Story of Zero ("0")
The Story of Zero
For centuries, Western scholars believed that the invention of zero (“0”) came from the Arab world. But only in the late 20th century was its true origin traced back to ancient India—a revelation that piqued my curiosity about how the Indo numeral system spread.
This blog is not a scholarly paper. It reflects my understanding, based on readings, especially two books: 1) Finding Zero by Amir Aczel, which I read in 2023, and 2) The Golden Road by William Dalrymple in 2025.
My goal for this blog was to write a simple story that I can remember.
The Bakhshali Manuscript (content believed by some to be from the 3rd or 4th century CE): This ancient mathematical text from India contains a symbol for zero, a dot that would later evolve into the hollow circle we use today. However, the dating of this manuscript is not fully confirmed.
Aczel, in his search, found an inscription on the stele in Cambodia dated in the Saka era (683 CE). In that stele, the year is recorded as "605". The "0" in "605" is represented by a dot. Aczel's work gained prominence, and it was widely considered the earliest definitive evidence. 
In the Golden Road book, William has done a wonderful job is telling the story of how trade was very active between India and many countries of south-east Asia and is part of the broader “Indosphere.”. Cambodia, Java, Sumatra, and many parts of Southeast asians countries were influenced by Indian culture, art, language, and mathematics.
This has inspired me to plan to visit Ujjain, Gwalior, and Bhopal in my next trip to India. I do plan to go to Java and Sumatra also.
A Four-Part Journey Through Time
The concept of emptiness, or śūnya, has roots as far back as the Vedic period (~2500 BCE). While this idea held deep philosophical meaning in Indian thought, tracing its transformation from abstraction to written numeral and then to a mathematical tool is a fascinating journey across civilizations..
The Discovery in India (Vedic Period – 7th century CE)
The Migration to the Arab World (8th – 11th century CE)
The Spread Through Spain (12th – 14th century CE)
The Perfect Use Case in Italy (14th – 16th century CE)
The Timeline (show a map with a timeline)
Part 1: The Discovery in India (Vedic Period to 7th Century CE)
The exact date of the emergence of the numeral system is unclear. However, during Emperor Ashoka’s reign (~250 BCE), inscriptions in Brahmi script already used numerals 1 through 9.
Ancient India, larger than modern-day India, encompassed Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. However, its influence extended through a region that William Dalrymple aptly calls the Indosphere.
While śūnya (emptiness) was a spiritual and philosophical idea in early Vedic and Buddhist thought, converting this idea into a mathematical symbol took centuries.
From the days of Ashoka, there has been Hellenistic (Green) influence, and many works were translated into Sanskrit. One such text is the Yavanajātaka, which was translated around 120 BCE and contained Greek horoscopy, likely providing insight into the thinking process of earlier Indian scholars.
Two main scholars took the numbers 1 to 9 and expanded them to a completely new path of mathematics.
Aryabhata (476–550 CE) was the earliest known scholar to articulate a place-value number system. Writing in verse in his seminal work, Āryabhaṭīya, he addressed arithmetic, roots, algebra, and approximated pi (π) as 3.1416.
Brahmagupta (598-670 CE), a brilliant mathematician and astronomer based in Ujjain, formalized operations involving zero. His work Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta introduced rules for arithmetic involving śūnya, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. He described zero as both a placeholder and a number in its own right. This was revolutionary.
This mathematical knowledge spread through ancient universities like Nalanda, Taxila, and the center of learning in Kashmir. Scholars like Varāhamihira and Bhāskara I expanded on earlier works.
Much of this learning remained in elite circles of scholars.
Part 2: The Migration to the Arab World (8th–11th Century CE)
India had long-standing trade relationships with the Romans, Egyptians, Chinese, and Southeast Asians. But it also faced centuries of invasions, starting with Alexander and continuing through Central Asian forces.
In the 8th century, the Abbasid Caliphate emerged as a major empire. Caliph al-Mansur (714–775 CE) was expanding his empire and looking towards the east (India). The Raja of Sindh (in the current-day region, mostly Pakistan) was aware of the motive. Seeking to strengthen diplomatic ties with Sindh (in present-day Pakistan), he sent an envoy in 733 CE. The chief vizier, Khalid ibn Barmak, is most interested in only one thing: Brahmagupta's Sindhind. The Raja of Sindh gave the book along with scholars who have studied the book.
Al-Mansur, a patron of learning, commissioned the translation of this Sanskrit text into Arabic. His chief vizier, Khalid ibn Barmak (a Barmakid), played a critical role. The Barmakids, originally Buddhist leaders (pramukhas) of the Naw Bahar monastery in Balkh (northern Afghanistan), were fluent in Sanskrit and familiar with Indian scientific traditions. They became vital cultural bridges.
[A fun fact: Khalid’s grandson Jaf’ar and Calif Manusr’s grandson Harun al-Rashid were mischievous friends. Many tales of the Arabian Nights come from their mischief stories, including the story of Aladdin. In true life, Jaf’ar was an intellectual, not a villain.]
