Fw: Vedanta Desikar and other Indian Contributions to Computer Science

February 20, 2005

SrI:

Dear Sri Prasanna:

Thanks very much for updating us on the research investigations of

Professor Don Knuth of Stanford regarding Swamy Desikan's

Sri RanganAtha PaadhukA Sahasram (Chithra Paddhathi).

It is wonderful to read about the discovery of the Sarva Tantra Svatantrar's

multi-faceted genius by leading Computer Scientists like Don Knuth .

Inview of the potential of large interest in this news topic relating to

Swamy Desikan , I have copied other list members .

The other Chithra Kavi is Thirumangai Mannan . The Prabhandham

of ThiruvEzu KooRRirukkai is a Chithra Prabhandham with deep

content on Sri VisishtAdhvaithic Doctrines .

Thanks again ,

V.Sadagopan

Hi,

It is a source of great pride to us all that the work of Sri Vedanta Desikar (Paduka Sahasra), Rudrata (Kavya-Alankara), and Ratnakara (Haravijaya), Dandin (Kavyadarsha) has recently drawn accolades from one of the greatest computer scientists - Donald Knuth.

"... amazing wordplay,

(Explain) Desikar's achievement in detail, so that many more people can appreciate the long and glorious history of combinatorics. ..." Knuth Jan 2005.

Sri Vedanta Desikar, the great Srivaishnava philosopher, had around 1300 A.D., made a great contribution to Computer Science and Lingustics, by presenting the solution to the famous Knight's tour problem, in the Paduka Sahasra, singing the glories of Lord SitaRama's Sandals. Two succeeding sloka's in this work together yield the solution to the knight's tour problem. One sloka is written sequentially, and the other is read ALONG the path taken by the knight, yielding the tour. There are many similar examples of amazing word jugglery in the Paduka Sahasra. His work has sparked off interest in the "Chittra-Kavya's" of India, wherein even earlier contributions - 9th century - to the field have been very recently found, by Knuth (currently at Oxford), David Smith and others. Knuth has made his own "Chitra-Kavya's", in English. For more details please see the web page at the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore:

http://www.iiitb.ac.in/IndexPageMaterial/paduka.htm

We are in the process of further researching these amazing contributions to computer science, and are contacting many in India and abroad. For this, we require all the information you can provide, especially about the origins of the "Chittra-Kavya's" in Sanskrit and other languages. If you know of any similar slokas, and/or have access to authoritative texts/references, etc, please let us know by email.

Regards

Prasanna

P.S. The Knight's tour problem is the problem of making a knight go to all squares of a chessboard, without visiting any square twice - a Hamilton journey.