Origin and Growth of Astronomy in Indian Context
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Iconography of the Recently Discovered Naga Sculptures from Pamba River Basin, Pathanamthitta District, South Kerala
Iconography of the Recently Discovered Naga Sculptures from Pamba River Basin, Pathanamthitta District, South Kerala Ambily C.S.1, Ajit Kumar2 and Vinod Pancharath3 1. Excavation Branch II, Archaeological survey of India, Purana Qila, New Delhi – 110001, India (Email: [email protected]) 2. Department of Archaeology, University of Kerala, Kariavattom Campus, Thiruvananthapuram - 695581, Kerala, India (Email: [email protected]) 3. Industrial Design Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Powai, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India (Email: [email protected]) Received: 25 September 2015; Accepted: 18 October 2015; Revised: 09 November 2015 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 3 (2015): 618-634 Abstract: Recent exploration by the first author brought to light interesting Naga sculptures from the middle ranges of Pamba River basin. All the sculptures are made out of granite and can be classified into Nagarajas and Nagayakshis except one which is a female naga devotee. This paper tries to briefly discuss the iconography, chronology and significance of the sculptures. Keywords: Exploration, Pamba River Basin, Kerala, Nagarajas, Nagayakshis, Iconography, Chronology Introduction Pamba is one of the important and third longest rivers in Kerala. It is apparently the river Baris/Bans mentioned in records of Pliny (Menon 1967-62). It originates from Pulachimalai hill in Peermade plateau at an altitude of 1650 MSL and has a length of 176km. It flows through Idukki, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha districts and finally empties into the Vembanadu Lake. During medieval period Pamba basin harbored prosperous settlement like Kaviyur, Thiruvanmandoor, Perunnayil and Thiruvalla. Naga and yakshi images have earlier been reported from Niranam-Tiruvalla area (Mathew 2006). The present discoveries add to the list of known images. -
The Mahabharata
^«/4 •m ^1 m^m^ The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924071123131 ) THE MAHABHARATA OF KlUSHNA-DWAIPAYANA VTASA TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH PROSE. Published and distributed, chiefly gratis, BY PROTSP CHANDRA EOY. BHISHMA PARVA. CALCUTTA i BHiRATA PRESS. No, 1, Raja Gooroo Dass' Stbeet, Beadon Square, 1887. ( The righi of trmsMm is resem^. NOTICE. Having completed the Udyoga Parva I enter the Bhishma. The preparations being completed, the battle must begin. But how dan- gerous is the prospect ahead ? How many of those that were counted on the eve of the terrible conflict lived to see the overthrow of the great Knru captain ? To a KsJtatriya warrior, however, the fiercest in- cidents of battle, instead of being appalling, served only as tests of bravery that opened Heaven's gates to him. It was this belief that supported the most insignificant of combatants fighting on foot when they rushed against Bhishma, presenting their breasts to the celestial weapons shot by him, like insects rushing on a blazing fire. I am not a Kshatriya. The prespect of battle, therefore, cannot be unappalling or welcome to me. On the other hand, I frankly own that it is appall- ing. If I receive support, that support may encourage me. I am no Garuda that I would spurn the strength of number* when battling against difficulties. I am no Arjuna conscious of superhuman energy and aided by Kecava himself so that I may eHcounter any odds. -
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The Indian Institute of Culture Basavangudi, Bangalore Transaction No/io YANTRAS OR MECHANICAL B CONTRIVANCES IN ANCIENT INDIA? otoio By V. RAGHAVAN, M.A.,PH.D. =3 (EJggj £53 !2S2» February 1952 Prjce: Re. 1/8 )<93 /dZ^J TJ/ THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF CULTURE TRANSACTIONS YANTRAS OR MECHANICAL ' Many valuable lectures are given, papers read and discussed, and oral CONTRIVANCES IN ANCIENT INDIA-'.. reviews of outstanding books presented, at the Indian Institute of Culture. Its day is still one of small beginnings, but wider dissemination of at least a few of " To deny to Babylon, to Egypt and to India, their part in the development these addresses and papers is obviously in the interest of the better intercultural of science and scientific thinking is to defy the testimony of the ancients, supported understanding so important for world peace. Some of these are published in the by the discovery of the modem authorities." L. C. KARPINSKI. * Institute's monthly organ, The Aryan Path; then we have two series of occa " Thus we see that India's marvels were not always false." LYNN sional papers—Reprints from that journal, and Transactions. The Institute is not responsible fox* views expressed and does not necessarily concur in them. TlIORNDIKE. 