of expression is generally that
obtaining in philosophical works.
The name of the commentator does not occur anywhere
in the available commentary. There is also no reference to
the place to which he belonged or to the time when the com-
mentary was written. The following facts, however, seem to
indicate that the commentator belonged to some place in the
north-west region of India, probably to Kashmir :
(i) The manuscript of the present commentary is written
in the Kashmîrî Script and was discovered in Kashmi
(ii) The symbols + and the dot, which the commentator
uses for expressing the negative sign and the zero
respectively, are the same as those used in the com-
mentary of the Bakhshâlî text, which was discovered
in the north-west region of India, but different from
those used by the mathematicians belonging to other
regions of India.
(iii) The hemistich तयोर्योगे वियोगः स्याद् वियोगे सति सङ्गमः , which
the commentator cites from some unknown work is
also found to be cited in the commentary of the
Bakhshâlî text.
(iv) The passages cited as quotations by the commenta-
tor are generally not to be found in the writings of
the other mathematicians or astronomers who hail
from the other parts of India.
The commentator is also silent about the sources from
which he has cited passages as quotations in the commentary