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The names for the
numbers one to nine found in Rig Veda are eka, dve, tri, chatur,
pancha, shat, sapta, aşhta, nava. The names for ten,
twenty......, ninety occur in RV (2.18.5-6).
The intermediate numbers have appropriate names. For instance
ninety-four is termed four plus ninety. Nineteen is expressed one
less than twenty etc. RV (3.9.9)
has a number 3339
spelled as three thousand, three hundred and thirty nine. Rig Veda
has more than a hundred references to numbers.
The Shukla
Yajurveda (17.2)
mentions the numbers upto ten raised to the power of
12
in steps of powers of 10,
namely ayuta (104),
niyuta (105),
payuta (106)
arbuda (107),
nyarbuda (108),
samudra (109),
madhya (1010),
anta (1011),
parardha (1012),
etc. A similar list in Taittiriiya Samhita [Krişhņa
Yajur Veda] (4.4.11)
and (7.2.20.1).
Maitrāyaņi Samhita 2.8.12;
Kathaka Samhita (17.10)
etc.
The Atharvaveda
Samhita (6.25.1
thru 6.25.3,
7.4.1)
specially emphasizes the common relationship between one and ten,
three and thirty, five and fifty, nine and ninety, clearly
indicating that the persons of the Vedic age had a good grasp of
the basics of decimal system for positive integers.
The number four
three two (four
hundred and thirty two)
million occurring frequently in Sanskrit works occurs in Atharva
Veda (8.3.21).
shatam te ayutam
hyanan dwai trīņi chatvāri krama
Ayuta is
ten thousand and shatam cha ayutam is one million. The
number is read in reverse order by the standard convention.
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