Narayanas Generalisation of Matra-Vrtta-Prastara
Narayanas Generalisation of Matra-Vrtta-Prastara
Narayanas Generalisation of Matra-Vrtta-Prastara
16943/ijhs/2015/v50i2/48238
Abstract
In his Vttajātisamuccaya (c. 600 AD), Virahāka discussed the prastāra or enumeration of
mātrā-vttas or moric metres, metres of value n consisting of long and short syllables, laghu and guru,
assigning value 1 to laghu and 2 to guru, the value of the metre being equal to the sum of the values of its
constituent syllables. Virahāka noted that the sakhyākas or number of rows in the prastāra is given
by a sequence of numbers, which were rediscovered much later in the 13th century by Fibonacci in a
different context. Similar problems of enumeration were considered in the context of tāla-prastāra in
music by Śārgadeva in his Sagītaratnākara (c. 1250 AD).
A general mathematical treatment of most of the combinatorial problems considered in the earlier
literature was given by Nārāyaa Paita in his work Gaitakaumudī (c.1356 AD). One of the problems
discussed by Nārāyaa is the prastāra of a general class of mātrā-vttas where, apart from the syllabic
units laghu and guru (of values 1, 2), there could be other syllabic units (such as pluta, etc.) of values
3,4,... , q. This is also a general form of tāla-prastāra, but it does not subsume the specific tāla-prastāra
considered by Śārgadeva in Sagītaratnākara, where the tāla-units have values 1, 2, 4 and 6.
The questions of naa and uddia, which consist of finding the row number associated with a
generalised mātrā-vtta and its converse, in relation to this prastāra, have been dealt with by Nārāyaa
Paita by means of a tabular form called unmeru. In this paper, we shall show that these naa and
uddia processes are indeed based upon a certain representation of each number uniquely as a sum of the
generalised Virahāka-Fibonacci numbers, i.e., sakhyākas associated with the generalised mātrā-vtta-
prastāra of Nārāyaa.
Key words: Generalised mātrā-vttas, Prastāra or enumeration, Generalised Virahāka-
Fibonacci numbers, Naa, Uddia, Unmeru, Virahāka-Fibonacci representation of numbers.
considered the enumeration of mātrā-vttas, considered in earlier literature. After listing the
metres of value n consisting of long and short various pratyayas, Nārāyaa defines a number of
syllables, assigning value 1 to L and 2 to G, the paktis (sequences) and merus (tabular figures)
value of the metre being equal to the sum of the that are employed in various combinatorial
values of its constituent syllables. In his problems. Nārāyaa then considers different kinds
Vttajātisamuccaya (c. 600 AD), Virahāka of prastāras which generalise those considered
showed that the sakhyākas, or number of rows in prosody and music. He formulates the problem
in the prastāra, is given by a sequence of numbers, as one of enumerating the various possibilities
which were rediscovered much later in the 13th which arise when there are p slots or places
century by Fibonacci in a different context (sthānas) in which the q digits 1, 2,. .. , q, are
(Sridharan, 2006). placed, subject to various conditions.
In his treatise on music Sagītaratnākara, One of the problems discussed by
Śārgadeva (c. 1250 AD) discussed the Nārāyaa is the prastāra of a general class of
enumeration of both tānas (musical phrases) and mātrā-vttas where, apart from the syllabic units
tālas (musical rhythms). The tāna-prastāra laghu and guru (of values 1, 2), there could be
considered by Śārgadeva is essentially a other syllabic units (such as pluta, etc.) of values
procedure for enumerating the n! permutations of 3, 4,. .. , q. This is also a general form of tāla-
the symbols 1, 2, .., n. The tāla-prastāra is a prastāra, but it does not subsume the specific tāla-
generalisation of the mātrā-vtta-prastāra, where prastāra considered by Śārgadeva in
Śārgadeva considers all possible rhythmic forms Sagītaratnākara, where the tāla-units have
composed of the units druta, laghu, guru and pluta values 1, 2, 4 and 6. Before discussing the
with values 1, 2, 4 and 6 respectively (Raja prastāras considered by Nārāyaa, we first give
Sridharan et al., 2010). a brief description of mātrā-vttas and their
Prior to the seminal work Gaitakaumudī prastāra.
