Meru Prastaar: The Wonder World of Indian Mathematics

Working through this book twice a day all this while has been an engrossing adventure in logic. It is a fantastic first step into the esoteric world of the Indian School of Mathematics, composed of profound scholars and treatises that laid the base of the complex mathematical advances we enjoy in our modern era. I say ‘first step' because this is, in essence, mainstream arithmetic filtered through the sieve of Indian mathematics.

I cannot exaggerate the importance of using a notebook and pencil while learning from the book. This is, without a shadow of a doubt, a workbook meant to be underlined, marked, bracketed and solved with short important pointers written on the sides of the pages. The biggest sign of disrespect to the author would be for the book to look exactly like it was towards the tail-end of its reading. Manually computing the given problems are in themselves the most essential objective the author wishes to impress upon the readers, as opposed to glancing through it fifteen minutes before the melatonin kicks in. The only criticism I have is while texts and ancient sources are quoted, they are not formally cited, which makes it harder to look them up.

The author begins with a pure conscience and is good-faith in his approach as he dispels all politically charged opinions about Indian mathematics that, more often than not, stray violently from the truth. The narrative tone adopted by the author makes the experience feel like a two-way street, as opposed to the insipid cluster of words that made up our school textbooks. Despite the spanning of a vast array of topics, there is no reason for a motivated high-school student not to be able to cover them all with the occasional input from seniors. The fresh approach of mixing stories, sutras, and solutions keeps the mind engaged in anticipation of the next question or topic to be covered. Meru Prastaar serves as an indispensable supplementary to mathematical knowledge and helps curb the monotone rut of regular class.