The Bakhshali Manuscript is a mathematical manuscript written on birch bark . It was found in 1881 near the village of Bakhshali in what was then the North-West Frontier Province of British India ( now Pakistan ) . The Bakhshali Manuscript is an Ancient Indian mathematical manuscript written on birch bark which was found near the village of Bakhshali in 1881 in what was then the North-West Frontier Province of British India ( now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province , in Pakistan ) .