of Nārāyaa Paita (c. 1356 AD), most of the
work in combinatorics had its basis in practical 2. MA– TRA– -VR. TTAS –
AND THEIR PRASTARA
problems. Nārāyaa Paita was the first to treat In the case of vara-vttas or syllabic
these problems from a general mathematical metres, it is the number of syllables which are
viewpoint, generalising and unifying many of the fixed and the prastāra or the enumeration consists
earlier results. Specifically, Nārāyaa considered
of all possible metrical forms which are
prastāras of syllabic metres with more than two
characterised by a sequence of laghus and gurus
types of syllables generalising the work of Pigala,
having the same number of syllables. In the case
prastāras of permutations with repetitions
of mātrā-vttas or moric metres, it is the total value
generalising the work of Śārgadeva on svara-
of the metrical form that is fixed, when we assign
prastāra, and also prastāras of combinations
values of 1 mātrā for each laghu (L) and 2 mātrās
which were briefly considered earlier by
for each guru (G).
Varāhamihira (c. 550 AD) and Bhaotpala (c. 950
AD) (Raja Sridharan et al., 2012). In this paper The rule for the construction of the
we shall study Nārāyaa Paita’s generalisation prastāra for mātrā-vttas is stated explicitly in the
of the mātrā-vtta-prastāra. Vttajātisamuccaya of Virahāka (c. 600 AD) and
In Chapter XIII of Gaitakaumudī on is as follows:
Akapāśa (net of numbers), Nārāyaa Paita • The first row consists of all Gs if the total value
gives an abstract mathematical formulation is even and an L followed by all Gs if the total
encompassing most of the combinatorial problems value is odd.
– – – – –
NARAYAN. A’S GENERALISATION OF MATRA-VR. TTA-PRASTARA 229
• Given any row in the prastāra, to generate the processes for the mātrā-vttas are indeed based
next row, scan from the left to identify the first on a certain representation of each number
G and place an L below that. The elements to uniquely as a sum of non-consecutive Virahāka-
the right are brought down as they are. Fibonacci numbers (Sridharan 2006). The
lagakriyā process for these vttas also leads to an
• The remaining mātrās to the left are filled by
interesting relation between binomial coefficients
Gs, and an L is added at the beginning if need
and the Virahāka numbers.
be to keep the total number of mātrās the same.
• Go on till the last row is reached which is 3. NA– RA– YAN. A’S GENERALISATION OF MATRA-
– –
• Repeat the process till the last row of the In order to discuss the various pratyayas
prastāra is reached, all of whose entries are 1. of the generalised mātrā-vtta-prastāra, Nārāyaa
– – – – –
NARAYAN. A’S GENERALISATION OF MATRA-VR. TTA-PRASTARA 231
makes use of various sequences (paktis) and Below the sāmāsikī-pakti, write 0
tabular forms (merus) which he introduces right followed by 1. Then, the number above
the last number is added to the sum in
at the beginning of the chapter on combinatorics reverse order of those numbers which
(akapāśa). Of these, the most important is the occupy the places equal in number to the
sāmāsikī-pakti (additive sequence), which is a last digit. In this way, all the places in front
generalisation of the Virahāka-Fibonacci are to be filled. In the absence of places
sequence, and gives the sakhyā or the total equal in number to the last digit, the sum
of those present is written.
number of rows in the prastāra. In verses 13-14
of the Chapter on Akapāśa, Nārāyaa defines the The pātāla-pakti when the last digit is q
sāmāsikī-pakti as follows: is thus defined by the relations
gives the total number of all the digits occurring examples of prastāra displayed in Tables 3, 4. That
in the prastāra. We display below two examples is why, Nārāyaa refers to this case as aniyata-
of the sāmāsikī-pakti and pātāla-pakti given by sthāna, where the number of places (the number
Nārāyaa. of elements in each row of the prastāra) is not
fixed.
Table 5, displays the sāmāsikī-pakti and
pātāla-pakti for the prastāra with total value 7 Thus, for a generalised mātrā-vtta-
and the last digit 3. This is the generalised mātrā- prastāra, we need to answer the question as to
vtta, where we include apart from the syllabic how many rows in the prastāra (where the total
units laghu and guru (of values 1, 2), a third sum is n and the last digit is q), have length p.
