External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will inaugurate a special exhibition at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Monday highlighting India’s historic contribution to mathematics and scientific thought across centuries.

Titled From Shunya to Ananta (Zero to Infinity): The Indian Civilisation’s Contribution to Mathematics, the exhibition has been organised by India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations and aims to showcase India’s mathematical traditions spanning more than 2,000 years. The exhibition is expected to trace the development of foundational mathematical concepts such as zero, infinity, algebraic methods, geometry, combinatorics, and astronomical calculations that emerged from the Indian subcontinent and later influenced global scientific traditions.

The event comes during Jaishankar’s brief visit to New York after concluding a diplomatic tour of Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago between May 2 and May 10.

According to officials familiar with the exhibition, the showcase will attempt to place ancient Indian mathematical traditions within a broader civilisational and global context, highlighting contributions from scholars such as Aryabhata, Brahmagupta, and Bhaskara II. The concept of shunya, or zero, developed in India, is widely regarded as one of the most transformative ideas in the history of mathematics, later shaping modern arithmetic, computing, and digital systems.

The exhibition also reflects a growing emphasis by India on presenting civilisational knowledge systems through international cultural diplomacy. In recent years, India has increasingly used global forums, including the United Nations, to highlight themes ranging from yoga and Ayurveda to linguistic heritage, traditional knowledge systems, and scientific history.

Scholars of the history of mathematics have long argued that Indian mathematical traditions played a major role in shaping developments beyond the subcontinent, particularly through exchanges with the Arab world and later Europe. Academic studies examining the evolution of mathematics have noted the enduring influence of Indian numeral systems and computational methods on modern mathematics.

The exhibition is expected to remain on display at the UN headquarters for delegates, diplomats, academics, and visitors over the coming days.