π from the Vedas

Ancient Sanskrit scholars "hid" many things behind normal shlokas. One key to uncover the hidden meaning goes like:

kaadinava Taadinava paadipanchakam
yaadyashhtakah kshha shunyam

According to this "key", the alphabets are given values as (the sequence of Sanskrit alphabets): 
        
k   kha   ga   gha     cha   chhha  ja   jha  jyan
1    2     3     4        5      6         7     8     9 

Ta  Tha   Da   Dha     Na     ta    tha   da   dha 
1    2       3      4        5       6     7      8     9 

pa  pha   ba   bha    ma
1    2      3     4       5

ya   ra   la   va      sha    shha  sa    ha 
1    2    3     4       5       6       7     8

Vowels, gya and kshha have a value of zero. Now apply this key to the following shloka:

gopibhaagyamadhuvraata
shringishodadhisandhiga
khalaajeevitakhaataava
galahaataarasandhara

What one obtains is the value of π /10 correct to 31 places after the decimal point !

0.31415926  53589793  23846264  3383279

The implications of the above are mindboggling. Whereas the ancient Egyptians had a value of 3 for pi, the much later Greeks too  did not go beyond the first two decimal places. But, they might be excused because they did not follow the decimal system. However, to know the value to 31 places Surely, the composer then knew about the concepts of irrational numbers... surely, the  mathematician saw in pi something beyond its merely being the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle.. and how on earth  does one compute the value of pi to 30+ places? The tragedy is that such masterpieces were hidden, requiring geniuses of like order to appreciate them. Were the ancient greats such egotists that they deemed it improper to educate simpler people?  How long can such knowledge be sustained, if it is to be propagated only through rote repetition of "Holy" texts? No wonder, that a  climate conducive to a pure quest for knowledge was never fostered ...

The above is taken from the page of Ramesh Raskar.

My additions :

This shloka (verse), at first read describes the Gods Vishnu and Shiva, separately. Nobody would even think it had this third interpretation ... it, apparently, also has a fourth oneE (cf. Vedic Mathematics) -- It also contains a generating formula for obtaining even higher decimal places !!!!!
Well, no idea how that works, yet!

Note that prominent Vedantists have been trying to find a reference of the ''suutras'' and the above statement (fourth interpretation) mentioned in Vedic Mathematics in the Vedas, and as my knowledge last stands, there were none found.

Also take a look at Krishna Kunchithapadam's page for more.

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Ameya Kolarkar
Last Updated on September 7, 2005.