A Profile of Indian Astronomy before the Siddhāntic Period

Astronomy in popular perception is about stars, planets, sun, moon, eclipses, comets, meteorites and associated observable phenomena. Something of all of these was known to our ancients though not in the same form and detail as it is available now. In the context of India, the question is what was known, in what detail and when. For the siddhānta period, roughly starting with the Common Era, (CE) such questions have been fairly well answered. This has been possible since several texts of the period, specifically devoted to astronomy are available for systematic study. But for the more ancient period we have no exclusive texts other than Lagadha’s Vedānga Jyotiṣa (c 1400 BCE) which is a calendar with no reference to eclipses or planets. Hence when one talks of Vedic Times several precautions are necessary..... In the following articles we investigate briefly how comets, meteorites, and eclipses were experienced and pictured in the Vedic texts. Over a long period of time the effect of precession was also felt as with the loss of importance for the constellation Śiśumāra (Draco) and shifting of the Pole Star Dhruva. The astral descriptions and the religious lore behind the above astronomical entities provided the inspiration for the development of observational and mathematical astronomy in India. Some portion of the present study has appeared in the Indian Journal of History of Science (2005, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012) in the form of papers. However, considerable new information, beyond the published material, can be found in the following pages

History of Science in South Asia, 2020

From a private collection of palm leaf manuscripts the text Gaṇithagannaḍi has been unearthed and studied. The contents follow the traditional texts with all the chapters starting from the calculation of ahargaṇas to the predictions of eclipses. The text presents a unique method of calculation which the author, Viddaṇācārya, declares to be his own invention. In this paper, the procedures are described with the help of the elaborate commentary, written in Kannaḍa language, by Shankaranārāyaṇa Jōisaru of Sringeri. This paper highlights the uniqueness of the procedure for calculating the ahargaṇa and the dhruvās for the positions of planets.

History of Science in South Asia, 2020

This article provides an updated English translation of Chapter 14 of al-Bīrūnī's Kitāb taḥqīq mā li-l-Hind, in which he lists and describes numerous Sanskrit works related to astronomy, astrology and mathematics, and a few books belonging to other genres. Chapter 14 of Kitāb taḥqīq mā li-l-Hind highlights several types of literature accessed by al-Bīrūnī in the north-west of the Subcontinent in the early eleventh century CE. Whenever possible the English translation is supplemented with annotations on the works mentioned by al-Bīrūnī, and the Appendix offers a comparison of the table of contents of the Brāhmasphutasiddhānta as reported by al-Bīrūnī (in Arabic) and that given in the edition by Dvivedin of the Sanskrit text.

Open Access Journal of Astronomy, 2025

In the present paper a brief account of ancient astronomy covering the Pre-Siddhanta period and the Siddhanta Jyotish period is given. Five Siddhanta books supposed to be written by the sages are described and some other books on astronomy written by outstanding mathematicians and astronomers are also discussed. The historical development of Ancient Mathematics regarding various manuscripts is described with examples. In particular, the development of decimal systems and numerals with zero symbols are discussed in detail. Some concluding remarks are also given with a list of references in the end.

The modern world has witnessed great wonders in space related events with the help of Modern scientific equipments. However, the space and the stars have been always a matter of curiosity among people throughout the ages. Interestingly, there are lots of legends and myths related with the stars and constellations all over the world, the famous ones like the stories related with Cassipea, Andromeda and Perseus, the story of Dhruva and the seven stars constellations. The Rig Veda, one of the oldest literary examples of astronomical observations refers to the constellations and stars. Similarly there has ben a similar trend alongside the Vedic tradition like the ‘Gond Astronomy’ which tells us about the myths associated with the different constellations. The Gonds divide the region of the Orion constellation into five different constellations by including some neighbouring stars. The korku tribe have an interesting myth on the Centaurus constellation. In the Nimni district of Maharashtra, the local Gond inhabitants describe Saptarshi(as Katul and Keher), Samdur( as sea ), a group of 4 stars in quadrilateral( probably Auriga) comes overhead at 4 am, rains arrive and farming begins. In Assam and the Northeastern region of India , the study of the stars though in the primitive form might have been developed during the ages. In this paper an attempt is put forward by the scholar to study about the myths related with the stars and constellations in Assam.

Acta Orientalia Vilnensia, 2003

This article sets itself a goal to explore the early historical development of the traditional astrological sciences (jyotiṣaśāstra, jyotiṣavidyā) in India, tracing its relationship to the astrology developed in Mesopotamia and in the Hellenistic period by the Greeks, as well as discussing some of its amplifications in South Asia, and the direct intercourse between India and the Arabs. Some attention is paid to the transformation and re-interpretation of foreign astral and divinatory sciences in India. The primarily sources of the present study are the early Sanskrit texts (mainly those of Sphujidhvaja’s and Varāhamihira’s, and the study itself is grounded on the critical analysis of contemporary discussions carried on by D. Pingree, O. Neugebauer, P. V. Kane, A. M. Shastri, and others scholars in the field.

Investigation of the astronomical content of ancient Vedic texts along with historically constrained texts of the first and second millennium CE shows that the sky pictures of the most ancient period get contrasted with later ones due to the phenomenon of precession of earth’s rotational axis. Most important among such observations is the fixed Pole Star, named Abhaya-Dhruva at the tail end of the constellation known as Śiśumāra (whale or dolphin) described in the Taittirīya Āraṇyaka (II.19) of the Kṛṣṇa-yajurveda branch. With passage of time, in the Maitrāyaṇīya Āraṇyaka, a question arises, why even Dhruva moves. The Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa declares that star Dhruva rotates in the same position, like the nave of a potter’s wheel. This and a few other Purāṇas extol Dhruva as the fourteenth star on the tail of the constellation Śiśumara, as in the Vedic text. Al-Biruni (973–1048 CE) mentions that devout Hindus, during his time, believed their Pole Star to be in the constellation that looks like an aquatic animal called, Śiśumāra. This paper updates my previous work published in IJHS-2011.

International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research, 2024

Astronomy is one of the important scientific fields in the current scenario and this was also true in ancient times. Astronomy reached a gigantic peak between 400 and 700 AD. The most important contributor to astronomy during this period was Aryabhata. He produced many achievements in astronomy that are still useful today. He was also an ancient Indian mathematician during the Gupta period in 475 A.D, and many of his calculations are considered to be very close to modern calculations, and he is credited with various methods for observing celestial phenomena and celestial bodies. There are many hidden facts in the cosmic world that directly or indirectly affect our lives, such as astronomical changes, changes in the sun, changes in the positions of planets, and daily events. This study deals with the life of Aryabhatta and his contribution to our rich heritage of knowledge in astronomy. His astronomical calculation techniques were also very popular among various astronomers. These were often used to create Arabian astronomical tables called "Jijeh".