PDA

View Full Version : devanāgarī numerals



yajvan
23 March 2011, 07:40 PM
 
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté


Devanāgarī numerals

Here is the 'basic list' of numbers - please add examples ( and decode the number ) if you wish. I will add one or two at the bottom of the post as examples. I find it interestng that some of the shape almost match their English equivlants e.g. - 2,3. Yet a '5' resembles a 6 (५),etc.

० १ २ ३ ४ ५ ६ ७ ८ ९
0 _1_ 2_ 3 _4 _5 _6_ 7__8 _9

Their names:
éka- 1
dva- 2
tri- 3
catúr-4
páñcan- 5
ṣáṣ- 6
saptán- 7
aṣṭá - 8
návan - 9
dáśan - 10


With zero , this is called bindu or mark like a dot , defined (also) as zero. Some call it śūnya (empty , void ).

If I wrote 123 ( one-hundred-twenty-three) it would simply be १२३.
I wish to say a 1/9th part : navāṃśa = navan or 9 + aṃśa partition or division. Aṃśa also means denominator, so we have 1/9th division
How about a big number : seven koṭi-s called saptakoṭayaḥ= 7 X 10,000,000 = 70 millionAny examples you wish to offer?

praṇām

yajvan
23 March 2011, 10:24 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté

 


Devanāgarī numerals

Their names:
éka- 1
dva- 2
tri- 3
catúr-4
páńcan- 5
ṣáṣ- 6
saptán- 7
aṣṭá - 8
návan - 9
dáśan - 10

Any examples you wish to offer?



In a pańcāṅga or a 5-limbed or 5-membered calendar , we call out tithi's. Tithi is the singular name given to one lunar day ( digit). This one spot, one place can be called ekadeśa ( eka = 1 + deśa = spot, point or place). Saying tithayaḥ, is the plural form ( more then one tithi).

Here are a few based upon 10 : daśa = 10

daśamī is the 10th tithi of the month
ekādaśī is 10 + 1 or the 11th tithi
dvadaśī is 10 + 2 or the 12 tithi of the month.
trayodaśī is 10 + 3 or the 13th tithi of the month.
caturdaśī is 10 + 4 or the 14th tithi of the month.praṇām

yajvan
25 March 2011, 11:48 AM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté


 
Devanāgarī numerals

How about a big number : seven koṭi-s called saptakoṭayaḥ= 7 X 10,000,000 = 70 million

sahasra = 1,000 . We see this used often.

sahasreṇa bāhunā - with a thousand arms
yuga-sahāsram - a thousand ages
dvi-sahāsram ( some write dvi-sahacram) , two thousand or 2,000
trīṇi sahasrāṇi or tri-sahasram , three thousand or 3,000
sahasraṃ gavyam or 1,000 cows - considered the ultimate gifting
one can also say ekādaśaṃ sahasraṃ or 1,000 + 11 or 1011.
catvāri sahasrāṇ varṣāṇam or 4,000 yearsWe see this 1,000 with stotra-s


lalitā sahasranāma or 1,000 ( sahasra ) names (nāma ) of lalitā - She is lalitā tripurasundarī
śiva sahasranāma - 1000 names of śiva
viṣṇu sahasranāma - 1000 names of viṣṇupraṇām

yajvan
06 April 2011, 03:25 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté

We talk much about the 4th on HDF - suggesting Being, the transcendent. We can perhaps see where this word turīya comes from:


catúr = 4 = ४
catúrturṇā́m is called the genitive case of catúr ; the genitive case ( called ṣaṣṭhī or the 6th case) answers ' of whom? or whose? '
turya = forming a 4th part ; the 4th
turyā is feminie gender and is defined as superior power
turīya - constituting the 4th part
Gender as mentioned above...
is masculine, feminine or neuter. Gender we can see is liṅga a mark , spot , sign , token , badge , emblem , characteristic. When looking up a word you will see mfn as an abbreviation next to the definition.

