Astronomy, " the science of the Heavens ", was well developed by the Indians



and noted scholar Eirik L Harris remarked that " the Vedic culture was very

rich in astronomical thinking." The Winter Solstice was the base of all

year-long sacrifices and the Vedic knowledge of both winter and summer

solstices were accurate. There is a verse in the Rig Veda stating that

Winter Solstice was in Aries. " The period of the Rig Veda was therefore

6500 BC and it is possible to date the Rig Veda thus " remarks Eirik L

Harris. Astronomy and Mathematics were inspired by Vedic practices.

Another scholar B.V.Subbarayyappa remarked that " Indian mathematics too

owes its primary inspiration to Vedic practices. The Shulba sutras, part of

another Vedic auxiliary called the Kalpa sutras, deal with the construction

of several types of brick altars and in that context with certain

geometrical problems including the Pythagorean theorem, squaring a circle,

irrational numbers and the like. Yet another Vedic auxiliary, Metrics

(chandah), postulated a triangular array for determining the type of

combinations of 'n' syllables of long and short sounds for metrical

chanting. This was mathematically developed by Halayudha who lived in

Karnataka (10th Century) into a pyramidal expansion of numbers. Such an

exercise appeared six centuries later in Europe, known as Pascal's triangle.

Vedic mathematics and astronomy were pragmatic and integrated with Vedic

religio-philosophical life."

"During the three centuries before and after the Christian era, there were

new impulses. Astronomy became mathematics-based. In the succeeding

centuries, while astronomy assimilated Hellenic ideas to some extent

mathematics was really innovative. Indian astronomers were able

mathematicians too. The doyen among them, Aryabhatta I (b.476 A.D.) gave the

value of pi (3.1416 approx., a value used even today) worked out

trigonometrical tables, areas of triangles and other plane figures,

arithmetical progression, summation of series, indeterminate equations of

the first order and the like. He expounded that the earth rotates about its

own axis and the period of one sidereal rotation given by him is equivalent

to 23h 56m 4s.1, while the modern value is 23h 56m 4s.091. He discarded the

mythical Rahu-Ketu postulate concerning eclipses in favour of a scientific

explanation.

Aryabhatta's junior contemporary Varahamihira, was well known for his

compendium, the Panchasiddhantika, a compilation of the then extant five

astronomical works called the Siddhantha- Surya, Paulisha, Romaka, Vasishta,

and Paitamaha. Of them, the Suryasiddhanta, which he regarded as the most

accurate, underwent revisions from time to time and continues to be an

important text for computing pancangas.

Brahmagupta was a noted astronomer mathematician of the 7th Century. His

remarkable contribution was his equation for solving indeterminate equations

of the second order - an equation that appeared in Europe a thousand years

later known as Pell's equation. His lemmas in this connection were

rediscovered by Euler (1764) and Lagrange (1768). Brahmagupta was also the

first to enunciate a formula for the area of a rational cyclic

quadrilateral. In the latter half of the first millenium A.D. there were

other noted astronomers and mathematicians like Bhaskara I, Lalla,

Pruthudakasvamin, Vateshvara, Munjala, Mahavira (Jaina mathematician),

Shripati, Shridhara, Aryabhatta II , and Vijayanandin. The tradition of

astronomy and mathematics continued unabated - determination of procession

of equinoxes, parallax, mean and true motions of planet, permutations and

combinations, solving quadratic equations, square root of a negative number

and the like.

Using nine digits and zero, the decimal place value system had established

itself by about the 4th century A.D. Says historian of science, George

Sarton, "Our numbers and the use of zero were invented by the Hindus and

transmitted by Arabs, hence the name Arabic numerals which we often give

them.' Brahmagupta's Brahmasphuta Siddhanta and Khandakhadyaka were also

rendered into Arabic in the 9th-10th century. The Brahmi numerical forms

with some modifications along with the decimal place-value system developed

in India have since become universal."

