"The second consequence follows from the first: for if the Indian infinite series were established using a method of calculation and demonstration that does not constitute a formal mathematical proof, valid according to the present-day belief in the potency of formalism, then the Indian infinite series may forever have to be consigned to the status of "proto- calculus", or at best "pre-calculus", for that is how Western historians of science would surely like to classify them, if at all they are compelled to link these Indian infinite series to the infinitesimal calculus in Europe. After all, Indian infinite series were very similar to, if not identical with, the series used by Cavalieri, Fermat, Pascal, Barrow, Gregory, and Wallis, and these efforts are already classified as “pre-calculus” by Western historians of science. While such a strategy of classification and labelling may suit the political interests and the morbid narcissism of the West, it works against the grain of history regarded as an attempt to reconstruct the past."