2 , Transaction No. 10 : It is indeed in the realms of literature and art, religion and philosophy Dr. V. Raghavan heads the Department of Sanskrit in the University of that ancient India made its outstanding contributions. While the achievements Madras. He came to Bangalore to deliver two lectures, on June 18th and 19th, in the former have gained world-wide appreciation, those in the latter constitute 1951, under the auspices of the Indian Institute of Culture. -
Researches on Poison, Garuda-Birds and Naga-Serpents Based on the Sgrub Thabs Kun Btus
Researches on Poison, Garuda-birds and Naga-serpents based on the Sgrub thabs kun btus ALEX WAYMAN Tibetan literature deals with poison in a number of texts, conveniently in corporated in the Tibetan sadhana (deity evocation) collection Sgrub thabs kun btus,1 especially in Vols. Cha and Nya of the fourteen-volume set. Here the term for 'poison' (T. dug) has a range of usages and applications far ex ceeding what we could expect in Western conceptions, also far exceeding those found in Indian Buddhism itself. To differentiate the part due to the In dian heritage from what else is found in these Tibetan texts, whatever be the source, it is relevant to introduce numerical groups, namely, the three, the four, and the five kinds of poison. The threefold system does not implicate the Garuda-birds or Naga-serpents. The system of four poisons, with a fifth one added, in terms of the four or five elements, goes with both the Garuda-birds and Naga-serpents; and a secondary system of five poisons was found in a iion-faced' DakinT text. The threefold set of poison In an early, primitive paper I dealt with the Buddhist theory of poison, which stresses three psychological poisons—lust, hatred, and delusion (in Sanskrit, usually rdga, dvesa, moha).2 The Indian books on medicine, includ ing Vagbhata's Astahgahrdayasamhita, which was translated into Tibetan along with a large commentary, set forth two kinds of natural poisons: 'stable' poison from the stationary realm, e.g. from roots of plants; and 'mobile' poi son from the moving realm, e.g. -
Dhruva the Ancient Indian Pole Star: Fixity, Rotation and Movement
Indian Journal of History of Science, 46.1 (2011) 23-39 DHRUVA THE ANCIENT INDIAN POLE STAR: FIXITY, ROTATION AND MOVEMENT R N IYENGAR* (Received 1 February 2010; revised 24 January 2011) Ancient historical layers of Hindu astronomy are explored in this paper with the help of the Purân.as and the Vedic texts. It is found that Dhruva as described in the Brahmân.d.a and the Vis.n.u purân.a was a star located at the tail of a celestial animal figure known as the Úiúumâra or the Dolphin. This constellation, which can be easily recognized as the modern Draco, is described vividly and accurately in the ancient texts. The body parts of the animal figure are made of fourteen stars, the last four of which including Dhruva on the tail are said to never set. The Taittirîya Âran.yaka text of the Kr.s.n.a-yajurveda school which is more ancient than the above Purân.as describes this constellation by the same name and lists fourteen stars the last among them being named Abhaya, equated with Dhruva, at the tail end of the figure. The accented Vedic text Ekâgni-kân.d.a of the same school recommends observation of Dhruva the fixed Pole Star during marriages. The above Vedic texts are more ancient than the Gr.hya-sûtra literature which was the basis for indologists to deny the existence of a fixed North Star during the Vedic period. However the various Purân.ic and Vedic textual evidence studied here for the first time, leads to the conclusion that in India for the Yajurvedic people Thuban (α-Draconis) was Dhruva the Pole Star c 2800 BC. -
General Index