Eirik L Harris remarked that "Additionally, the Vedics, who developed the

Hindu-Arabic number system, were far enough advanced in mathematics to make

many calculations, including that of the complete cycle of the progression

of the equinoxes, though, again, as the Vedas were mainly religious, there

is no mention as to how results like this were derived. Overall, the Vedic

culture was very rich in astronomical thinking, and it is a shame that non

religious texts did not last through the centuries, for they could have

shone more light on the matter of the astronomical accomplishments of the

Vedic people."

The ancient Indians divided the path of the moon into 27 equal parts called

nakshatras, showing the variation of the relative position of the moon in

comparison to the rest of the stars visible to the Vedic people. These

nakshatras were quite important for determining times of the year, as can be

seen in combination with Vedic mythology, and can also be used to determine

how far back in history Vedic astronomy extended.

The myth of the god Janus shows both of these factors, the determination of

the age of Vedic astronomy and different periods of the year. Janus had four

heads, each of which represented a phase of the moon in Sagittarius (one of

the nakshatras) which marked the four seasons. One head was the full moon

(in Sagittarius) which gave the time of the spring equinox, another was the

new moon, during which time the autumn equinox fell, still another was the

half waning moon, marking the winter solstice, and finally came the head

representing the half waxing moon, during which time came the summer

solstice. From current knowledge of the movement of the sphere of stars

surrounding the earth, it can be calculated that the observations leading to

the myth of Janus were made around 4000 BC. Additionally, within the Rg Veda

is a verse observing the winter solstice in Aries, which would have placed

it at around 6500 BC.

It is possible to date the Rg Veda like this because a complete cycle in the

procession of the equinoxes takes place either every 25,870 to 24,500 years

according to modern astronomers (the exact time period is still disputed by

modern day astronomers), meaning that the moon is only full in Sagittarius

during the spring equinox every 25,000 years or so. Modern astronomers,

however, were not the first to make the difficult calculations to discover

the length of this cycle. The Vedics were able to do this and came up with

the value of 25,870 years. How these ancient people were able to make these

calculations, however is "as great a mystery as the origin of life itself".

Further observations which could only have taken place around 4000 BC have

also been recorded. These included the constellation Hydra, the god of

darkness. The only time Hydra was fully visible to the people of northern

India was in mid-winter, when the sun shone the fewest hours, hence the

allusion to the god of darkness. More importantly, however, was the fact

that the rains came when Hydra ceased to be completely visible. This was

very important to the farmers of North India, for they needed to know when

the rains would come, so as to know when to prepare their fields and plant

their crops." ( Astronomy of Vedic India )

Astronomical Mysticism in the Rig Veda

The five fundamental circles, the Celestial Equator ( Vishuvat Vritta) , the

Celestial Meridien ( Khagoleeya Dhruva Rekha ), the Ecliptic ( Kranti

Vritta ), the Nodal Circle ( Vikshepa Vritta ) and the Celestial Horizon (

Kshithija ) were called by the Seers as Shahasra Seersha, Sahasra Purusha,

Sahasra Kha, Sahasra Path & Sahasra Bhoomi. This is given in the Hymn, the

Purusha Sooktha, that the Zodiacal Man or Time Eternal lies coiled as the

mighty Zodiac !

Philosophical Piece

The Downward Pull of the Mind

The Downward Pull of the Mind is when the negative elements in the

collective mind or the social mind triumph. Socrates is poisoned. Rimbau

flees to the Abyssinian desert. History is replete with such incidents, when

" the adverse forces " or " the hostile forces " triumph over the positive

forces in the collective or social mind.

The Upward Pull of the Mind

This happens only in the minds of Initiates. " In Ire " in Latin means to go

within. Initiates are those who are always in touch with the Divine Self in

themselves. The four faculites of the Intuitive Reason - Revealation,

Inspiration, Intuition & Illumination - are experienced by them. The river

of inspiration flowing from the Truth Consciousness pulls the mind to the

higher regions of the Superconscient. In Geo-Biology, this is the pull of

the mind from the Telluric level to the Cosmic level. The mind experiences

Bliss during this Upward Pull.

The Upward Pull is the master movement of Nature. The upward movement is

that which pulls us from Death ( the senseless attachment to the sensory

world ) to Immortality ( Self- Actualisation) and realises in this body of

earth the luminous Kingdom of Heaven !