"And Viswamitra said, 'It is enough, Let us to numbers. After me repeat Your numeration till we reach the lakh,[59] One, two, three, four, to ten, and then by tens To hundreds, thousands.' After him the child Named digits, decads, centuries, nor paused, The round lakh reached, but softly murmured on, Then comes the k[=o]ti, nahut, ninnahut, Khamba, viskhamba, abab, attata, To kumuds, gundhikas, and utpalas, By pundar[=i]kas into padumas, Which last is how you count the utmost grains Of Hastagiri ground to finest dust;[60] But beyond that a numeration is, The K[=a]tha, used to count the stars of night, The K[=o]ti-K[=a]tha, for the ocean drops; Ingga, the calculus of circulars; Sarvanikchepa, by the which you deal With all the sands of Gunga, till we come To Antah-Kalpas, where the unit is The sands of the ten crore Gungas. If one seeks More comprehensive scale, th' arithmic mounts By the Asankya, which is the tale Of all the drops that in ten thousand years Would fall on all the worlds by daily rain; Thence unto Maha Kalpas, by the which The gods compute their future and their past.'" {17} Thereupon Vi[s.]vamitra [=A]c[=a]rya[61] expresses his approval of the task, and asks to hear the "measure of the line" as far as y[=o]jana, the longest measure bearing name. This given, Buddha adds: ... "'And master! if it please, I shall recite how many sun-motes lie From end to end within a y[=o]jana.' Thereat, with instant skill, the little prince Pronounced the total of the atoms true. But Viswamitra heard it on his face Prostrate before the boy; 'For thou,' he cried, 'Art Teacher of thy teachers--thou, not I, Art G[=u]r[=u].'" It is needless to say that this is far from being history. And yet it puts in charming rhythm only what the ancient _Lalitavistara_ relates of the number-series of the Buddha's time. While it extends beyond all reason, nevertheless it reveals a condition that would have been impossible unless arithmetic had attained a considerable degree of advancement. To this pre-Christian period belong also the _Ved[=a][.n]gas_, or "limbs for supporting the Veda," part of that great branch of Hindu literature known as _Sm[r.]iti_ (recollection), that which was to be handed down by tradition. Of these the sixth is known as _Jyoti[s.]a_ (astronomy), a short treatise of only thirty-six verses, written not earlier than 300 B.C., and affording us some knowledge of the extent of number work in that period.[62] The Hindus {18} also speak of eighteen ancient Siddh[=a]ntas or astronomical works, which, though mostly lost, confirm this evidence.[63] As to authentic histories, however, there exist in India none relating to the period before the Mohammedan era (622 A.D.). About all that we know of the earlier civilization is what we glean from the two great epics, the Mah[=a]bh[=a]rata[64] and the R[=a]m[=a]yana, from coins, and from a few inscriptions.[65]