Limitations of these Mathematicians

If you've read any of the blog posts about these mathematicians or even took a long enough look at one of the cover pictures, you would recognize their contributions. So you may wonder, why weren't they recognized before? 

Indian Mathematicians never did math for math's sake, there was always a greater purpose. For Pingala, it was to understand the complicated language of Sanskrit, for Aryabhata it was to understand the stars. Math was simply a tool and not an end product; it was an art. That's why records of their information are so hard to decipher, they are all written in verse form, almost like riddles. It was almost like they recorded this information for themselves and no one else. Scholars after them have tried, and manuscripts written about the original texts are almost the only reason we understand the them today. Further, another reason why their works are not recognized is because of colonization, many concepts that were explained was burned by invaders (like Khiliji burning the library of Nalanda for 3 months). Mathematics in ancient India was like poetry, great truths about the universe were discovered but it was up to each person interpretation to find the meaning.