Herein could lie the reason how the mathematical concept of zero got a philosophical connotation of reverence. In a queer way the concept of 'Zero' or Shunya is derived from the concept of a void. The concept of void existed in Hindu Philosophy hence the derivation of a symbol for it. In ancient India the terms used to describe zero included Pujyam, Shunyam, Bindu the concept of a void or blank was termed as Shukla and Shubra. The Arabs refer to the zero as Siphra or Sifr from which we have the English terms Cipher or Cypher.
Cipher connotes zero or any Arabic numeral.
Thus it is evident that the term Cipher is derived from the Arabic Sifr which in turn is quite close to the Sanskrit term Shubra. We are told that his name as a mathematician was well established when K Vyaghramukha of the Chapa dyansty m him the court astronomer. Of his two treatises, Brahma-sputa siddhanta and Karanakhandakhadyaka, first is more famous. It was a corrected version of the old Astronomical text, Brahma siddhanta. It was in his Brahma-sphu siddhanta, for the first time ever had be formulated the rules of the operation zero, foreshadowing the decimal system numeration.