<P> Although Jainism as a religion and philosophy predates its most famous exponent, the great Mahavira (6th century BCE), most Jain texts on mathematical topics were composed after the 6th century BCE . Jain mathematicians are important historically as crucial links between the mathematics of the Vedic period and that of the "classical period ." </P> <P> A significant historical contribution of Jain mathematicians lay in their freeing Indian mathematics from its religious and ritualistic constraints . In particular, their fascination with the enumeration of very large numbers and infinities led them to classify numbers into three classes: enumerable, innumerable and infinite . Not content with a simple notion of infinity, they went on to define five different types of infinity: the infinite in one direction, the infinite in two directions, the infinite in area, the infinite everywhere, and the infinite perpetually . In addition, Jain mathematicians devised notations for simple powers (and exponents) of numbers like squares and cubes, which enabled them to define simple algebraic equations (beejganita samikaran). Jain mathematicians were apparently also the first to use the word shunya (literally void in Sanskrit) to refer to zero . More than a millennium later, their appellation became the English word "zero" after a tortuous journey of translations and transliterations from India to Europe . (See Zero: Etymology .) </P> <P> In addition to Surya Prajnapti, important Jain works on mathematics included the Sthananga Sutra (c. 300 BCE--200 CE); the Anuyogadwara Sutra (c. 200 BCE--100 CE); and the Satkhandagama (c. 2nd century CE). Important Jain mathematicians included Bhadrabahu (d . 298 BCE), the author of two astronomical works, the Bhadrabahavi - Samhita and a commentary on the Surya Prajinapti; Yativrisham Acharya (c. 176 BCE), who authored a mathematical text called Tiloyapannati; and Umasvati (c. 150 BCE), who, although better known for his influential writings on Jain philosophy and metaphysics, composed a mathematical work called Tattwarthadhigama - Sutra Bhashya . </P> <P> Mathematicians of ancient and early medieval India were almost all Sanskrit pandits (paṇḍita "learned man"), who were trained in Sanskrit language and literature, and possessed "a common stock of knowledge in grammar (vyākaraṇa), exegesis (mīmāṃsā) and logic (nyāya)." Memorisation of "what is heard" (śruti in Sanskrit) through recitation played a major role in the transmission of sacred texts in ancient India . Memorisation and recitation was also used to transmit philosophical and literary works, as well as treatises on ritual and grammar . Modern scholars of ancient India have noted the "truly remarkable achievements of the Indian pandits who have preserved enormously bulky texts orally for millennia ." </P>

Who was the first ancient indian mathematician who used the value of zero