General Index Italic page numbers refer to illustrations. Authors are listed in ical Index. Manuscripts, maps, and charts are usually listed by this index only when their ideas or works are discussed; full title and author; occasionally they are listed under the city and listings of works as cited in this volume are in the Bibliograph- institution in which they are held. CAbbas I, Shah, 47, 63, 65, 67, 409 on South Asian world maps, 393 and Kacba, 191 "Jahangir Embracing Shah (Abbas" Abywn (Abiyun) al-Batriq (Apion the in Kitab-i balJriye, 232-33, 278-79 (painting), 408, 410, 515 Patriarch), 26 in Kitab ~urat ai-arc!, 169 cAbd ai-Karim al-Mi~ri, 54, 65 Accuracy in Nuzhat al-mushtaq, 169 cAbd al-Rabman Efendi, 68 of Arabic measurements of length of on Piri Re)is's world map, 270, 271 cAbd al-Rabman ibn Burhan al-Maw~ili, 54 degree, 181 in Ptolemy's Geography, 169 cAbdolazlz ibn CAbdolgani el-Erzincani, 225 of Bharat Kala Bhavan globe, 397 al-Qazwlni's world maps, 144 Abdur Rahim, map by, 411, 412, 413 of al-BlrunI's calculation of Ghazna's on South Asian world maps, 393, 394, 400 Abraham ben Meir ibn Ezra, 60 longitude, 188 in view of world landmass as bird, 90-91 Abu, Mount, Rajasthan of al-BlrunI's celestial mapping, 37 in Walters Deniz atlast, pl.23 on Jain triptych, 460 of globes in paintings, 409 n.36 Agapius (Mabbub) religious map of, 482-83 of al-Idrisi's sectional maps, 163 Kitab al- ~nwan, 17 Abo al-cAbbas Abmad ibn Abi cAbdallah of Islamic celestial globes, 46-47 Agnese, Battista, 279, 280, 282, 282-83 Mu\:lammad of Kitab-i ba/Jriye, 231, 233 Agnicayana, 308-9, 309 Kitab al-durar wa-al-yawaqft fi 11m of map of north-central India, 421, 422 Agra, 378 n.145, 403, 436, 448, 476-77 al-ra~d wa-al-mawaqft (Book of of maps in Gentil's atlas of Mughal Agrawala, V. -
BABYLONIAN ASTRONOMY* by W.M. O'neil Though the Modern Western
o BABYLONIAN ASTRONOMY* By W.M. O'Neil Though the modern western world had heard of the Chaldaeans in the Old Testament as soothsayers and astrologers and students of Hellenistic astronomy knew of references to Babylonian observations of eclipses and the like, it is only during the last three quarters of a century but especially during the last half century that modern scholars, following the decipherment of the cuneiform writing on clay tablets, have begun to reveal the richness of Babylonian astronomy. They have, however, a long way yet to go. First, only a fraction of the materials scattered throughout the western world have been studied and interpreted. Fragments of the one tablet are sometimes in different museums; this adds to the difficulty. Second, the materials are usually fragmentary: a few pages torn from a book as it were or even only a few parts of pages (See Plate 1). Otto Neugebauer, perhaps the greatest scholar recently working on Babylonian astronomy, says that it is impossible yet to write an adequate history of Babylonian astronomy and suggests that it may never be possible. How many of the needed basic texts have crumbled into dust after acquisition by small museums unable to give them the needed care? , how many are lying unstudied in the multitudinous collections in the Middle East, in Europe and in North America? or are still lying in the ground?, are questions to which the answers are unknown. Nevertheless, through the work of Neugebauer, his predecessors and younger scholars taking over from him, some outlines of the history and the methods of Babylonian astronomy are becoming clearer. -
The Roots of Astronomy
The Roots of Astronomy • Already in the stone and bronze ages, human cultures realized the cyclic nature of motions in the sky. • Monuments dating back to ~ 3000 B.C. show alignments with astronomical significance. • Those monuments were probably used as calendars or even to predict eclipses. Stonehenge • Constructed: 3000 – 1800 B.C. Summer solstice Heelstone • Alignments with locations of sunset, sunrise, moonset and moonrise at summer and winter solstices • Probably used as calendar. Other Examples All Over the World Big Horn Medicine Wheel (Wyoming) Other Examples All Over the World (2) Caracol (Maya culture, approx. A.D. 1000) Ancient Greek Astronomers (1) • Unfortunately, there are no written documents about the significance of stone and bronze age monuments. • First preserved written documents about ancient astronomy are from ancient Greek philosophy. • Greeks tried to understand the motions of the sky and describe them in terms of mathematical (not physical!) models. Ancient Greek Astronomers (2) Models were generally wrong because they were based on wrong “first principles”, believed to be “obvious” and not questioned: 1. Geocentric Universe: Earth at the Center of the Universe. 