How it's read

Numbers into words

Three things turn a page of numbers into a verse: a sound for each number, an order to read them in, and the key that gives the order for each chapter.

1

Each number is a sound

The poem uses 64 sounds of Kannada, numbered 1 to 64. A consonant followed by a vowel makes a syllable.

1ಅa28ಕ್k28 · 1ಕka28 · 3ಕಾkā
2

The order

A page is nine blocks of 9 × 9 (nine chapters read the whole page as one walk instead). A key says which block comes first. Inside a block, start in the middle of the top row and step diagonally up and right, wrapping at the edges, until all 81 cells are read.

5
6
7
1
4
8
3
2
9
key · chapter 15
→Block 1 is read first, then 2, up to 9.
3

How we know this key

In most chapters the key follows the previous chapter's by a fixed rule: numbers from 3 up drop by one, 2 becomes 9, 1 stays. We checked the result: the small verse numbers written in some cells come out in sequence at 252 of 263 places, against 100 in plain order. We also gave an AI only the numbers, with no key and no path. It worked out the reading order, the key of every chapter and the sounds by itself, and every key matched.

6
7
8
1
5
9
4
3
2
chapter 14
→
5
6
7
1
4
8
3
2
9
chapter 15

Try it on a real page

The first page of chapter 15. Press Play and the blue square reads it in the right order.

0 of 729