Guest guest Posted May 31, 2009 Report Share Posted May 31, 2009 Dear friends, Belo is a copy of PAC3.doc (after some slight editing) explaining as to how the M. N. Saha Calendar Reform Committee of 1954 was “cornered” by late N. C. Lahiri and his ilk! Pl. do give your feedback. Regards, AKK Tel. 2167508; E-mail: jyotirved SHRI KRISHEN ASTRO-GRAPHICS 24, Shreshtha Vihar, Delhi - 110092 SPEED POST February 28, 2000 Dr. R. R. Kelkar General of Meteorology India Meteorological Department Mausam Bhavan Lodi Road New Delhi-110003 Dear Dr. Kelkar, Re: Celebrating marriages in Shradhapaksha and Shradhas in timings auspicious for marriages. Kindly refer to D.O. letter No.P-057 dated February 3, 2000 from Shri B. Mukhopadhyay, Director (Publication) of India Meteorological Department, New Delhi, regarding streamlining the National Calendar. This D.O. has a questionnaire and a “Brief history on the use of a uniform all-India calendar” attached with it. Both these documents are very high on rhetoric but negative, in fact “retrograde”, on scientific facts. I had sent you by Speed Post a copy of my letter dated October 31, 1999, addressed to the Director, Positional Astronomy Centre, Calcutta, in response to his letter on the same subject. That letter reflects the pathetic state of the dates of our fairs, festivals and muhurtas - in fact the complete gamut of religious ceremonies --- in which we have landed by following an imaginary so called nirayana and that also Geocentric Rashichakra which is neither as per the Vedas nor as per Shastras, least of all as per the sidhantas and quite ludicrous as per the modern astronomy, by which the IMD is swearing! I have emphasized and proved it beyond all the “reasonable” and even “unreasonable” doubts that there is one constellational belt and its starting point is vernal equinox as per the Puranas, sidhantas and modern astronomy. The so called Nirayana Rashichakra, which is being advocated by you besides some Panchanga copyists, is an imaginary one “invented” by late N. C. Lahiri just because it was nearer to “Grahalaghava” Ayanamsha in the 1940s when he started his ephemeris and panchangas. I am enclosing a copy of that letter together with all the relevant enclosures. Kindly do ponder on it, especially the underlined paragraphs to realize the sad plight we are in. I also hope you have received my ephemeris for 2000 AD wherein I have proved it conclusively as to how a nirayana that too a Geocentric zodiac does not exist at all, whatever the “Panchanga Pundits” may say! Most of the questions in parts II and III of the questionnaire that are addressed to panchanga-copyists have been worded in such a manner that instead of bringing to their notice as to how they are “committing the entire Hindu society to Adharma” (as per the words of Saha Calendar Reform Committee) those questions are virtually “prompting” them to send in their “suggestions” so that we go on ignoring all the tenets of the Vedas, Shastras, sidhantas and modern astronomy and continue to wallow in the mud of imaginary nirayana Rashichakras. If that questionnaire had not been “introduced” by a covering letter on the letterhead of India Meteorological Department I would have presumed it to have been sent by some predictive astrologers whose only aim is to make fools of common men by making “correct predictions from incorrect data”. I am giving details of such questions together with my own suggestions as to how these should be reframed so that we put the ball squarely in the court of the Panchanga-copyists who are “de facto custodians of our calendaric heritage” according to you but whom you are simultaneously coaxing to continue to follow absolutely baseless calendaric system which no scientific minded person in the world will follow otherwise! We must, on the other hand, make them feel ashamed of the manner in which we have been following wrong calendars which will one day result in our “Shishir (Makar) Sankranti” being celebrated in Ashadha, Vasanta Panchami shifting to Grishma, Sharadiya Navaratras to Winter, Janmashtami to December, Vasanti Navratras i.e. Ugadi to Autumn, Dipavali (which is the beginning of the New Year in Gujarat) to March, Dashahra to Summer and so on. The IMD should be aware that as per our shastras, Sidhantas and even modern astronomy, there is only one Makar Sankranti and that is on the day of Uttarayana, when the day is the shortest in the Northern hemisphere. Similarly, there is only one Vaishakhi/Vaishakha and that is on the day of Vernal Equinox, known as Vishuv in our shastras, when days and nights are equal throughout the globe. Same is the case with all other fasts and fairs. Enough damage has been done to our religious festivals already and unless and until these are