Historiography of the circulations of mathematical ideas: the case of the "Kerala School"

Abstract

In this paper, we would like to reflect on the shifting historiography of circulations of the results of the "Kerala School". Our study will describe the historical formation of this idea of "Kerala School" in nationalist historiographies, from those ascertaining that its results were arrived at independently from a European influence, to the idea that its achievements could have travelled to Europe through Jesuit missionaries. However another history of circulations is possible, that of the possible influence of islamicate mathematics and astronomy on the authors identified with this school.