hmetic, writing, the lute, and archery. Having
vanquished his rivals in all else, he is matched against Arjuna the great
arithmetician and is asked to express numbers greater than 100 kotis.[56]
In reply he gave a scheme of number names as high as 10^{53}, adding that
he could proceed as far as 10^{421},[57] all of which suggests the system
of Archimedes and the unsettled question of the indebtedness of the West to
the East in the realm of ancient mathematics.[58] Sir Edwin Arnold, {16} in
_The Light of Asia_, does not mention this part of the contest, but he
speaks of Buddha's training at the hands of the learned Vi[s.]vamitra:

"And Viswamitra said, 'It is enough,
Let us to numbers. After me repeat
Your numeration till we reach the lakh,[59]
One, two, three, four, to ten, and then by tens
To hundreds, thousands.' After him the child
Named digits, decads, centuries, nor paused,
The round lakh reached, but softly murmured on,
Then comes the k[=o]ti, nahut, ninnahut,
Khamba, viskhamba, abab, attata,
To kumuds, gundhikas, and utpalas,
By pundar[=i]kas into padumas,
Which last is how you count the utmost grains
Of Hastagiri ground to finest dust;[60]
But beyond that a numeration is,
The K[=a]tha, used to count the stars of night,
The K[=o]ti-K[=a]tha, for the ocean drops;
Ingga, the calculus of circulars;
Sarvanikchepa, by the which you deal
With all the sands of Gunga, till we come
To Antah-Kalpas, where the unit is
The sands of the ten crore Gungas. If one seeks
More comprehensive scale, th' arithmic mounts
By the Asankya, which is the tale
Of all the drops that in ten thousand years
Would fall on all the worlds by daily rain;
Thence unto Maha Kalpas, by the which
The gods compute their future and their past.'"

{17}

Thereupon Vi[s.]vamitra [=A]c[=a]rya[61] expresses his approval of the
task, and asks to hear the "measure of the line" as far as y[=o]jana, the
longest measure bearing name. This given, Buddha adds:

... "'And master! if it please,
I shall recite how many sun-motes lie
From end to end within a y[=o]jana.'
Thereat, with instant skill, the little prince
Pronounced the total of the atoms true.
But Viswamitra heard it on his face
Prostrate before the boy; 'For thou,' he cried,
'Art Teacher of thy teachers--thou, not I,
Art G[=u]r[=u].'"

It is needless to say that this is far from being history. And yet it puts
in charmi