Numbers in ancient India

Actually this must be written as a blog with references etc. Having got up in the middle of the night (it is quite common to me) I don't feel like doing it. Having interest in classical literature (that mean really old I encounter this quite often, mainly in two areas - one in SAsanas (that is rock edicts left by kings and others during their reign) and also in prosody (chandassu, the art of writing classical poetry in all Indian languages, which is my main interest in the last few years).

0 - sky (aakASaM gaganaM SUnyaM), egg, oval, circle, globe, etc.
1 - mEsha (the first rASi), the moon, sometimes by sun also, the earth, body etc.
2 - bull (two horns), aSvini (twins), mithuna (twin lovers), hands, eyes, ears, etc.
3 - SUla, Siva's eye, city (tripura), fire (three sacrificial fires), guNa, rAmA (three rAmAs - rAmO rAmaScha rAmaScha), lOka (heaven, earth and hell), etc.
4 - vEda (four vEdas), ocean (chatussAgara), yuga (four yugas), brahma (four faces), square, etc.
5 - arrows (manmatha the Love god has five flower arrows (name them for extra points :-), iMdriya (senses), ratna (gems), prANa (breath), bhUta (paMcha bhUta), kanya (paMcha kanya), etc.,
6 - aMga (limb, shaDaMga), ruchi (taste), rAga (shaDrAga), Rtu (six seasons), SAstra (sciences), Satru (enemies, arishaDvarga), etc.
7 - Rshi (saptaRshi), svara (seven musical notes), adri (seven mountains), horse (seven horses for the sun's chariot), dhAtu (seven principles), kaLatra (seven wives of the sages), mAruta (wind), etc.
8 - vasu (ashTa vasu, a type of god), aiSvarya (eight types of wealth), gaja (eight elephants), dik (eight cardinal directions), etc.
9 - randhra (nine holes in the body), graha (nine planets), nidhi (nine types of accumulated wealth), etc.
10 - diSa (ten directions, eight + up + down), paMkti (row of ten like ten heads of rAvaNa).
11 - Siva, rudra, (EkAdaSa rudra)
12 - sUrya (twelve suns), pushkara (like the pushkara for the rivers), rASi (signs of the zodiac)

bANAkshiyugmaMSaSi means bANa - arrow (5), akshi - eyes(2), yugmam - twin (2), SaSi - moon (1) that means 5221 Or in the modern notation 1225.

Hope this helps.

Regards! - mOhana