Virasena

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Acharya Shri
Virasena
Ji Maharaj
Virsena Acharya.jpg
Acharya Virasena
Personal
Born792 CE
Died853 (aged 6061)
Religion Jainism
Sect Digambara
Notable work(s) Dhavala
Religious career
Predecessor Aryanandi
Successor Jinasena

Acharya Virasena (792-853 CE), [1] also known as Veerasena, was a Digambara monk and belonged to the lineage of Acharya Kundakunda. [2] He was an Indian mathematician and Jain philosopher and scholar. He was also known as a famous orator and an accomplished poet. [3] His most reputed work is the Jain treatise Dhavala . [4] The late Dr. Hiralal Jain places the completion of this treatise in 816 AD. [5]

Contents

Virasena was a noted mathematician. He gave the derivation of the volume of a frustum by a sort of infinite procedure. He worked with the concept of ardhachheda: the number of times a number can be divided by 2. This coincides with the binary logarithm when applied to powers of two, but gives the 2-adic order rather than the logarithm for other integers. [6] [7]

Virasena gave the approximate formula C = 3d + (16d+16)/113 to relate the circumference of a circle, C, to its diameter, d. For large values of d, this gives the approximation π  355/113 = 3.14159292..., which is more accurate than the approximation π  3.1416 given by Aryabhata in the Aryabhatiya . [8]

Life

Virasena was proficient in astrology, grammar, logic, mathematics and prosody. He wrote Dhavala , a commentary on Jain canon Shatakhandagama . He also started the work on Jayadhavalaa which was completed by his disciples. He was among the jewels of Rashtrakuta Emperor Amoghavarsha. [9]

His lineage started with Chandrasena who initiated Aryanandi. [10] Aryanandi initiated Virasena and Jayasena. [10] Virasena initiated six disciples who were Dasharayguru, Jinasena, Vinayasena, Shripal, Padmasena and Devasena. [10] Dasharayguru and Jinasena initiated Gunabhadra who later initiated Lokasena. [10] Vinayasena initiated Kumarasena who started the Kashtha Sangha. [10]

See also

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References

Citations

  1. Jaini 1991, p. 111.
  2. Indranandi. Shrutāvatāra
  3. Jinasena. Ādi Purāņa
  4. Satkhandagama : Dhavala (Jivasthana) Satparupana-I (Enunciation of Existence-I) An English Translation of Part 1 of the Dhavala Commentary on the Satkhandagama of Acarya Pushpadanta & Bhutabali Dhavala commentary by Acarya Virasena English tr. by Prof. Nandlal Jain, Ed. by Prof. Ashok Jain ISBN   9788186957479
  5. Nagrajji, Acharya Shri (2003). Agama and Tripitaka: Language and Literature. Concept Publishing Company. p. 530. ISBN   9788170227311.
  6. See, e.g., Shparlinski, Igor (2013), Cryptographic Applications of Analytic Number Theory: Complexity Lower Bounds and Pseudorandomness, Progress in Computer Science and Applied Logic, vol. 22, Birkhäuser, p. 35, ISBN   978-3-0348-8037-4 .
  7. Gupta, R. C. (2000), "History of Mathematics in India", in Hoiberg, Dale; Ramchandani, Indu (eds.), Students' Britannica India: Select essays, Popular Prakashan, p. 329
  8. Mishra, V.; Singh, S. L. (February 1997), "First Degree Indeterminate Analysis in Ancient India and its Application by Virasena" (PDF), Indian Journal of History of Science, 32 (2): 127–133, archived from the original (PDF) on 29 November 2014, retrieved 17 September 2014
  9. Natubhai Shah 2004, p. 31.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Pannalal Jain 1951, pp. 30–31.

Sources