Together, the Caliph and the Barmakids laid the groundwork for the Bayt al-Ḥikmah (House of Wisdom)—a vast library and research center in Baghdad, often compared to Nalanda.
In 817 CE, Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwārizmī was appointed head of this library. His monumental work Kitāb al-Jabr wa’l-Muqābala (“Kitab al-Jabar”) gave us the term “algebra” (al-jabr) and introduced systematic methods that built directly on Indian numerals. He used the Arabic word al-ṣifr (meaning “empty”) to translate śūnya. That term evolved into Italian “zefiro,” then French “zéro,” and eventually “zero” in English.
Khwārizmī's writing was read, copied, and reached the intellectual centers of Toledo and Cordoba (Spain). The land was known to Arabs as “al-Andalus”.
Now, the Indian mathematical knowledge made the journey to Europe via the Islamic world. In the meantime, India was suffering from attacks from the invaders from Central Asia, starting with Muhammad Ghazni beginning of the 11th century, and scientific progress continued to decline. Unlike Barmakids and the Abbasid Caliphate, the Islamic traditions had very strict rules, and not much progress happened after that.
Still, knowledge of the decimal numeric system was limited to scholars, and its use was restricted to people in astrology.
Part 3: The Spread Through Spain (11th–13th Century CE)
Maslama al-Majriti (950-1007 CE), an astrolger who lived in Cordoba (Spain), inspired by Khwārizmī’s book, wrote a book called “Fruits of the Science of Numbers” within which a section was on “mathematics of business transaction”. This was the first major work of using the Indo-Arabic numerals beyond astrology.
Said al-Andalusi (1029-1070 CE), a Qazi (magistrate) in Toledo (Spain), was interested in the contributions of Indians in mathematics and Astronomy. He collected many translated Arabic books from India. He compiled a famous “biographic encyclopedia” of science that quickly became popular in the empire and the Islamic East.
In 1085 CE, King Alfonso VI invaded Toledo (Spain). Toledo has been under Arabs (“Moors”) since 711 CE. King Alfanso was tolerant of all cultures and religions. In Toledo and Cordoba, the Arabic text was translated into Latin and Hebrew. Gerard of Cremona (1114-87 CE) and Galib “the Mozarrab” translated 88 books, including world of Euclid and Khwārizmī’s “Kitab al-jabar.”
During this time there were many scholars came to Toledo and Cordoba to learn and work on the translation of texts. Among them was one Scottish chap called Michael Scott. After 20 years of doing research and translation of many texts, he moved to Sicily (Italy) for a new patron. He carried many of his translated books.
By the end of the 11th century, the Indo-Arabic numeral system had entered European intellectual life, though still in elite circles.
Part 4: The Perfect Use Case in Italy (13th–16th Century CE)
Leonardo of Pisa, better known as Fibonacci, studied the Latin translation of Khwārizmī’s work. Around 1202, he published Liber Abaci (The Book of Calculation), which explained the advantages of the Indo-Arabic numeral system. Leonardo attributed India for the discovery of “0”.
However, the book did not get much notice.
In 1225, Fedrick II (1194-1252), emperor of Sicily, a patron of arts, science, heard about Leonardo and his book. He made a journey to see Leonardo. Impressed by him, he invited him to his court.
Michael Scott, who had worked for years in Toledo, joined Emperor Frederick II’s court as a royal astrologer and translator. There, he influenced the revision of Liber Abaci. Leonardo revised it and printed it in 1228 with emphasis on the practical use of the Indo-Arabic numbers in the application to bookkeeping, converting, etc. The book became a bestseller, and copies spread to the rest of Europe.
Two hundred years later, Luca Pacioli, a Venetian mathematician and monk, published Summa de Arithmetica (1494), incorporating ideas from Fibonacci, Euclid, and al-Khwārizmī.
Venice at that time was a major center of commerce. The Medici family, who were using Roman numerals until that time, started using the Indo-Arabic numeral system, resisting for a long time. The first true application (“product market fit”) was done. The rest is history.
Eventually, even the Medici family, who started the first banking system, needed an easy way to keep track of loans and payments. They were using Roman numerals. After resisting for a while, they finally adopted the Indo-Arabic numeral system, and modern accounting was born.
Legacy and Reflection
Until the 12th century, scholars in the Arab world, Spain, and Italy consistently credited India as the birthplace of zero.
However, during British colonial rule, India’s scientific contributions were systematically minimized. For centuries, textbooks attributed zero to the Arabs alone—until modern research corrected the record.
India gave the world the concept, symbol, and mathematical role of zero. But we must also credit Arab scholars for preserving, translating, and expanding their reach.
Zero’s journey—from śūnya to ṣifr to zéro—is a powerful reminder that knowledge transcends borders, growing stronger through sharing and translation.
📎 Additional References
- Quanta Magazine: How the Human Brain Contends with the Strangeness of Zero
- Wikipedia – 0 (Zero)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kedukan_Bukit_inscription
- https://thebetterindia.com/270912/chaturbhuj-temple-in-gwalior-has-worlds-oldest-zero-symbol/
- https://old.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/mathematical-treasure-the-cambodian-zero
Very good dada
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