India’s New Curriculum Decolonising Mathematics, Credits Ancient Masters
By Gajanan Khergamker
In a move that's sending ripples through India's education landscape, the Modi government has greenlit revisions to NCERT textbooks that boldly reposition ancient Indian scholars at the forefront of global mathematics.
The updated Class 7 mathematics volume, Ganit Prakash Part 2, isn't just tweaking footnotes, it's rewriting the narrative, crediting luminaries like Aryabhata and Brahmagupta for foundational breakthroughs in algebra, geometry, and arithmetic.
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This isn't mere patriotic puffery; it's a calculated pivot away from what officials call "Eurocentric distortions" that have long sidelined non-Western contributions in school curricula. As the news explodes across social media with fire emojis and calls for celebration, the question lingers: Is this a triumphant reclamation of history, or another chapter in the politicisation of pedagogy?
The News in Focus: What's Changed in the Pages?
At its core, the revision transforms dry math lessons into vibrant historical vignettes. Gone are the sanitised, Western-centric origin stories that often trace algebra back solely to medieval Europe or the Islamic Golden Age without acknowledging upstream influences. Instead, the new edition dives into Sanskrit texts and ancient treatises, illustrating how Indian mathematicians laid the groundwork centuries earlier.
Take algebra, for instance. The textbook now spotlights Brahmagupta's 7th-century Brahmasphutasiddhanta, where he introduced symbols for unknowns (like yāvat tāvat for "as much as") and solved quadratic equations, predating similar European developments by over 800 years
Exercises draw directly from these works, asking students to reconstruct problems on interest calculations or geometric proofs as they appeared in original manuscripts.
Geometry gets a similar upgrade: Aryabhata's 5th-century Aryabhatiya is hailed for its sine tables and approximations of pi (3.1416), concepts that influenced later Islamic and European scholars like Al-Khwarizmi.
The book doesn't stop at credits; it weaves in cultural context. Lessons on integers reference the Jain text Lokavibhaga from the 6th century, which treated zero not as an absence but as a numeral, a revolutionary idea that Brahmagupta formalised, enabling the decimal system we take for granted today.
Even arithmetic traces back to Vedic sulba sutras, with sidebars on how rope-stretchers (sulba) used Pythagorean triples for altar constructions millennia before Pythagoras. NCERT Director Dinesh Prasad Saklani emphasised that these changes align with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020's mandate to integrate "Indian Knowledge Systems" (IKS), aiming to foster "rootedness" in students.
This isn't an isolated tweak. Earlier this year, Class 8 revisions similarly spotlighted Aryabhata-II's astronomical math, turning textbooks into "exciting journeys" through history.
By November 2025, with NEP's rollout accelerating, these updates signal a broader curriculum renaissance, one that positions India not as a colonial footnote but as a cradle of innovation.
Historical Truth or Nationalist Rewrite? Unpacking the Contributions
To appreciate the stakes, let's ground this in facts. Ancient India wasn't just tinkering with abacuses; it was a mathematical powerhouse. Aryabhata (476–550 CE), often dubbed India's Euclid, didn't merely compute pi, he proposed a heliocentric model and trigonometric functions that bridged astronomy and geometry, ideas echoed in Persian translations that reached Europe via the Silk Road.
Brahmagupta (598–668 CE) went further: His rules for negative numbers and zero as a placeholder resolved paradoxes that baffled earlier civilisations, laying the algebraic bedrock for everything from modern computing to space exploration.
Historians have long argued that colonial-era education - epitomised by Macaulay's infamous 1835 Minute - deliberately minimised these legacies to justify British superiority. Post-independence textbooks inherited this bias, often crediting "Arabic numerals" without noting their Indian origins (the Arabs themselves called them hindsa, from "Hindu").
The new NCERT edition corrects this by citing primary sources like the Bakhshali manuscript (circa 3rd–4th century), which features the earliest dot-zero.
Yet, accuracy demands nuance. While India's role is undeniable, evidenced by UNESCO's recognition of the Indian numeral system as a World Heritage of Knowledge, attributing "discovery" solely to one culture risks oversimplification.
Algebra, for example, evolved collaboratively: Indian ideas flowed to Baghdad, were refined by scholars like Al-Khwarizmi, and looped back via trade. The textbook acknowledges this interconnectedness, but critics (from past revisions) worry it might tilt toward isolationist pride, echoing broader debates on "saffronisation."
The Politics of Pride: Triumphs, Tensions, and the NEP Backdrop
On the plus side, this overhaul is a masterstroke for student engagement. Imagine a 12-year-old grappling with equations not as abstract drudgery, but as puzzles from a golden age that powered the zero-based algorithms in their smartphones.
Early feedback from educators suggests it could boost STEM interest among underrepresented groups, countering the "math phobia" in Indian schools. More profoundly, it instills cultural confidence: In a globalised world where Western narratives dominate TED Talks and textbooks, reclaiming these stories combats internalised inferiority.
This fits seamlessly into NEP 2020's IKS pillar, which allocates 5–10% of curricula to ancient wisdom, from Aryabhata's orbits to Ayurveda's algorithms.
Since 2020, over 50 universities have launched IKS centers, and funding has surged to ₹1,000 crore. Proponents, including BJP leaders, frame it as decolonisation 2.0, undoing the "historical distortions" of Mughal-era or British historiography that downplayed Vedic science.
But let's not ignore the shadows. India's textbook wars are legendary: From deleting Gandhi's assassination details in 2023 to softening caste references, NCERT revisions under Modi have drawn flak for ideological slants.
A September 2025 UGC draft syllabus sparked backlash for prioritising "Kala Ganana" (ancient timekeeping) over modern stats, with academics decrying it as "pseudoscience promotion."
Left-leaning voices, like those in The Wire or historian Romila Thapar's circles, argue this math pivot risks myth-making, elevating unverified claims (e.g., Vedic airplanes) while sidelining rigorous peer review. Even neutrals question timing: With 2029 elections looming, is this savvy soft power or vote-bank engineering via Hindu pride?
Social media tells a lopsided tale. On X (formerly Twitter), the announcement from handles like @NewsAlgebraIND has racked up 12,000+ likes in hours, with users hailing it as "Bharat's revenge on Macaulay."
Hashtags like #IndianKnowledge and #Aryabhata trend, but dissenting threads are sparse, perhaps drowned in the echo chamber. A deeper dive reveals cautious optimism from moderates: "Finally, facts over fiction," tweets one Delhi teacher, while another warns, "Balance it with global collab, or we repeat colonial silos."
Looking Ahead: A Formula for Inclusive Innovation?
This NCERT shift isn't just about equations; it's a bet on identity as rocket fuel for progress. If executed with scholarly rigor, hink cross-verified by international bodies like the International Mathematical Union, it could inspire a generation of Indian-origin Nobel laureates, much like how China's emphasis on Confucian engineering birthed Huawei.
But pitfalls abound: Overemphasise antiquity, and we risk stagnating on laurels; ignore critiques, and education becomes propaganda.
Ultimately, the Modi government's gambit underscores a global reckoning: History isn't a zero-sum game. By centering Aryabhata and Brahmagupta, India isn't erasing Europe, it's completing the circle, reminding us that math's true origin is human curiosity, borderless and timeless.
As students crack open these books next term, one hopes the real "breakthrough" is curiosity unbound, not just national applause. In the words of Brahmagupta himself: From zero comes infinity. Let's see what equations this unlocks.
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