ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF ASTRONOMY IN INDIAN CONTEXT M N Vahia1, 2,*, Nisha Yadav1, and Srikumar Menon3 1 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 2 Manipal Advanced Research Group, Manipal 3 Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal *[email protected] 1 2 Table of Contents PART 1: Origin of Astronomy in a Culture.............................8 1. Introduction ...................................................................9 1.1 Path of Civilisation and steps to enlightenment! .....10 1.2 Steps to enlightenment .............................................14 2. Historical growth of astronomy .....................................28 2.1 Astronomy and myths ..............................................28 3 Summary of basic astronomical ideas.............................32 PART 2: Origin and Growth of Astronomy Indian context ..35 4. Development of astronomical ideas ............................36 4.1 Stages of growth ......................................................37 5. Summary ......................................................................76 Acknowledgement .............................................................76 Appendix 1 .............................................................................77 Myths of India ....................................................................77 Astronomical stories ......................................................78 Orion Myths ...................................................................81 Skanda and the Mahabharata ...................................82 Cosmogony ........................................................................83 Origin of the Universe ...................................................84 Origin of life ..................................................................85 Origin and Nature of Time .............................................87 Sun, Moon Planets and stars ..............................................91 Sun .................................................................................91 Moon ..............................................................................91 Mercury ..........................................................................92 Venus .............................................................................92 Mars ...............................................................................92 Jupiter .............................................................................92 Saturn .............................................................................93 Rahu Ketu and Eclipses .................................................93 Pole star ..........................................................................94 Comparison of Greek and Indian mythologies ..................95 Gods in Greek and Indian mythologies .........................95 Pleiades in Greek and Indian mythologies.....................97 Qualifications of an astronomer in 500 AD ...................98 Appendix 2 .............................................................................99 3 Indian Megaliths and astronomy ........................................99 Megaliths and human existence .....................................99 Megaliths in India ........................................................101 3. Knowledge systems of the Megaliths builders. .......104 4 Some interesting sites ..............................................106 The Nilaskal group of “menhir sites” ..............................109 5. A special case of Junapani .......................................112 Megaliths, astronomy and cosmogony ........................116 Conclusion .......................................................................119 References ............................................................................121 4 Figure 1: Rock art from Liktse, Kashmir showing a super human controlling the Sun and the Moon. (© Indira Gandhi National Gallery of Art, New Delhi)9 Figure 2: Long term variation in the Earth's movement a) Change in Ellipticity, b) Wobble of Orbit c) Precession of the Earth .............................................22 Figure 3: Change in various parameters with time. (image from http://geoinfo.amu.edu.pl/wpk/pe/a/harbbook/c_viii/chap08.html) 23 Figure 4: Precession of the Earth orbit from http://science.jrank.org/pages/47865/Milankovich-cycles-climate-change.html 24 Figure 5 Earths precession and seasons over time. (Image from http://www.answers.com/topic/milankovitch-cycles)............25 Figure 6: Interrelation between astronomy, myths and religion29 Figure 7: Rock painting from Onake Kindi hill, Chikka Rampur, Raichur District, Karnataka (image by Erwin Neumayar reproduced in Moorti, 1994). The picture shows a complex representation of a human burial with Sun and moon and other complex imageries. The colour image is by Srikumar Menon. 31 Figure 8: Location of sunrise point over the period of one year 38 Figure 9: A rock art from Chillas, Kashmir showing the Sun god with the disk of the Sun just behind him. The division of the disk into 4 quadrants is probably indicative of the 4 seasons. .................................................................39 Figure 10: A stone etching from Burzaham, Kashmir. Picture (c) Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, New Delhi. .........................40 Figure 11: Winter Solstice sunset frambed by two Menhirs at Nilaskal in Sourthern India (Srikumar et al., in preperatrion) ...........................................46 Figure 12: Layout of the Great Hall at Harappa (Wheeler, 1948) 54 Figure 13: Northern sky at the time of monsoon in Harappa 61 Figure 14: Southtern sky at the beginning of monsoon in 2500 BC 62 Figure 15: A Harappan seal with possibly astronomical images. (Image from Harappa.com) ................................................................................................62 Figure 16: Association of the Harappan seal with the Night sky at sunset at the onset of Monsoon ................................................................................63 Figure 17: : An unusual structure at Dholavira ......................63 Another feature of this period is the build up of large structure to study astronomy. A refined version of the original megalithic structures now appear as large observatories which attempt to measure stellar parameters and their variations with great accuracy. In India, these are called Jantar Mantars and one of the finest examples is in Delhi (figure 9). It was built between 1724 and 1727 Figure 19: AD and its primary purpose was to measure stellar parameters. However, by this period, telescopes had been invented and were in regular use. The period of telescopic astronomy is so well documented that we shall not discuss it here. 73 Figure 18: Jantar Mantar, New Delhi an astronomical observatory 73 Figure 20: Sky chart used by Indian fishermen .....................74 Figure 21: Number of Eclipses reported in a 5 year period from 440 AD to 1850 AD ................................................................................................75 Figure 22: Rahu Ketu in their astronomical interpretation and images. 93 Figure 1 Variety of Megaliths found in the subcontinent.102 Figure 2: Stone circles of central India. .........................102 Figure 3: Dolmens at Hire Benkal ...................................105 Figure 4: A well-crafted rock-cut chamber in Kerala ...105 Figure 5: A view of the alignment at Hanamsagar .......108 Figure 6: Location of the 4 menhir sites ........................109 5 Figure 7: Some of the menhirs at Nilaskal ....................110 Figure 8: showing the orientation of menhirs at Nilaskal110 Figure 9: Showing the winter solstice sunset framed between two of the menhirs at Nilaskal................................................................................110 Figure 10: One of the solstitial alignments at Baise ....111 Figure 11: The ―solstitial grid‖ at Baise ..........................111 Figure 12: Google Earth image of Junapani showing stone circles. 113 Figure 13: Cup-marked stone and its sketch ................114 Figure 14: Drawing of a stone circle at Junapani. North is to the tope of the figure. ..............................................................................................114 Figure 15: Number of cup-marks and histogram .........114 Figure 17: Stone cupmark direction and their location along stone circles 116 Figure 16: Angular distribution of cupmark stones along the stone circles 115 Figure 18: Anthropomorphic figure and hero stone .....117 Figure 19: Hero stone inside a dolmen ..........................117 Figure 20: The Trimurti from Elephanta Caves, near Mumbai, India and the Ravalphadi Cave, Aihole ..................................................118 Figure 21: Somnath and Minakshi temple are classical examples of Nagar and Dravida Style temples .......................................................119 6 7 PART 1: Origin of Astronomy in a Culture 8 1. Introduction The splendour of the night sky provides a beauty that is immediately endearing, and captivating. Heavens have fascinated humans from the earliest period. Today, of course, we divide this study of heavens into several levels of atmosphere, the near earth sky, solar system and the astronomy of objects beyond. This is a recent phenomenon in human history no more than 400 years old. Until recently, everything that was not terrestrial was called astronomical. This subject of astronomy has had a profound effect on humans. It has fascinated artists, poets, and all kinds of