The Lokavibhāga is a Jain cosmological text originally composed in Prakrit by a Digambara monk, Sarvanandi,[1] surviving in a later Sanskrit translation by one Siṃhasūri.[2] It the oldest known Indian source to use zero as number.[3] Surviving manuscripts of the Lokavibhāga are listed in v.26 of the New Catalogus Catalogorum.[4] Parts of the Bakhshali Manuscript on arithmetic, which does use a physically written symbol for zero, have been carbon-dated, but the results of this dating are puzzling and are still being debated.[5]
| Lokavibhaga | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| Author | Sarvanandi |
| Language | Prakrit |
| Period | 458 CE |
The printed edition of the Lokavibhāga states that the original Prakrit work was composed by Sarvanandin at Patalika in the Banarastra on a certain day the astronomical details of which are given. These correspond to 458 CE. The surviving text is a Sanskrit translation of Sarvanandin's work by one Simhasūri, made "some considerable time" after that date of Sarvanandin.[6]
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