A poem written in numbers

Siribhūvalaya

A 1,200-year-old Kannada Jain poem, written entirely in numbers: one number for each of 64 sounds, across 1,268 grids.

We used AI to turn all 59 chapters back into Kannada and draft an English translation. Hidden inside, one letter per verse read down a chapter, are 64 more verses from the Bhagavad Gītā and Jain scriptures.

The English is rough. If you read Old Kannada, help us correct it.

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Chapter 15 · page 1

Hidden texts

One letter from each verse spells 64 verses of the Bhagavad Gītā and Jain texts.

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Read the poem

All 59 chapters in Kannada letters, each verse with its English draft.

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Try it out

Draw your own route across a real page and see if it reads.

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A short explainer of the poem and how it was decoded