syllabic unit pluta, which has value 3. Recalling Nārāyaa answers this question by means of the
the prastāra that we displayed earlier in Table 3, elements of the so called needle sequence (sūcī-
we can easily verify that 44 is the sakhyā or the pakti) or the arrow-head sequence (nārācikā-
number of rows in the prastāra; and that the last pakti), which are also put together in a fish-
24 rows end in 1, the previous 13 rows end in 2 tabular figure (matsya-meru). The elements Up,q(r)
and the first 7 rows end in 3. We can also verify of the needle sequence, as defined by Nārāyaa,
that the digit 1 appears 118 times in the prastāra, are essentially multinomial coefficients, the
2 appears 56 times, and 3 appears 26 times. The coefficients of various powers xr in the expansion
total number of digits appearing in the prastāra is of (1 + x + x2 + . . . + xq–1)p. Nārāyaa also gives an
26+56+118=200. interesting expression for the elements of the
sāmāsikī-pakti or the generalised Virahāka-
q
Table 5: The Sāmāsikī-pakti and pātāla-pakti for n = 7 Fibonacci sequence of sakhyākas Sn, as sums
and q = 3 of suitable elements of the sūcī-pankti Up,q(r).
We have summarised Nārāyaa’s discussion of
sūcī-pakti and its application to the study of the
generalised mātrā-vtta-prastāra in the Appendix.
Table 6: The Sāmāsikī-pakti and pātāla-pakti for n = 7
and q = 7 5. THE UNMERU AND THE NAS. T. A
AND UDDIS. T. A PROCESSES
next apatita 13. Note the corresponding entry 1. the number (sakhyāka) of the
And so on. Thus the sequence of digits in 36th enumeration, one gets the row-number of
a given variation.
row of the prastāra is 21211.
The uddia process is indeed the reverse
Table 9: Example of naa process when n = 7 and q = 3 of the naa process as will be clear from the
following example:
Nārāyaa’s Example: To find the row
where 2212 appears in the 7-mātrā-prastāra with
highest digit 3:
From the right, we first identify the apatita
13 above which 2 appears. Then we move left in
the row above the topmost entry of the column of
that apatita till we get 1 and note the apatita
number 7. And so on.
Nārāyaa’s Example 2: To Find the 36th Row number = 44 - sum of the patitas =
row of the 7-mātrā-prastāra with highest digit 7 44 - (24+4+1) = 15
64 - 36 = 28, 28 - 16 = 12, 12 - 8 = 4 and 4 Table 11: Example of uddia process when n = 7 and q = 3
-4=0
Thus 16, 8 and 4 are patita and the rest are
apatita-sakhyākas. We find that the desired
sequence in the 36th row of the prastāra is 1141
Write down the sequence of sakhyākas number is written above 1, two numbers above 2,
or the generalised Virahāka sequence for the and so on and q numbers are written above q. Omit
prastāra. For the given row-number, identify the number above 1, and also the first number
patita and apatita-sakhyākas and place the mark above each of the digits 2, 3, .. . , q, and sum the
a or p below each sakhyāka. From the right, rest. Subtract the sum from the last entry of the
scan the sequence of these marks and identify the sequence of sakhyākas (which is nothing but
corresponding element of the sequence of digits, the number of rows in the given prastāra), and
successively, via their signatures as given in Table the result is the row-number associated with the
12. given sequence of digits. We illustrate the above
process in Tables 15-18.
We illustrate the method with the
following examples which are displayed in Tables Table 15: To Find the row where 2212 appears in the 7-
13, 14. mātrā-prastāra with highest digit 3
Row-number = 44-(1+ 4+24) = 15
Table 13: To Find the 36th row of the 7-mātrā-prastāra with
highest digit 3
Table 16: To Find the row where 322 appears in the 7-mātrā-
prastāra with highest digit 3
Row-number = 44-(1+ 2+7+24) = 10
One important feature that we notice in the The prastāra of rows of total value 0
above examples of naa and uddia processes, consists of one row with no symbols. The prastāra
is that they are based on certain representations of rows of total value 1 consists of a single row
of numbers as sums of the generalised Virahāka with the entry 1. The prastāra of rows of value 2
n
numbers {Sq}. is given in Table 19. This is obtained by appending
the symbol 2 to the prastāra of rows of value 0
For the case when q = 3, we have the
and 1 to the prastāra of rows of total value 1.
representations
8 = 1+7 Table 19: Prastāra of value 2
29 = 1 + 4 + 24
34 = 1 + 2 + 7 + 24
For the case when q = 7, we have the
representation The prastāra of rows of total value 3 is
given in Table 20. This is obtained by appending
28 = 4 + 8 + 16 the symbol 3 to the prastāra of rows of value 0
These are particular instances of a general and then appending the symbol 2 to the prastāra
result that every number can be decomposed of rows of value 1 and finally appending 1 to the
uniquely as a sum of the generalised Virahāka- prastāra of rows of total value 2.
