Fwd: Fwd: [world-vedic] Vedic Cosmology Accurate Millenia before Newton

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We are considering to publish this article by Vinod Kumar in VEDIC SCIENCE

magazine.

 

Mr Vinod Kumar please sent me your Email address as we need some

elaboration.

 

Dhanyavaad

 

Ashwini Kumar

 

>>>Vinod Kumar

>>>vediculture

>>>vediculture

>>>[world-vedic] Vedic Cosmology Accurate Millenia before Newton

>>>Thu, 09 Aug 2001 00:52:47 -0000

>>>

>>>Vinod Kumar

>>>From the Pages of History: Earth's Rotation, its Globular Shape and

>>>Gravity

>>>

>>>When we talk of the earth going around the sun as it has always done,

>>>its globular shape, the different seasons, different lengths of day

>>>and night, mind goes back to Galileo and Copernicus, scared to death,

>>>holding the truth back lest the fury of the church falls upon them

>>>for letting the world know the reality of nature. When one thinks of

>>>gravity one thinks of Newton sitting under an apple tree watching an

>>>apple fall to the ground and Newton proclaiming "Lo! there is

>>>gravity."

>>>

>>>If I were to say Hindu philosophers talked and wrote about gravity

>>>and the globular shape of the earth centuries before Newton and

>>>Galileo and Copernicus, I would not only be dismissed as a "fanatical

>>>Hindu communalist" by our 'all-knowing-secular intellectuals' but

>>>also incur their wrath. And who wants that?

>>>

>>>In order to state the truth and make it acceptable to our 'all-

>>>knowing-secular intellectuals' let me seek the help of a Muslim

>>>scholar from Central Asia. Who around 1030 AD wrote a very

>>>comprehensive book "Indica" about India -- its literature, its

>>>philosophy, its religion, its culture, its languages, its history,

>>>its geography, its customs, its sciences including astronomy. I am

>>>talking about Abu-Raihan Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Alberuni -- a scholar and

>>>a devout genuine Muslim by all standards.

>>>

>>>Before I go into what Alberuni wrote let us take some time to find

>>>out more about this man -- Alberuni.

>>>

>>>In the words of Edward Sachau -- translator of Alebruni's 'Indica':

>>>

>>>"Mahmud marched into the country, not without some fighting,

>>>established there one of his generals as provincial governor, and

>>>soon returned to Ghazna with much booty and a great part of Khiva

>>>troops, together with the princes of the deposed family of Mamun and

>>>the leading men of the country as prisoners of war or as hostages.

>>>Among the last was Abu-Raihan Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Alberuni. This

>>>happened in the spring and summer of AD 1017."

>>>

>>>"When he (Alberuni) was brought to Ghazna as a hostage, he enjoyed

>>>the reputation of a great 'munajjim' i.e. "astrologer - astronomer".

>>>By the time he wrote 'Indica' thirteen years later after his

>>>involuntary immigration to Afghanistan, he was a master of astrology,

>>>both according to the Greek and the Hindu systems.

>>>

>>>"Alberuni felt a strong inclination towards Indian philosophy. He

>>>seems to have thought that the philosophers both in ancient India and

>>>Greece, held in reality the very same ideas, the same as seem to have

>>>been his own i.e. of pure monotheism. He seems to have to have

>>>reveled in the pure theories of Bhagavad-Gita. … There can scarcely

>>>be any doubt that the Muslims of later times would have found fault

>>>with him for going to such length in his interest for these

>>>heathenish doctrines" observes Sachau, but "still he was Muslim,

>>>whether Sunni or Shia cannot be gathered from Indica. He sometimes

>>>takes an occasion for pointing out to the reader the superiority of

>>>Islam over Brahamanical India… He dares not attack Islam but attacks

>>>the Arabs."

>>>

>>>What was the object of his writing 'Indica'?

>>>"The object which the author had in view and never for a moment lost

>>>sight of, was to afford the necessary information and training to any

>>>one (in Islam) who wants to converse with the Hindus, and to discuss

>>>with them questions of religion, science, or literature, on the very

>>>basis of their own civilization."

>>>

>>>Alberuni came to India with Mahmud and stayed there. He learnt

>>>Sanskrit and Hindu literature and sciences and indeed wrote a very

>>>comprehensive book about India of those days. As a Muslim he praises

>>>the 'wonderful exploits of Mahmud saying: "Mahmud utterly ruined the

>>>prosperity of the country, and performed those wonderful exploits, by

>>>which the Hindus became like atoms of dust scattered in all

>>>directions" but as a scholar he laments "this is the reason, too, why

>>>Hindu sciences have retired far away from those parts of the country

>>>conquered by us, and have fled to places which our hand cannot yet

>>>reach, to Kashmir, Benares, and other places."

>>>

>>>It seems from above that his study was done in area which was under

>>>Mahmud's control, most likely western Punjab. But still what he

>>>writes is very illuminating. Let us now see what wrote about our

>>>subject: astronomy in India and gravity and the solar system.

