The Relevance of Zero: Dr Jaishankar Explains Why India’s Ancient Mathematics Still Shapes the Digital Age

The exhibition “From Shunya to Ananta” carried significance for India far beyond a cultural celebration. It asserted that ancient knowledge systems continue to hold active relevance in contemporary debates surrounding artificial intelligence and digital governance. India seeks recognition not merely as a rising power, but as a civilisational state whose intellectual traditions continue to shape the modern world.

Silicon Valley may write the software of the future, but some of its foundational ideas were drafted centuries ago in Sanskrit. That thought lingered at the heart of the United Nations Headquarters in New York when India inaugurated the exhibition “From Shunya to Ananta”. The event, opened by Dr S Jaishankar, was not merely a celebration of ancient mathematics, but an attempt to reclaim authorship in the story of human progress.

India brought to New York the echoes of a civilisation that once saw mathematics as poetry written into the universe. At a time when artificial intelligence and data monopolies reshape global politics, the exhibition carried a larger message that knowledge does not belong to one geography, and innovation did not emerge from one civilisation alone. The modern digital world rests on intellectual foundations built across different centuries and continents.

The Civilisation Behind Zero

The exhibition traced India’s contributions to mathematics through ideas that transformed the world. The Sanskrit word shunya did not merely signify zero as a numeral but carried philosophical meanings linked to emptiness, void and latent possibility within Indian metaphysical traditions.

Zero literally changed everything. The Bakhshali Manuscript, considered among the earliest known texts using a symbol for zero, is believed to date between the 3rd and 7th centuries CE. Centuries later, Indian mathematician Aryabhata calculated the value of Pi with astonishing precision in the 5th century CE, long before similar mathematical breakthroughs reached Europe.

Another towering figure, Brahmagupta, formulated arithmetic rules involving zero and negative numbers in his work Brahmasphutasiddhanta. These ideas became the foundational tenets of modern algebra, engineering and computing.

India’s mathematical heritage survived invasions, colonialism and historical neglect because the ideas themselves were too significant to disappear. Today, every digital transaction and line of computer code carries traces of those ancient discoveries.

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt once publicly remarked that without India’s invention of zero, modern computing would not exist. The statement resonated globally because it compressed centuries of overlooked intellectual history into one undeniable truth that the architecture of the digital age owes a debt to ancient India.

Mathematics as Philosophy, Not Just Calculation

Dr Jaishankar at the “From Shunya to Ananta” exhibition

One of the exhibition’s most fascinating dimensions was its attempt to reconnect mathematics with philosophy. Ancient Indian scholars rarely treated mathematics as a dry mechanical exercise. For them, numbers were linked to cosmic order and metaphysical inquiry. The Sulba Sutras, among the oldest Indian mathematical texts, explored geometry within ritual and cosmological contexts. Knowledge moved fluidly between spirituality and astronomy.

Piṅgala’s Chandaḥ Sūtra, believed to date around the 3rd century BCE, used binary-like combinations to analyse poetic meters. Some modern scholars identify this as an early precursor to computational logic. Ancient formulas found new relevance in an age where machines now imitate human reasoning.

The Kerala School of Mathematics, led by Madhava of Sangamagrama between the 14th and 16th centuries, developed infinite series expansions that anticipated parts of modern calculus.

The connection between ancient algorithmic thinking and modern artificial intelligence formed the intellectual core of the exhibition. India was not merely showcasing historical pride here, but drawing a clear line of continuity between its civilisational past and its technological future.

The Battle Over Historical Memory

Dr Jaishankar’s speech carried an unmistakable geopolitical message when he deliberated that the democratisation of technology must also involve the democratisation of history.

For decades, global scientific history has largely been taught through Eurocentric frameworks, where contributions from Asian, African and Arab civilisations were often marginalised or reduced to secondary influences. This exhibition challenged that imbalance directly, though with diplomatic restraint and intellectual confidence.

The exhibition served as a reminder that scientific progress is not the achievement of one culture alone, but the shared inheritance of humanity. India’s argument also mirrors contemporary academic debates on decolonising curricula and diversifying global intellectual canons. Across universities worldwide, scholars are increasingly questioning why entire civilisations continue to remain footnotes in mainstream histories of science and innovation.

That is where the exhibition acquired deeper political significance. By reclaiming its mathematical heritage, India was also asserting its intellectual agency in global discourse. In an international order increasingly shaped by technology, nations are competing not only through military strength or economic power, but also through narratives about who shaped civilisation itself.

From UPI to AI

During the launch and rapid expansion of India’s Unified Payments Interface, many economists and technology observers described it as one of the world’s most successful digital public infrastructure systems. Street vendors and even rural users entered the digital economy through simple mobile transactions.

India framed digital infrastructure as a public utility rather than an elite privilege, a philosophy that closely reflects the idea that knowledge and innovation should function as shared commons rather than controlled monopolies.

The same thinking appeared in discussions around the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, referenced by Dr Jaishankar during his address. The summit reflected India’s effort to position itself as a bridge between advanced technological economies and the developmental priorities of the Global South.

New Delhi recognises the transformative potential of artificial intelligence, but remains cautious about the unchecked concentration of technology within a handful of corporations or countries that could deepen global inequalities. India’s diplomatic language increasingly emphasises openness and inclusion, strengthening its global image as both a technological power and a democratic counterweight to closed digital ecosystems.

Mathematics as Soft Power

Cultural diplomacy has often relied on familiar symbols such as yoga, spirituality, cuisine and cinema. At the United Nations, however, India chose a different language through mathematics.

Mathematics transcends religion and nationality. Equations do not require translation, and the invention of zero today belongs to humanity, even though it emerged from India’s intellectual traditions.

The presence of noted mathematician Manjul Bhargava alongside diplomats reinforced the exhibition’s blend of scholarship and statecraft. This proves how academic history became an instrument of soft power.

Countries are now competing to influence not only markets and military alliances, but also ethical frameworks surrounding emerging technologies. India’s narrative is a voice for pluralism in that debate.

A More Plural World Order

The United Nations provided the perfect stage for this exhibition because the debate extends far beyond mathematics. At its heart lies a larger question: can the future international order become genuinely pluralistic if humanity continues to remember history through narrow lenses?

A democratic global order also requires a democratic understanding of civilisation itself. Recognition matters because historical memory shapes contemporary legitimacy. Nations whose intellectual contributions are overlooked often find their modern ambitions dismissed as well.

That is why, for India, “From Shunya to Ananta” carried significance far beyond a cultural celebration. It asserted that ancient knowledge systems continue to hold active relevance in contemporary debates surrounding artificial intelligence and digital governance.

India seeks recognition not merely as a rising power, but as a civilisational state whose intellectual traditions continue to shape the modern world. Civilisations endure not only through monuments or empires, but through ideas that outlive centuries.