These characteristics/marks are called puṃ-liṅga , strī -liṅga and napuṃsaka-liṅga:

puṃ-liṅga - puṃ = puṃs is a masculine word but also defined as a man , a male being , a human being ; it looses its 's' before a consonant in this case 'la' in liṅga.
strī -liṅga strī is defined as the the feminine gender yet also is defined as the 'bearer of children'; the word is also found as strīm and strīs - a woman , female , wife
napuṃsaka-liṅga - napuṃsaka is na +puṃ+saka : na = not or no + puṃ = male being + saka ='he that man , she that woman '
Hence napuṃsaka means not male being or woman. It seems for economy this word could just be nasaka ( my contrived word) - not man or woman.praṇām

Adhvagat
15 April 2011, 02:53 PM
I'm impressed at the similarities between our current numerals and the original sanskrit ones.

Even the names of each number are still similar, specially in portuguese.

Example:

dva - dois
tri - três
catúr -quatro
ṣáṣ - seis
saptán - sete
aṣṭá - oito
návan - nove
dáśan - dez

charitra
15 April 2011, 03:54 PM
Namaste all
see the striking resemblance between hindu- arabic and Persian (Zorastrian)- urdu numerals, the later is a much older civilization than the 2 abrahamic faiths, somewhat younger than the hindu civilization..

Persian variant: ۱: ۲: ۳: ۴: ۵: ۶: ۷: ۸: ۹

Arabic (http://hindudharmaforums.com/wiki/Arabic_numerals) 123456789 Indian numerals١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩

Persians pronounce the numerals very close to Devanagari pronunciation:
ek, do, se, char, panch, seesh, hapht, aasht, nou, das. But they call zero as sifr.

kd gupta
06 June 2011, 12:43 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté



sahasra = 1,000 . We see this used often.

sahasreṇa bāhunā - with a thousand arms
yuga-sahāsram - a thousand ages
dvi-sahāsram ( some write dvi-sahacram) , two thousand or 2,000
trīṇi sahasrāṇi or tri-sahasram , three thousand or 3,000
sahasraṃ gavyam or 1,000 cows - considered the ultimate gifting
one can also say ekādaśaṃ sahasraṃ or 1,000 + 11 or 1011.
catvāri sahasrāṇ varṣāṇam or 4,000 yearsWe see this 1,000 with stotra-s

lalitā sahasranāma or 1,000 ( sahasra ) names (nāma ) of lalitā - She is lalitā tripurasundarī
śiva sahasranāma - 1000 names of śiva
viṣṇu sahasranāma - 1000 names of viṣṇupraṇām
namaste
onething in mutiplication differs...
hindi....1 then 1x10=10 then 10x10=100 then 100x10=1000 then 1000x10=10000 then 10000x10=100000 or 1 lac and so on...
english/roman....1 then 1x1000=1000 then 1000x1000=1000000 or 1 million and so on...

kd gupta
11 June 2011, 12:03 AM
the real difference starts now...
1x100lac = 1 crore
1x100crore = 1 arab and in multiple of 100
1x1000 million = 1 billion
1x1000 billion = 1 trillion and in multiple of 1000

yajvan
21 June 2011, 02:22 PM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté

parārdha

This word means a few things and we find it mentioned in the kaṭha upaniṣad (1.3.1).
This is the word for the highest countable number say the ancient Indian mathematicians - 100,000,000,000,000,000 . This is 100 quadtrillion.

Are there bigger numbers in science these days? Sure, one centrillion.
The next largest is one googolplex. I guess when you get into various computer calcuations these numbers may be of use.

praṇām

Jainarayan
21 June 2011, 02:38 PM
I'm impressed at the similarities between our current numerals and the original sanskrit ones.

Even the names of each number are still similar, specially in portuguese.

