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'''Aksharapalli (Akṣarapallī)''' is a certain type of [[alphasyllabic numeral system|alphasyllabic]] [[numeration]] scheme extensively used in the [[pagination]] of manuscripts produced in [[India]] in pre-modern times.<ref name=alpha>{{cite book|last1=Stephen Chrisomalis|title=Numerical Notation: A Comparative History|url=https://archive.org/details/numericalnotatio00chri_123|url-access=limited|date=January 2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139485333|pages=[https://archive.org/details/numericalnotatio00chri_123/page/n222 211]–213}}</ref> The name ''Aksharapalli'' can be translated as the ''letter system''.<ref name=Datta/> In this system the letters or the syllables of the script in which the manuscript is written are used to denote the numbers.<ref name=Datta>{{cite book|last1=Bibhutibbushan datta and Avadhesh Narayan Singh|title=History of Hindu Mathematics A Source Book Part I|date=1935|publisher=Asia Publishing House|pages=72–75}}</ref> In contrast to the Aksharapalli system, the ordinary decimal system is called the ''Ankapalli'' system.<ref name=Cecil/>

==Examples of syllables used to represent numerals==
The following tables give examples of syllables used to represent numerals. The lists are not exhaustive.<ref name=Datta/>
<center>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Numeral !! Syllables
|-
| 1 || e, sva, rūṁ
|-
| 2 || dvi, sti, na
|-
| 3 || tri, śrī, maḥ
|-
| 4 || ṅka, rṅka, ṅkā, ṇka, rṇka, ṣka, rṣka
|-
| 5 || tṛ. rtṛ, rtṛā, hṛ, nṛ, rnṛ
|-
| 6 || phra, rphra, rphru, ghna, bhra, rpu, vyā, phla
|-
| 7 || gra, grā, rgrā, rgbhrā, rggā, bhra
|-
| 8 || hra, rhra, rhrā, dra
|-
| 9 || oṁ, ruṁ, ru, uṁ, a, rnuṁ
|-
| 10 || ḷa, ṇṭa, ḍa, a, rpta
|}
There are symbols for 20, 30, . . . 100 and then for 200, <br>
300, 400.But there no symbols for higher numerals possibly <br>
because there was no need for such numerals as the <br>
system was used primarily for pagination.<ref name=alpha/>
||[[File:Aksharapalli_numerals_in_Malayalam.png|400px|thumb|Aksharapalli numerals in [[Malayalam]] as given in "Grammar of the Malayalam Language" by [[Hermann Gundert]] published in 1868 and reproduced in The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland in 1896.<ref name=Cecil>{{cite journal|last1=Cecil Bendall|title=On a System of Letter Numerals Used in South India|journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|date=Oct 1896|pages=789–792|jstor=25207813}}</ref>]]
|}
</center>

==Usage==
When the Aksharapalli system is used, the various syllables that constitute a number are placed one below the other as in the Chinese language and they are written in the margins of the various leaves of the manuscript. This arrangement may be the consequence an attempt to save space for the contents of the manuscript. This method can be seen in the earliest available manuscript containing the Aksharapalli system which is a manuscript of sixth century CE.

==History==
Nothing definitely is known about the origin of the system. It is conjectured that the system might have evolved from the ciphered-additive numeral system of [[Brahmi]].<ref name=alpha/> This system has been extensively used in Jain manuscripts up to sixteenth century. The system has also survived for a long time in [[Nepal]]. The system was in use as late as the nineteenth century in those regions of India which now constitute the [[Kerala State]].<ref name=alpha/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Indian mathematics}}

[[Category:Numeral systems]]
[[Category:Indian mathematics]]

Aksharapalli - Revision history

>InternetArchiveBot at 11:27, 28 May 2020