Fibonacci numbers. We shall discuss this, and
Table 20: Prastāra of value 3
other mathematical aspects of the generalised
mātrā-vtta-prastāra, in the next section.
.
7. THE GENERALISED VIRAHA– NKA-FIBONACCI
REPRESENTATION OF NUMBERS
While discussing the mathematics More generally, we can construct the
underlying the generalised mātrā-vtta-prastāra prastāra of rows of total value n > 3 inductively
of Nārāyaa, we shall, for simplicity consider the as follows: Write down the prastāra of rows of
case q = 3, i.e., there are only three digits, 1, 2, 3, value n – 3 and append 3, then write down the
in each row of the prastāra. prastāra of rows of value n – 2 and append 2, and
finally write down the prastāra of rows of value
7.1 An inductive construction of the prastãra and n – 1 with 1 appended at the end. It follows by
the sakhyā rule induction on n that this is indeed the prastāra
We consider the symbols 1, 2, 3, having obtained by following Nārāyaa’s rule for
the same value as the numbers that these digits generalised mātrā-vttas total value n, and highest
represent. We write down all rows consisting of digit q = 3.
these symbols, such that the total value of each It follows that if Sn3 is the number of rows
row is n, the value of a row being defined to be in the prastāra of metres of value n, then S03 = 1,
the sum of the values of the constituent symbols S13 = 1, S23 = 2 and
in the row. A prastāra of metres of value n is a
.
table enumerating all such ordered partitions
(allowing repetitions) of n in terms of the numbers We shall now see how this also follows
1, 2, 3. from an argument that uses generating functions.
– – – – –
NARAYAN. A’S GENERALISATION OF MATRA-VR. TTA-PRASTARA 237
Sn3, as it is equal to the number of monomials of Proposition 2: Any natural number n is either a
total value n in a, b, c, when we assign the values generalised Virahāka-Fibonacci number Sk3 or can
1, 2, 3 to the symbols a, b, c. Hence we have the be uniquely expressed uniquely as a sum of
equality generalised Virahāka-Fibonacci numbers Si3, no
1 + (x + x2 + x3) + (x + x2 + x3)2 + ... three of which are consecutive.
To prove this we first need the following Lemma:
Lemma 1: For all i > 0, we have
Therefore we obtain
2Si3 ≥ Si+1
3
,
[1 – (x + x2 + x3)]-1 [S30 + S31 x + S23 x2 + ...] = 1
with equality holding only when i = 1, 2.
By equating the coefficients of xn, we obtain the
relation Proof: We have to show that 2Si3 > Si3 + Si-1 3
+
3 3 3
S i-2. It is thus enough to show that Si > Si-1 +
S3i-2. But this follows from the fact that Si3 = S3i-1 +
S3i-2 +S3i-3 > S3i-1 + S3i-2.
Remark: In the case of the usual mātrā-vttas,
with laghus and gurus only, with values 1, 2 Remark: We note that the sakhyākas of the
respectively, the sakhyākas are the usual vara-vttas are Si = 2i which satisfy 2Si = Si+1.
Virahāka-Fibonacci numbers {S n2}, which The sakhyākas of ordinary mātrā-vttas, the
satisfy Virahāka-Fibonacci numbers Si2, also satisfy 2Si2
> S2i+1.
, and , for
Now, let n be a natural number. We define
2
These relations for S can be obtained
n the canonical decomposition of n as follows: We
following a similar argument as above as a choose the largest i1 such that S3i ≤ n. Then, we
1
Proof: Under the hypothesis of the lemma, we be two decompositions of m such that both the
have to prove that decompositions do not contain three consecutive
sakhyākas {S3k }. Then the two decompositions
are the same. In particular, any decomposition of
Note that since p < t, we have p ≤ t – 1. It is enough m having no three consecutive sakhyākas {S3k }
to prove that is the canonical decomposition.
