probable that most of the rules and examples had been originally composed in Sanskrit, while one of the sections was written entirely in a dialect. It is possible that the manuscript might be a compilation of fragments from different works composed in a number of language varieties. Hayashi admits that some of the irregularities are due to errors by scribes or may be orthographical. A colophon to one of the sections states that it was written by a brahmin identified as "the son of Chajaka", a "king of calculators," for the use of Vasiṣṭha'''s son Hasika. The brahmin might have been the author of the commentary as well as the scribe of the manuscript. Near the colophon appears a broken word rtikāvati, which has been interpreted as the place Mārtikāvata mentioned by Varāhamihira as being in northwestern India (along with Takṣaśilā, Gandhāra etc.), the supposed place where the manuscript might have been written. Mathematics The manuscript is a compilation of mathematical rules and examples (in verse), and prose commentaries on these verses. Typically, a rule is given, with one or more examples, where each example is followed by a "statement" (nyāsa / sthāpanā) of the example's numerical information in tabular form, then a computation that works out the example by following the rule step-by-step while quoting it, and finally a verification to confirm that the solution satisfies the problem. This is a style similar to that of Bhāskara I's commentary on the gaṇita (mathematics) chapter of the Āryabhaṭīya, including the emphasis on verification that became obsolete in later works. The rules are algorithms and techniques for a variety of problems, such as systems of linear equations, quadratic equations, arithmetic progressions and arithmetico-geometric series, computing square roots approximately, dealing with negative numbers (profit and loss), measurement such as of the fineness of gold, etc. Mathematical context Scholar Takao Hayashi has compared the text of the manuscript with several Sanskrit texts. He mentions that a passage is a verbatim quote from Mahabharata. He discusses similar passages in Ramayana, Vayupurana, Lokaprakasha of Kshemendra etc. Some of the mathematical rules also appear in Aryabhatiya of Aryabhatta, Aryabhatiyabhashya of Bhaskara I, Patiganita and Trairashika of Sridhara, Ganitasarasamgraha of Mahavira, and Lilavati and Bijaganita of Bhaskara II. An unnamed manuscript, later than Thakkar Pheru, in the Patan Jain library, a compilation of mathematical rules from various sources resembles the Bakhshali manuscript, contains data in an example