Mathematics and India

Not being qualified to lecture on a technical subject appropriate to a conference on algebraic geometry, the organizers have been kind enough to let me articulate some thoughts on the role of mathematics in Indian culture instead. In the shaping of these thoughts my contacts with promising young students in India from 1949 to 1959 have been vital. First and foremost among these students was Shreeman Abhyankar, 1949–1951. It is therefore with much pleasure that I participate on the auspicious occasion of his 60th birthday. I will deal with “Mathematics and India” from a rather special angle that brings out the difference in the roles that mathematics has played in European and Indian civilization, and focuses on research initiation in India.