_), "eyes" (_nayana_), etc.; four by "oceans," five
by "senses" (_vi[s.]aya_) or "arrows" (the five arrows of K[=a]mad[=e]va);
six by "seasons" or "flavors"; seven by "mountain" (_aga_), and so on.[130]
These names, accommodating themselves to the verse in which scientific
works were written, had the additional advantage of not admitting, as did
the figures, easy alteration, since any change would tend to disturb the
meter.

{39}

As an example of this system, the date "['S]aka Sa[m.]vat, 867" (A.D. 945
or 946), is given by "_giri-ra[s.]a-vasu_," meaning "the mountains"
(seven), "the flavors" (six), and the gods "_Vasu_" of which there were
eight. In reading the date these are read from right to left.[131] The
period of invention of this system is uncertain. The first trace seems to
be in the _['S]rautas[=u]tra_ of K[=a]ty[=a]yana and
L[=a][t.]y[=a]yana.[132] It was certainly known to Var[=a]ha-Mihira (d.
587),[133] for he used it in the _B[r.]hat-Sa[m.]hit[=a]._[134] It has also
been asserted[135] that [=A]ryabha[t.]a (c. 500 A.D.) was familiar with
this system, but there is nothing to prove the statement.[136] The earliest
epigraphical examples of the system are found in the Bayang (Cambodia)
inscriptions of 604 and 624 A.D.[137]

Mention should also be made, in this connection, of a curious system of
alphabetic numerals that sprang up in southern India. In this we have the
numerals represented by the letters as given in the following table:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
k kh g gh [.n] c ch j jh n
[t.] [t.]h [d.] [d.]h [n.] t th d th n
p ph b bh m
y r l v ['s] [s.] s h l

{40}

By this plan a numeral might be represented by any one of several letters,
as shown in the preceding table, and thus it could the more easily be
formed into a word for mnemonic purposes. For example, the word

2 3 1 5 6 5 1
_kha_ _gont_ _yan_ _me_ _[s.]a_ _m[=a]_ _pa_

has the value 1,565,132, reading from right to left.[138] This, the oldest
specimen (1184 A.D.) known of this notation, is given in a commentary on
the Rigveda, representing the number of days that had elapsed from the
beginning of the Kaliyuga. Burnell[139] states that this system is even yet
in use for remembering rules to calculate horoscopes