2. “Perfect Heavens”: Motions of all celestial bodies described by motions involving objects of “perfect” shape, i.e., spheres or circles. Ancient Greek Astronomers (3) • Eudoxus (409 – 356 B.C.): Model of 27 nested spheres • Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.), major authority of philosophy until the late middle ages: Universe can be divided in 2 parts: 1. Imperfect, -
Ligo-India Proposal for an Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory
LIGO-INDIA PROPOSAL FOR AN INTERFEROMETRIC GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE OBSERVATORY IndIGO Indian Initiative in Gravitational-wave Observations PROPOSAL FOR LIGO-INDIA !"#!$ Indian Initiative in Gravitational wave Observations http://www.gw-indigo.org II Title of the Project LIGO-INDIA Proposal of the Consortium for INDIAN INITIATIVE IN GRAVITATIONAL WAVE OBSERVATIONS IndIGO to Department of Atomic Energy & Department of Science and Technology Government of India IndIGO Consortium Institutions Chennai Mathematical Institute IISER, Kolkata IISER, Pune IISER, Thiruvananthapuram IIT Madras, Chennai IIT, Kanpur IPR, Bhatt IUCAA, Pune RRCAT, Indore University of Delhi (UD), Delhi Principal Leads Bala Iyer (RRI), Chair, IndIGO Consortium Council Tarun Souradeep (IUCAA), Spokesperson, IndIGO Consortium Council C.S. Unnikrishnan (TIFR), Coordinator Experiments, IndIGO Consortium Council Sanjeev Dhurandhar (IUCAA), Science Advisor, IndIGO Consortium Council Sendhil Raja (RRCAT) Ajai Kumar (IPR) Anand Sengupta(UD) 10 November 2011 PROPOSAL FOR LIGO-INDIA II PROPOSAL FOR LIGO-INDIA LIGO-India EXECUTIVE SUMMARY III PROPOSAL FOR LIGO-INDIA IV PROPOSAL FOR LIGO-INDIA This proposal by the IndIGO consortium is for the construction and subsequent 10- year operation of an advanced interferometric gravitational wave detector in India called LIGO-India under an international collaboration with Laser Interferometer Gravitational–wave Observatory (LIGO) Laboratory, USA. The detector is a 4-km arm-length Michelson Interferometer with Fabry-Perot enhancement arms, and aims to detect fractional changes in the arm-length smaller than 10-23 Hz-1/2 . The task of constructing this very sophisticated detector at the limits of present day technology is facilitated by the amazing opportunity offered by the LIGO Laboratory and its international partners to provide the complete design and all the key components required to build the detector as part of the collaboration. -
KOSTHAVAN KRATU KRAMAPATHA. a Method Of
KOSTHAVAN 416 KRATU from to to fearing Jarasandha. (M.B. Sabha Parva, Chapter 14, and intermingled beginning end and end Stanza 27). beginning. There are rules to make combined words by KOSTHAVAN. A mountain. It is stated in Maha- using prefixes and suffixes. These rules are called bharata, Asvamedha Parva, Chapter 43 that this Pratisakhya. Because the Vedas are taught in this way mountain was the overlord of many other mountains. with so much attention and care, their texts have never KOTARA. An attendant of Skanda. (M.B. Salya Parva, been subjected to changes and variations. I. He was the rebirth of Chapter 46, Stanza 14) . KRATHA A Ksatriya King. KOTARAKA. A serpent born in the family of KaSyapa. an Asura called Krodhavasa. (M.B. Adi Parva, See (M.B. Udyoga Parva, Chapter 103, Stanza 12). Chapter 67, Stanza 61). under Jyamagha. KOTIKASYA (KOTIKA). A King who was the follow- KRA'IHA II. A King defeated by Bhimasena during er of J .yadrat a. While the Pandavas were living in his regional conquest. (M.B. Sabha Parva, Chapter the Kamyaka forest once they went out leaving Pancali 30, Stanza 7). In ; lone in the hut. At that time Jayadratha the King of KRATHA III. A hermit. Mahabharata, Udyoga- Sindhu, the son of Vrddhaksatra came there and saw Parva, Chapter 83, Stanza 27 it is stated that this Pancali. He sent his follower Kotikasya to entice hermit visited Sri Krsna on his way to Hastinapura. Pancali, who did not succumb to temptation. At last KRATHA IV. There was a warrior named Kratha on Jayadratha carried Pancali away by force. -