Glimpses of India's statistical heritage

The origin of qualitative statistical thinking, according to P.C. Mahalanobis can be traced back to the Saptabhanginyaya or the dialectic of seven-fold predication in the Syadvada system of logic devel oped by the Jaina philosopher Bhadrabahu of the fourth century. According to Mahalanobis 2 and Rao there is already a clear evidence that administrative statistics had reached a very high level of organisation in ancient India and it is reflected in the Arthasastra (37) of Kautilya which was written between 321-300 B.C. In more recent times, during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar, the Ain-e-Akbari by Abul Fazal was written in AD 1596-1597 and it happens to be the best compilation of that period containing a wealth of information about the empire's extent, resources, condition, population, industry and wealth.
Coming to still more recent times, sensing the approach of independence from British rule under the impact of the Gandhian movement, the late P.C. Mahalanobis, a physicist by training, recognised Statistics as the 'key technology' in planning for the economic development of an independent India and pioneered the statistical movement in the country by launching the In dian Statistical Institute in 1931, Sankhya, the Indian Journal of Statistics in 1933 and the National Sample Survey in 1950 which, respectively, created a quiet niche for research in the statistical sciences, a forum for free discussion and projection of ideas and a domain for the practical application of statistics as the 'arithmetic of human welfare'.