If we associate the (n + 1)-tuple (a0, a1,
a2,.. . , an), where each ai is either 0 or 1, with the
If p ≤ t - 2, we have, by induction number a0S30 + a1S31 + a2S32 + .. . anS3n, then we can
formulate the result regarding the existence and
uniqueness of the generalised Virahāka-
thus proving the result Fibonacci decomposition as follows:
– – – – –
NARAYAN. A’S GENERALISATION OF MATRA-VR. TTA-PRASTARA 239
Proposition 4: There exists a bijection between value n, using symbols 1, 2, 3, starting from the
numbers 0, 1, 2,.. . , S3n – 1, and the (n + 1)-tuples last row (consisting of n ones), numbering the last
(a0, a1, a2,.. . , an), where each ai is either 0 or 1, row as 0, the penultimate row as 1, and so on. If
satisfying the following conditions: the rank of the row under our enumeration is t,
(i) a0 = 0, an = 0. then the numbering of the row in the usual
enumeration (starting from the top row and taking
(ii) No three consecutive ai’s are 1. its row-number as 1) is S3n – t.
The bijection is obtained by associating The process of naa involves writing
each number k (such that 0 ≤ k ≤ S3n – 1) with its down the row explicitly (without the aid of the
canonical decomposition. prastāra) given the row-number associated with
Remark: We can also prove that the above it.
assignment is a bijection by showing that the In a prastāra of value n :
cardinality of the set of all (n + 1)-tuples satisfying
i The last symbol of the m-th row is 1 if and
(i) and (ii) is S3n which can be done via a simple
argument using induction. only if m < S3n – 1, and the penultimate symbol
of the m-th row is the last symbol of the m-th
In the above discussion, for the sake of row in the prastāra of value n – 1 (where the
simplicity, we have considered the case of the last row consists of n – 1 ones).
generalised mātrā-vtta-prastāra of 3 digits, 1, 2,
ii The last symbol of the m-th row is 2 if and
3, or, to use Nārāyaa’s terminology, the case
only if S3n – 1 ≤ m < S3n – 1 + S3n – 2, and the
where the maximum digit q = 3. All the results
penultimate symbol of the m-th row is the last
which were demonstrated above for q = 3, can be
symbol of the (m – S3n – 1)-th row in the prastāra
easily generalised to the case where q is any
of value n – 2 (where the last row consists of
positive integer greater than or equal to 2. We shall
n – 2 ones).
here just state (without proof) the basic result on
the representation of any natural number uniquely iii The last symbol of the m-th row is 3 if and
as a sum of the generalised Virahāka-Fibonacci only if S3n–1 + S3n–2 ≤ m < S3n–1 + S3n–2 + S3n–3, and
numbers {Sqn} : the penultimate symbol of the m-th row is the
Proposition 5: Let q ≥ 2 be an integer. Then, every last symbol of the (m – S3n–1 – S3n–2)-th row in
the prastāra of value n – 3 (where the last row
natural number is either a generalised Virahāka-
consists of n – 3 ones).
Fibonacci number Skq for some k > 0, or can be
uniquely expressed as a sum of generalised Proceeding as above by induction, we can
Virahāka-Fibonacci numbers {Sq1, Sq2, S3q,.. .}, obtain each symbol of the m-th row of the prastāra
under the condition that the sum does not contain of value n.
any set of q consecutive generalised Virahāka- Given any integer, 0 < m < S3n–1, we have
Fibonacci numbers.
the canonical decomposition of m :
7.3 The Mathematical Basis of the Naa and m = a0S30 + a1S31 + a2S32 +... anS3n ,
Uddia Processes where, a0 = 0, an = 0, and the rest of the ai could
We again restrict ourselves, for the sake be 0 or 1, as discussed above. To this canonical
of simplicity, to the case of the generalised mātrā- decomposition, we associate the string (a0, a1, a2,..,
vtta-prastāra of the three digits, 1, 2, 3. We a n) of zeroes and ones, with a 0 = 0, a n = 0.
propose to enumerate the rows of the prastāra of Summarising the discussion above, we have:
240 INDIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY OF SCIENCE
The above discussion can be generalised = q = 3, which is shown in Table 22. Clearly the
to the case where the largest entry in each row of elements of this sequence are nothing but the
the prastāra is any natural number q. Clearly, the coefficients of different powers of x in the
essential mathematical result that is at the heart expansion of (1 + x + x2)3.
