70 
Y. A. Smith— On the Civilization of Ancient India. [No. 1 
same as that used by astrologers in India, and certainly does not seem 
to show the slightest trace of the influence of western science. 
V. A. $.]. Woepcke {Mem. surla propagation des chijfres In dienes , Paris, 
1863) supposes that there is an agreement between the so-called Are- 
narius of Archimedes (B. C. 287-212) and the problem concerning the 
atomic contents of a yojana set at the wedding examination of Buddha. 
If the alleged coincidence be accepted as established, it would be simpler 
to believe that the Buddhist statement, the age of which is in no way 
established, rests on borrowing, then to hold with Woepcke that the 
problem was borrowed from India. It is even possible that both the 
Greek and Indian forms of it are the results of Babylonian influence. 
Quite recently a Sanskrit version of the Elements of Euclid has 
come to light. In its existing form this work does not go back to a 
period earlier than the beginning of the last century. The information 
about it is, however, extremely vague. We do not know whether this 
work rests on an earlier one of ancient date, or whether it is to be 
referred to the beginning of the preceding, that is to say, the 17th 
century, as the result of modern European influence, possibly that of 
the Jesuit fathers at the court of the emperor Akbar (1556-1605). 
In any case the discovery is of interest, because the foreign material 
of the book has been completely melted down into an Indian shape, 
which fact offers an excellent parallel for similar precedents in older 
times. 
[This melting down into Indian forms is characteristic of almost 
all the Indian borrowings, and is the reason that the foreign origin of 
so much of Indian civilization has been so tardily and unwilling re¬ 
cognized. I have already commented on the fact with reference to 
architecture, sculpture, coinage, and the drama. (See my previous essay , 
p. 189.) The only exception to the rule seems to be the sculpture of 
the Gandhara school, which is obviously western in character. V, A. $.] 
Notwithstanding these possible, or even very doubtful, examples of 
Greek influence, the Hindus have certainly gone their own way in the 
province of arithmetic, geometry, etc. The oldest, and rather curiously 
framed, rules upon permutations and combinations are naturally con¬ 
nected with metrical problems, such as ‘ How many variations based on 
the quantity of the syllables are possible in a foot of two, three, four 
or more syllables ’ ? Here no foreign influence can well be detected. 
Similarly the rules in the so-called S'ulvasutra are derived from 
practical experiments on the methods of modifying the typical bird- 
shape of the regulation fire-altar built of bricks. These experiments 
actually led to the discovery and solution of the theorem concerning 
the relation between the hypotenuse and the sides of a right-angled 
