Shulbasutras

E491689

The Shulbasutras are ancient Indian texts that form part of the Vedic corpus, detailing geometric rules and constructions primarily for the proper layout of Vedic fire altars.

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Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form Occurrences
Sulba Sutras 1

Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Sutra literature
Vedic text
ancient Indian mathematical text
altName Sulbasutras NERFINISHED
approximateDate c. 800–200 BCE
associatedWith Vedic sacrifice
Śrauta rituals
audience Vedic priests
citationForm Śulbasūtras NERFINISHED
contains approximate value of the square root of 2
geometric transformations preserving area
procedures analogous to the Pythagorean theorem
rules for constructing altars of various shapes
rules for constructing circles
rules for constructing isosceles trapezia
rules for constructing rectangles
rules for constructing squares
culturalContext Vedic ritual culture
etymology from Sanskrit "śulba" (measuring cord) and "sūtra" (aphoristic rule)
field geometry
history of mathematics
ritual studies
genre mathematical treatise
ritual manual
hasPart Apastamba Shulbasutra NERFINISHED
Baudhayana Shulbasutra NERFINISHED
Kathaka Shulbasutra NERFINISHED
Maitrayaniya Shulbasutra NERFINISHED
Manava Shulbasutra NERFINISHED
Vaitana Shulbasutra NERFINISHED
Varaha Shulbasutra NERFINISHED
influenced development of early Indian geometry
language Sanskrit
mainSubject construction of Vedic fire altars
geometric rules for altar construction
measurement with cords
method rule-based geometric constructions
verbal algorithms
partOf Kalpasutras NERFINISHED
Vedic corpus NERFINISHED
purpose to ensure correct layout of Vedic fire altars
to prescribe ritual ground plans
to provide geometric constructions using cords
region South Asia
surface form: Indian subcontinent
relatedTo Śrautasutras NERFINISHED
Śulba (measuring cord) NERFINISHED
religiousTradition Hinduism
script Devanagari (in modern editions)
timePeriod late Vedic period
uses measuring cord (shulba)

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Indian mathematics hasNotableWork Shulbasutras
this entity surface form: Sulba Sutras
Grihyasutras relatedTo Shulbasutras