of the naa and uddia processes is the canonical
decomposition of any positive integer uniquely If we look at the above definition of the
as a sum of the generalised Virahāka-Fibonacci Up,q(r), that it is the coefficient of xp+r in (x + x2 +
numbers {Sqi}. . . . + xq)p, we can easily see that this is also the
number of sequences of length p, formed out of
Appendix the digits 1, 2, .. . , q, such that the sum of the
The sūcī-pakti, matsya-meru and the number sequence is p + r. In other words, the number of
of rows of prastāra with p-sthānas rows of length p in the generalised mātrā-vtta-
prastāra characterised by the total sum n and last
In verse 21 of the Chapter on Akapāśa, digit q, is Up,q(n – p), where clearly we need to
Nārāyaa defines the sūcī-pakti (needle have [–qn] ≤ p ≤ n, (where [–qn] denotes the integral
sequence) or the nārācikā-pakti (arrow-head part of –qn), in order that the sum of a sequence of
sequence) as follows: length p composed of the digits 1, 2, .. . , q, may
have the sum n. We shall now see that Nārāyaa
also states essentially the same result while
identifying the number of rows of different lengths
Vaiśleikī-paktis measured by the last in the prastāra with the elements of the so called
digit, which are equal in number to the matsya-meru (fish tabular figure).
number of places are kept separately.
Their product is the sūcī-pakti (needle Table 22: Needle sequence for p = q = 3 by door-junction
sequence) or the nārācikā-pakti (arrow- method
head sequence)
If p is the number of places and q is the
final digit, then the arrow-head sequence is defined
by multiplying the vaiśleikī-pakti, which is of
the form 1, 1, 1, . . . ,1 (1s repeated q times),
multiplied by itself p times, by the door-junction
(kapāa-sandhi) method, which is nothing but the
algebraic method of multiplying keeping in mind
the different place-values (see Table 22).
Hence, the (r+1)-th element of the
sequence is a sum of multinomial co-efficients:
In verses 40-43 of the chapter on
Up,q(r) = Coefficient of xr in (1 + x + x2 + . . . + xq-1)p
Akapāśa, Nārāyaa defines the tabular figure
= Coefficient of xp+r in (x + x2 + . . . + xq)p called the matsya-meru associated with a given
In particular, for q = 2, Up,2(r) = C(p,r), sum n, last digit q, and also the number of places
i.e., in this case the elements of the arrow-head p, as follows:
sequence are nothing but the binomial coefficients.
Nārāyaa gives an example of how the
needle-sequence is obtained for the case when p
242 INDIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY OF SCIENCE
In other words, the last column of the Nārāyaa then gives the following
matsya-meru gives the number of rows in the important relation between the coefficients Up,q(r)
prastāra with different lengths, or number of and the samasikī-pakti or the generalised
places. For the case where n = q = 3, the last Virahāka-Fibonacci sequence:
column of the matsya-meru (shown in Table 24)
is given by 6, 16, 15, 6, 1. These indeed are the
number of rows in the prastāra which are of length
3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 respectively. The sum of this last where t is such that (t – 1)q < n ≤ tq.
column of the meru is equal to 44 which is indeed
S 73, the sakhyā or the total number of rows in the The above relation, gives an important
prastāra characterised by n = q = 3. In fact, relation between the multinomial coefficients
the various column sums of the above matsya- Un–r,q(r) and the elements of the generalised
meru are 1, 1, 2, 4, 7, 13, 24 and 44, which are Virahāka-Fibonacci sequence {Snq}. It has also
nothing but the generalised Virahāka sequence an important interpretation in the prastāra of the
{S3i}. generalised mātrā-vttas which is the following.
The last property mentioned above is Since U n–r,q (r) is the total number of
indeed a particular case of a general relation generalised mātrā-vttas (sequences of 1, 2,. .. ,
between the elements of the nārācikā-pakti Upq(r) q), which are of length n – r and whose total value
(which are also entries of matsya-meru) and the or sum is n, the sum of all such numbers for various
sāmāsikī-pakti or the generalised Virahāka possible lengths, should clearly be equal to Snq,
sequence {Snq}, which is noted by Nārāyaa in which is the sakhyāka or the total number of all
verses 43-44 of the Chapter on Akapāśa, while the generalised mātrā-vttas of value n.
discussing the sums of the rows and columns of Remark: In mathematical terms, Nārāyaa’s
matsya-meru. matsya-meru is a part of the triangle of
multinomial coefficients. If we tilt this triangle in
a certain way and take the sum of the rows, we
get the generalised Virahāka-Fibonacci numbers.
In a similar manner, in case we tilt the Pigala-
244 INDIAN JOURNAL OF HISTORY OF SCIENCE
Pascal triangle and take the sum of the rows, we Sagīta-ratnākara of Niśaka Śārgadeva (c.1225): Ed.
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