Fwd: Vedic Astronomy of David Pingree

[Guest guest]

hinducivilization , " mkelkar2003 " <swatimkelkar

wrote:

 

" One rather disturbing aspect of Pingree's method must be pointed out. He

first introduces a notion very tentatively as a suggestion. He repeats the

same in a number of articles, each time asserting a little more and

exaggerating a little more, without a shred of further evidence. Finally,

his statement looks like it is based in well established facts. For

example,

(a) about the concept of tithi: he says in his 1963 article, " it seems

likely that the Indians borrowed the concept from Mesopotamia, though the

exact origin of tithi still remains obscure. " He repeats in several

articles

that the Indians borrowed the concept of tithi. Finally, what was " a

concept

whose origin still remains obscure " in 1963, becomes in his 1978 article,

" tithi, a Mesopotamian concept " ; (b) about the age of Vedanga Jyotish: in

his 1963 article, it was " probably composed in the fifth century BC " ;

in the

1973 article it had changed o " probably between the fifth and fourth

century

BC " , but in the 1978 article it is declared as " fourth century B.C. " ; ©

finally, the Pingree hypothesis that is being refuted in the present

paper:

it was introduced as a hypothesis in 1963, as just a " plausible

guess " ; this

hypothesis had changed to the status of a theory in 1973, by what he calls

" hypothetical reconstruction " , with the assertion that " some elements of

early Indian astronomy being derived from Mesopotamia " . The assertion had

changed from mere " some elements of early Indian astronomy " to the " whole

system of Lagadha being not indigenous to India " in his 1978 article. What

was just a `plausible guess' arrived at by `hypothetical reconstruction'

has, now-a-days, he declares in every article, " since most fundamental

concepts of astronomy in India can be traced to Mesopotamia…. "

 

UNQUOTE

 

Reference:

Note 16 on p. 108 of ACHAR, B. N. Narahari; `On the Vedic Origin of

Ancient

Mathematical Astronomy of India'; Journal of Studies on Ancient India,

vol.

2, nos. 2-4 (1998), 95 - 108

 

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