Amrita Darshanam – International Centre for Spiritual Studies, Bengaluru, in collaboration with the Department of Mathematics, Amrita School of Engineering, Bengaluru, organized a two-day workshop on ”Glimpses of Indian Mathematics”, aimed at providing a glimpse of the rich mathematical heritage of India, March 3-4, 2018, at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Bengaluru campus. The workshop was headed by Prof. K. Ramasubramanian of IIT Bombay.

The inaugural session started off on 3 March in the morning with traditional shloka chanting by Ananta Sharma. B. G., Assistant Professor, Spiritual Studies, Bengaluru, and a welcome address by Dr. Sarada Jayan, Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, Amrita School of Engineering, Bengaluru. This was followed by the first lecture of the morning session where Prof. Ramasubramanian gave a brief introduction to Jyotishashastra. In the subsequent sessions on that day, he explained the purpose of Ganitashastra and its ubiquity. The significant contributions of Kerala mathematicians: the series expansion of sine function (the so-called Newton’s series), Paridhi (the so-called Gregory-Leibniz series) and the derivative of the sine inverse function, among others, were explained. He also introduced the idea of the Bhutasankhya system and gave various examples from the ancient Indian texts illustrating it.

The second day saw the introduction of Chandasshastra and some famous examples of metrical compositions, thereby presenting various combinatorial techniques very beautifully in the form of poetry. The lecture sessions on the second day were followed by a small valedictory session where Prof. Ramasubramanian was felicitated by Br. Dhanraj, Director, Amrita School of Engineering, Bengaluru, and Br. Prasanth, Assistant Professor, Spiritual Studies, Amritapuri, who was the driving force behind all the activities related to the workshop.

Several faculty members came together to help organize the workshop. Dr. Suhas B. N., Assistant Professor, Mathematics, School of Engineering, Bengaluru; Arjun Bharadwaj, Assistant Professor, Spiritual Studies, Bengaluru; Ananta Sharma. B. G., Dr. Sarada Jayan, Vineetha Jain, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, School of Engineering, Bengaluru; and Dr. Rajath Vasudevamurthy, Assistant Professor, Electronics and Communication, School of Engineering, Bengaluru, formed the core organizing committee.

The workshop concluded on the evening of 4 March with a vote of thanks by Dr. Suhas B. N.