PREFACE

The present monograph on the śulbasūtras by Baudhāyana, Apastamba, Katyayana and Mānava was planned by the History of Science Unit established at Calcutta by the History of Science Board of the Indian National Science Academy (then called the National Institute of Sciences of India) and continued by the National Commission for the Compilation of History of Sciences in India. The Unit under the supervision of one of us (S.N.S.), with which the other author (A.K.B.) was then associated as a Research Scholar, functioned at first at the Asiatic Society and subsequently at the Calcutta office of the Academy in the same premises of the Society. This happy location permitted the free and frequent use of the Society’s rich library and its manuscript holdings. The authors also had the opportunity of consulting the MS No. Th. 184 of the Mānava-śulba kept at the National Library, Calcutta and a microfilm transcription of the MS. No. 536 of the same text available at the Bombay Branch of the Asiatic Society. We express our sincere thanks to the Librarians of the Asiatic Society and the National Library, Calcutta and the Bombay Branch of the Asiatic Society for permitting us to make use of the aforesaid manus- cripts in their respective holdings. We also place on record that late Nagendranath Vedantatirtha, Curator of the Asiatic Society rendered us his ungrudging help in elucidating some of the difficult passages of the sūtras, particularly of the Mānava- śulba. We further express our grateful thanks to the Academy for providing a Senior Research Fellowship to one of us (A.K.B.) and contingent grants to meet the expen- ses of the project.

Calcutta and New Delhi, October 20, 1983
S. N. Sen
A. K. Bag