>>>

>>>Quoting from Brahamgupta's Brahamsiddhanta, Alberuni wrote:

>>>

>>>"Several circumstances, however, compel us to attribute globular

>>>shape to both the earth and the heaven, viz. the fact that the stars

>>>rise and set in different places at different times, so that, e.g. a

>>>man in Yamakoti observes one identical start rising above the western

>>>horizon, whilst a man in Rum at the same time observes it rising

>>>above the eastern horizon. Another argument to the same effect is

>>>this, that a man on Meru observes one identical star above the

>>>horizon in the zenith of Lanka, the country of demons, whilst a man

>>>in Lanka at the same time observes it above his head. Besides all

>>>astronomical observations are not correct unless we assume the

>>>globular shape of heaven and earth. Therefore we must declare that

>>>heaven is a globe, and the observation of these characteristics of

>>>the world would not be correct unless in reality it were a globe. Now

>>>it is evident that all other theories about the world are futile."

>>>

>>>Earlier philosophers like Aryabhata, Vasishtha and Lata had also come

>>>to the same conclusion and Alberuni goes on to quote Varahmira:

>>>

>>>"all things which are perceived by the senses, are witness in favor

>>>of the globular shape of the earth, and refute the possibility of its

>>>having any other shape."

>>>

>>>On the subject of the rotation of the earth Alberuni writes:

>>>

>>>"As regards the resting of the earth, one of the elementary problems

>>>of astronomy, which offers many and great difficulties, this, too, is

>>>a dogma with the Hindu astronomers. Brahamgupta says in the

>>>Brahamsiddhanta: 'some people maintain that the first motion (from

>>>east to west) does not lie in the meridian, but belongs to the earth.

>>>But Varahmira refutes them by saying: If that were the case, a bird

>>>would not return to its nest as soon as it had flown away from it

>>>towards the west.' And, in fact it is precisely as Varahmira says."

>>>Alberuni agrees with Varahmira that earth does not rotate.

>>>

>>>Alberuni goes on to quote Brahamgupta:

>>>

>>>"The followers of Aryabhata maintain that the earth is moving and the

>>>heaven resting. People have tried to refute them by saying that, if

>>>such were the case, stones would and trees would fall from the earth.

>>>Brahamgupta does not agree with them, and says that that would not

>>>necessarily follow from their theory, apparently because he thought

>>>that all heavy things are attracted towards the center of the earth.

>>>He says: 'On the contrary, if that were the case, the earth would not

>>>vie in keeping an even and uniform pace with the minutes of heaven,

>>>the pranas of the times."

>>>

>>>Alberuni does not agree with Brahamgupta and is unable to understand

>>>the rotation of the earth and goes on to write:

>>>

>>>"Supposing this to be true, and that the earth makes a complete

>>>rotation eastward in so many breaths as heaven does according to his

>>>(Brahamgupta's) view, we cannot see what should prevent the earth

>>>from keeping an even and uniform pace with heaven."

>>>

>>>Stubbornly he refuses to accept the theory of the rotation of the

>>>earth and goes on to say:

>>>

>>>"Besides, the rotation of the earth in no way impair the value of

>>>astronomy, as all appearances of an astronomic character can quite as

>>>well be explained according to this theory as to the other. There

>>>are, however, other reasons which make it impossible."

>>>

>>>Alberuni says he also has written a book on this subject in which '

>>>we have surpassed our predecessors' but does not tell what his

>>>theories are?

>>>

>>>On the question of gravity and other issues like top and bottom, high

>>>and low, Alberuni quotes Brahamgupta and says:

>>>

>>>"Scholars have declared that the globe of the earth is in the midst

>>>of heaven, and that Mount Meru, the home of Devas, as well as

>>>Vadavamukha below, is the home of their opponents; the Daitya and

>>>Dhanava belong to it. But his below is according to them is only a

>>>relative one. Disregarding this, we say that the earth on all its

>>>sides is the same; all people on earth stand upright, and all heavy

>>>things fall down to the earth by a law of nature, for it is the

>>>nature of the earth to attract and to keep things, as it is the

>>>nature of water to flow, that of fire to burn, and that of wind to

>>>set in motion… The earth is the only low thing, and seeds always

>>>return to it, in whatever direction you may throw them away, and

>>>never rise upwards from the earth."

>>>

>>>Varahmira explains it further:

>>>

>>>"Mountains, seas, rivers, trees, cities, men, and angels, all are

>>>around the globe of the earth. And if Yamakoti and Rum are opposite

>>>to each other, one could not say that the one is low in relation to

>>>the other, since low does not exist…. Every one speaks of himself, 'I

>>>am above and the others are below,' whilst all of them are around the

>>>globe like the blossoms springing on the branches of a Kadamba-tree.

>>>They encircle it on all the sides, but each individual blossom has

>>>the same position as the other, neither one hanging downward nor then

>>>other standing upright." He emphasized: "For the earth attracts that

>>>which is upon her, for it is the below towards all directions, and

>>>heaven is the above towards all directions."

>>>

>>>Now these were the thoughts of Hindu philosophers as recorded by

>>>Alberuni in the early part of the eleventh century and these had not

>>>changed for centuries. Alberuni quotes heavily from Brahamgupta whose

>>>Brahamsiddhanta was composed in AD 628. But it was Aryabhata, born in

>>>AD 476, the first to hold that the earth was a sphere and rotated on

>>>its axis and that the eclipses were not the work of Rahu but caused

>>>by the shadow of the earth falling on the moon. His Aryabhatiya was

>>>composed in AD 499.

>>>

>>>It is clear from above that it was over a millennium before Galileo,

>>>Copernicus and Newton that the Hindu philosophers had formulated the

>>>theories about the globular shape and rotation of the earth and

>>>gravity.

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>

>

 

 

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