Subhankari: An Indigenous Tradition of Elementary Mathematical Instruction

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The basic research for this work was done during 1996 when I was working on the project entitled 'Subhankar's Arjya - Study of a Precolonial Legacy in Popular Self-Education' at the Asiatic Society. The project was done under the super- vision of Professor Sushil Kumar Mukherjee to whom I am grateful for his splendid support and encouragement. The project was completed and after the due consent of the supervisor the final report was submitted sometime in 1998. Thereafter the Asiatic Society kindly requested me to reshape my work, i.e. get rid of its project-report character, and submit a fresh manuscript that could be published as a book. In the meantime, however, I had become preoccupied with my duties as a lecturer and that, along with other engagements, prevented me from complying with their request.

I had all but forgotten about my commitment. But someone had not. That person was Mr. Samir Duttagupta of the Asiatic Society. I have to blame and applaud his persistence for the fact that I finally sat down with the manuscript, and aided by the little reading and work that I had done in the meantime, put it into its present shape. If anyone deserves praise for the completion of this work, it is certainly Mr. Duttagupta. For, had it not been for his perseverance, it is extremely likely that this work would have remained unfinished.