Ethnomathematics in Aashtimki: A Study on Tharu's Culture

Abstract

Tharu is one of the indigenous communities having their distinctive culture and practices. For doing daily tasks, they have developed their own mathematical conceptions and ideas. Ethnomathematics is the study of mathematical concepts and knowledge that are applied by a specific group of people but are typically not covered in the formal curriculum. This study is intended to explore the mathematical concepts hidden in the Aashtimki painting that Tharu's people celebrate. This study used the observation and documentation analysis method to collect data for this aim. The painting for Aashtimki have established a large degree of local knowledge that is primarily based on intuition, estimation, observation, and practice that has been passed down from generation to generation and is deeply rooted in their local culture. Emic ethnomodeling is used to investigate the mathematical elements embedded into the construction of Aashtimki painting in Tharu's community. The findings of the study revealed that Aashtimki painting have sophisticated mathematical ideas and knowledge and they used the concepts of reflection, rotation, translation and dilation of transformation implicitly.