"From the earliest times... to... present day the Hindu has been wont to put his thought into rhythmic form. The first of this poetry... being also worthy from a metaphysical point of view... consists of the Vedas, hymns of praise and poems of worship, collected during the ... from approximately 2000 B.C. to 1400 B.C. Following this work, or possibly contemporary... is the Brahmanic literature, which is partly ritualistic (the s), and partly philosophical (the Upanishads). Our... interest is in the s... which contain... geometric material used in connection with altar construction, and also numerous examples of... "Pythagorean numbers," although this was long before Pythagoras lived."