The Concept of Sunya/edited by A.K. Bag and S.R. Sarma. New Delhi, Aryan Books, 2003, xiv, 287 p., figs., table, $61. ISBN 81-7305-240-9.
Contents: Introduction. I. Sunya in speculative thought: 1. Sunyata: its meaning in philosophy and science/Swami Jitatmananda. 2. Technology of using Sunya in India/R.C. Gupta. 3. Vedic numerical system including Sunya/S.A.S. Sarma. 4. Word and alphabetic numerical systems in India/K.V. Sarma. 5. Brahmi numerals and decimal notation: nature and evolution/Ajay Mitra Shastri. 6. Kharoshti numerals and the early use of decimal notation in Indian epigraphs/B.N. Mukherjee. 7. Reflections on Paninian zero/M.D. Pandit. 8. Sunya in Pingala’s Chandahsutra/Sreeramula Rajeswara Sarma. II. Sunya in mathematical system: 1. Zero and the symbol for zero in early sexagesimal and decimal place-value systems/David Pingree. 2. Chinese "Ling" (0) and Indian "Sunga" (0) spread to China/Wang Yusheng. 3. Zero in the mathematical system of India/R.C. Gupta. 4. Need for zero in the numerical system in India/A.K. Bag. 5. The mathematical epistemology of Sunya/C.K. Raju. 6. The importance of the concept of zero in modern mathematics and science/J.N. Kapur. 7. The concept of Sunya and its ramifications in mathematics and computer science/M.R. Adhikari. 8. Impact of Indian philosophy on Bhaskariya concept of zero/A. Mukhopadhyaya. 9. Philosophical and mathematical implications of zero in Indian culture/S.A. Paramahans. III. Ramification of Sunya in other fields: 1. The concept of Sunya in Tantra and Agama/H.N. Chakravarty. 2. Concept of Sunya in Sakta Tantras/M.C. Joshi. 3. Sunya in the context of temple art/Devangana Desai. 4. Sunya in the Indian Tala system/Prem Lata Sharma. 5. Number mysticism in other regions and the impact of Sunya/P. Manansala. 6. NOW—dimensionless (no-mind-Sunya) state/S.C. Malik. 7. Sunya: a holistic view/R. Sathyanarayana.
"The concept of sunya in India has a long history and varied manifestations in different dimensions, in mathematics, in philosophy and in mysticism. In mathematical literature it is used in the sense of ‘zero’ having no substantial numeral value of its own but playing the key role in the system of decimal notation, to express all numbers with nine digits, one to nine and the sunya as the tenth. The application of sunya in this system of notation was discovered in India some time in the pre-Christian era. Its concretization in the form of a dot or a small circle and its use in decimal place value system was first transmitted to the Middle-East and thence to Europe to supplant the Greek and Roman systems, and the whole world slowly recognized it as the most scientific system of numeration.
"The present volume is the outcome of a joint seminar organized by Indian National Science Academy and Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts and aims at a documented account of various facets of sunya in mathematics and astronomy and its various ramifications in philosophy and arts." (jacket)