Normally we use numbers for counting and accounting, for measuring and telling time. But religions refer to numbers and attach significance to them, with no reference to arithmetic. The Leiden Papyrus (>1500 BCE) shows number mysticism in Egyptian religion. The Karnak Temple is called Apet-sut: Enumerator of Places.
The number One is important in monotheism. The following verse from the Atharva Veda (13-4-15-20) may come as a surprise to those of the Abrahamic faiths who believe Hinduism to be polytheistic:
Not even eight or nine or ten, He is said to be Not even five nor six nor seven, He is said to be Not two nor three nor four, He is said to be. There is but one God for him who knows.
A book in the Bible presents the results of two censuses. It was translated into Greek as Arithmoi, which means Numbers. Two is important in all dichotomies, as in Yin-Yang. Three, too, is special in many religious contexts: Anu, Bel, Ea in Mesopotamia; Isis, Osiris, Horus in ancient Egypt; Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva in the Hindu tradition; Father, Son, Holy Spirit in Christianity. And also in Hindu categorization-triplets: three doshas (blemishes) and three gunas (qualities).
Four was important in ancient views on elements: earth, water, air, and fire. Four is sacred in Hinduism as the number of Vedas (primary sacred books). The word Yahweh, spelled out in Hebrew (YHWH), consists of four letters.
Five is important in Chinese lore. There are five locations of cardinal directions: east, west, south, north, and center; five principal colors: jade, red, yellow, white, and black; five tastes: sour, bitter, sweet, astringent, and salty; five elements: earth, water, metal, wood, and fire; and five principal tones in the Chinese musical scale.
The Pythagoreans regarded six as the first perfect number because its factors (1, 2, and 3) also add up to . Pythagoras also associated properties with numbers; and later, numbers were given to the letters of the alphabet
In some languages, like Greek, Hebrew, and Tamil, letters of the alphabet are used for numbers. Thus, letters in people’s names add up to a number. So began number mysticism, gematria in the Judaic world. Numerology is a system of dubious scientific standing. Its practitioners describe characteristics of people and predict events on the basis of numbers associated with letters and names.
We read in the Book of Revelations: “Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six (666).” The beast refers to the Antichrist. Scholars say the beast in the Bible refers to the Roman ruler Domitian who fantasized all his family to be divine, cluttered the Capitol with statues of himself. He was known for his ruthless treatment of Christians. The number equivalent of his name, written in Hebrew, turns out to be 666 , which was why this number was assigned to the Antichrist. Per pseudo-scientific logic, this becomes all the more significant.
Numerology persists, with its sister-disciplines of astrology, tarot cards, New Age cults, and such. These have been there all through history. In the nineteenth century, some naïve optimists fantasized that with the spread of science the obscurantism of by-gone eras would be shelved to ancient history. They were sorely mistaken: quite the contrary has happened. Pseudoscience has been regaining currency and credibility, thanks to the power and popularity of the postmodernist tenet that every worldview, ancient, medieval, and modern, deserves equal recognition. Demanding logical consistency in pre-modern systems is denounced as culture-insensitive; respect for reason in belief-systems is decried as servility to scientism.
Number magic, like periodic prediction of the world’s end and omens from stars and constellations, will last for as long as the human mind rejoices in fancy and poetry and is impervious to logic and rationality.
Spurts of Thought 