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Ancient Indian Numbering System
See also
"Chaturanginee Army"
In the present Indian counting system:
USA
System
Indian System
100,000 100
Thousand is
1,00,000 One Lakh
1,000,000 1 Million
is
10,00,000 Ten Lakh
10,000,000 10 Million
is
1,00,00,000 One Crore
100,000,000 100 Million is
10,00,00,000 Ten Crore
But
the ancient Indian legionaries have names like:
"Ayut" = One thousand; 1,000 per unit
"Shanku" = One trillion; (1,000,000,000,000) or 1012
"Arbud" = 1,000 Shanku
"Madhyam" = 10 Arbud
"Antya" = 10 Madhyam
"Samudra" = 20 Antya
"Paraardh" = 30 Samudra
These
numbers have been described by Sugreev to Raam while giving the count of his
military power. Some say about this that "Sugreev meant that
innumerable monkeys were coming"; while others hold the view that
ancient Hindu organized their military pattern in a particular nomenclature
apart from the generalized numbers.
The
present Indian system is taken from Indian astrology in which every number
is increased by a multiplication of ten - 1, 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000 etc.
(This is called decimal system - originated from "deca", means 10).
As said in verse:
Ekam
dash shatam asmat sahastram ayutam tatah param laksham |
Prayutam kotim ath arbudam vrindey kharvam nikharvam cha ||
Tasmat mahaa sarojam shankum saritaam patim twat antam |
Madhyam paraadham aaryuhya ath uttaram dash gunam tathaa gyeyam ||
Leelaavatee mathematics also says:
ek dash sahastra aayut laksh prayut kotyah kramashah |
arbudam abdam kharv nikharvam mahaapadmam shankhvah tasmaat ||
nidhih cha antam madhyam parardham iti dash gunaa uttaram sangyaah |
sankhyaaya sthaanaanaam vyavahaar artham kritaah poorvaih iti ||
[Taken from
Valmiki
Ramayan 4/39/44]
It means that,
one = 1
1 ten = 10;
10 ten = 1 hundred;
10 hundred = 1 thousand (Ayut)
10 thousand
100 thousand = 1 lakh
1 prayutam =10 lakh, = 1 million;
100 lakh = 1 koti =1 crore;
100 crore = 1 arbud (Arab) = 1 billion
100 arbud = 1 vrinda
100 vrinda = 1 kharv (Kharab)
100 kharv = 1 nikharv (Neel)
100 nikharv = 1 mahaa padm (Padm)
100 mahaa padm = 1 shanku (Shankh) = 1 lakh crore
100 shanku = 1 samudra
100 samudra = 1 antya
100 antya = 1 madhyam
100 madhyam = 1 paraardh
By
this, the nomenclature of million, billion and trillion, was in ancient
days. This may be observed by the names "Prayutam" ( a million);
"arbud" (a billion); "shanku" (a trillion) ...
Present USA Counting System |
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Present
Indian Counting System |
|
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
10 |
Ten |
10 |
Ten |
100 |
1 hundred |
100 |
1 hundred |
1,000 |
1 thousand |
1,000 |
1 thousand (Ayut) |
10,000 |
10 thousand |
10,000 |
10 thousand |
100,000 |
100 thousand |
1,00,000 |
1 lakh |
1,000,000 |
1 million |
10,00,000 |
10 lakh |
10,000,000 |
10 million |
1,00,00,000 |
1 crore |
100,000,000 |
100 million |
10,00,00,000 |
10 crore |
1,000,000,000 |
1 billion |
1,00,00,00,000 |
1 arab (Arbud) |
10,000,000,000 |
10 billion |
10,00,00,00,000 |
10 arab |
100,000,000,000 |
100 billion |
1,00,00,00,00,000 |
1 kharab (kharv) |
1,000,000,000,000 |
1 trillion |
10,00,00,00,00,000 |
10 kharab |
10,000,000,000,000 |
10 trillion |
1,00.00.00.00.00.000 |
1 neel |
100,000,000,000,000 |
100 trillion |
10,00,00,00,00,00,000 |
10 neel |
1,000,000,000,000,000 |
1 Zillion |
1,00,00,00,00,00,00,000 |
1 padm |
10,000,000,000,000,000 |
10 Zillion |
10,00,00,00,00,00,00,000 |
10 padm |
100,000,000,000,000,000 |
100 Zillion |
1,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,000 |
1 shankh (Shanku) |
|
|
10,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,000 |
10 shankh |
|
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1,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,000 |
1 samudra |
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10,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,000 |
10 samudra |
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1,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,000 |
1 antya |
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10,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,000 |
10 antya etc. |
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