Magic Square in Ancient Culture

Abstract

Mathematical numbers have their own importance since ancient times. The mathematicians and common men have always fascination about the numbers. Mathematicians and great Indian Acaryas were having knowledge of numbers, operations of numbers and magic squares. Religion has been the dominant feature in all the culture. Different civilizations have prepared Magic Squares and associated them with their religious faith and astrology. It was believed that magic square has some relation with planets, so for different planets different magic squares were prepared. Magic squares are also meant for recreational purposes. Magic squares were known to China, Arabia, Persia, Europe and India since 6^th-7^th century BC. It was well known to Indians and was also called as Aika Yantra. In Vedic and Jaina culture magic squares are prepared according to their Stotras (rituals). Magic squares were treated as mystic diagrams used in worship, meditation and ritual practice. They are well mentioned in the religious manuscripts and also engraved on monuments and religious places. Different methods are applied to prepare magic squares of different order, but no single method has been developed for making different order magic squares. The present paper is a humble attempt to find various aspects about the numbers and magic squares including traditional views. I also explained simple method to prepare magic squares of 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th order in this paper.