Example:

dva - dois
tri - tręs
catúr -quatro
ṣáṣ - seis
saptán - sete
aṣṭá - oito
návan - nove
dáśan - dez

And Italian:

uno
due (doo-eh)
tre
quattro
cinque (chin-kweh)
sei
sette
otto
nove
dieci (dee-ehchee)

Jainarayan
21 June 2011, 02:47 PM
Namaste all
see the striking resemblance between hindu- arabic and Persian (Zorastrian)- urdu numerals, the later is a much older civilization than the 2 abrahamic faiths, somewhat younger than the hindu civilization..

Persian variant: ۱: ۲: ۳: ۴: ۵: ۶: ۷: ۸: ۹

Arabic (http://hindudharmaforums.com/wiki/Arabic_numerals) 123456789 Indian numerals١٢٣٤٥٦٧٨٩

Persians pronounce the numerals very close to Devanagari pronunciation:
ek, do, se, char, panch, seesh, hapht, aasht, nou, das. But they call zero as sifr.

The proposed ancestor (of Persian, Hindi, Latin, Greek, Russian, et al) language's numbers were:

oino, dwo, trei, kwetker, penkwe, sweks, sept, oktou, newn, dekm

Russian:

1 - один (adeen)
2 - два (dva)
3 - три (tri)
4 - четыре (chyetirye)
5 - пять (pyat)
6 - шесть (shest)
7 - семь (syem)
8 - восемь (vosyem)
9 - девять (dyeviat)
10 - десять (dyesiat)

It looks like Russian one, eight, and nine deviate from the pattern. I wonder how that happened. Maybe eight, vosyem is "one more than seven" and nine is "one less than 10". :dunno:

yajvan
23 January 2012, 11:52 AM
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~

namasté



parārdha
This word means a few things and we find it mentioned in the kaṭha upaniṣad (1.3.1).
This is the word for the highest countable number say the ancient Indian mathematicians - 100,000,000,000,000,000 . This is 100 quadtrillion
A few more numbers for one's consideration...

lakṣa or lac is 100,000; it comes from this word lakṣa and is defined as 'that which is attached or fixed' ; a mark to aim at , target , prize
10 lakṣa = prayuta = (10 x 100,000) = 1,000,000
10 prayuta = koṭi = (10 x 1,000,000) = 10,000,000; koṭi means the highest point , eminence , excellence , the end or top of anything
Yet this is not the case, as there are numbers even above this one. Some people say tens of millions, and threrefore 10 x 1,000,000 or 10,000,000 which we defined as koṭi. Yet the other name for this is krore some spell crore.
10 koṭi = arbuda = (10 x 10,000,000) =100,000,000. This word arbuda is defined as 'above' ; an additional definition
is a 'swelling' ; it is also the name of a serpent-like demon conquered by indra.
We can see the power of 10 here, where the next significant (large) number is 10x the last number.

So to jump from arbuda (above) and go greatly above (maha) we have mahārbuda or (10 x 100,000,000) one billion. Some use the word badva ( meaning large number) and is defined as 100 koṭi-s.

If we keep using the power of 10 for each sequential number set we arrive at parārdha or 100 quadtrillion ( or 10 to 17th power ; 10^17).

Yet there is a number greater then this. It is 10 to the 53rd power (10^53). The word that is used is most interesting. It can be the following:
tallakṣanām or tallakṣaṇām or talakṣaṇām or tālakṣaṇām. This is the number I have been pondering as some of its components are most interesting:

tal= to establish
talita = fixed
tāla - a span
lakṣa or lac is 100,000
lakṣaṇa - a mark , sign , symbol , token , characteristic , attribute , quality ; indicating , expressing indirectly . We know this word to also mean a lucky mark , favourable sign
talla = varuṇa's wife
talla also means talaka a small cart with burning coals , a pot of clay; it too is taḍaga or a pond ( the connection to varuṇa aforementioned)
It is from this gaṇa¹ ( group) I am trying to discern how one arrives at the name of this large number 10 to the 53rd power (10^53).

praṇām

words

gaṇa - a flock , troop , multitude , number , tribe , series , class