streamlined immediately, we shall become a laughing stock in the eyes of scholars, astronomers, and our real Vedic seers, thanks to the “untiring efforts” of some of these Kaliyugi Jyotishis of preventing us to see the writing on the wall. We cannot leave it to the next generation either to put this derailed calendar on the right track since maybe for them Valentine’s Day will be more important than Rama Navmi. We cannot take shelter behind “tradition” either as we have discarded quite a few wrong traditions already. In fact, when the Vedic i.e. tropical scientific calendar is followed for a few years, it will automatically become the new tradition. As usual, I am sending copies of this letter to the Hon’ble President of India, the Honb’le Prime Minister of India besides the Hon’ble Union Minister for Human Resource Development; the Hon’ble Minister for Home Affairs and to all other Ministers and Deputy Ministers etc. so that they are aware of the fact that as “Calendar Makers to the Nation” the India Meteorological Department is virtually throwing in the towel and coaxing the Panchanga-copyists to respond to a Questionnaire which is highly loaded in favour of a non-existent nirayana rashichakra itself! With kind regards, Yours sincerely, Copy to: Various Hon’ble Union Ministers, Ministers of State; Newspapers and magazines etc. besides ISRO and Avtar Krishen Kaul Prof. Jayant Narlikar etc. Publisher Shri Krishen Universal Ephemeris & Panchang P.T.O. QUESTIONS TO BE REFRAMED: PART II: Q.NO.24:“If Saha Committee’s sayana or tropical solar calendar has not found favour with you for adoption of an all-India calendar, is it for the reason that it does not fit with the traditional nirayana system?” This question should be: “Since either as per the Vedas and other shastras or sidhantas or even modern astronomy, there is no so called nirayana Rashichakra whatsoever at all, don’t you think that it is an insult to our shastras that we are rejecting Saha Committee’s sayana or tropical solar calendar just because we have been following an imaginary nirayana calendar wrongly in some states?” Q. No. 25 “Would you think that a nirayana solar calendar that is used in a large number of States for calendarical purpose will be acceptable for general civil use as an all-India calendar, which will have fixed number of days for the months, like in a Gregorian Calendar, as was suggested by panchang pandits at the two past seminars?” This question should be: “As de facto custodians of our cultural heritage, don’t you feel that it is high time that just as Pope Gregory ‘eliminated’ ten days to align Julian Calendar with seasons, you also should do a similar exercise now and align our solar months to tropical sankrantis of the sun which have a fixed number of days every year since times immemorial and which has been advised by the earliest astronomical works like the Vedanga Jyotisha on the basis of which even the Julian Calendar was started initially - a New Moon after Uttarayana on 45 BC when the month of Magha starts actually as per our Shastras, thus making even Julian calendar start on Magha Shukla Pratipat then?” Part III: Q.No. 26 “Several eras are in use at present like Kali, Vikram, Saka, Kollam, Bengali San, etc. Saha Committee’s solar calendar has adopted Saka era whose year starts from 22nd March when the sun is on 1st point of (so called) sayana Mesha rasi, that is, on vernal equinox, while the Saka era used for traditional nirayana solar calendar starts from 14th April when the sun is on the 1st point of nirayana Mesha rasi. It was suggested by the panchang pandits at the past two all-India seminars (vide enclosed note) that Kali era whose epoch is 3102 BC be adopted as the era for the proposed all India national calendar. It was mentioned that this era was used by Aryabhata and other ancient Indian astronomers, and Kali ahargana is counted from the epoch of this era and that the event marking the beginning of this era is secular, that is, it is not linked with any king or any religious leader, and covers the period of most of our ancient recorded history and is not regional in character. It was, however, suggested that along with Kali era regional eras may continue to be shown, if desired. Do you concur in this proposal or have you any other suggestion?” This question should be: “Several eras are in use at present like Kali, Vikram, Saka, Kollam. Bengali San, etc. Saha Committee’s solar calendar has adopted Saka era whose year starts from 22nd March when the sun is on 1st point of sayana i.e. the Pauranic and sidhantic Mesha rasi, that is, on the day of vernal equinox, which is known as Vishuv in our shastras. The actual Saka era was in fact based on the Vedanga Jyotisha criterion viz a New Moon after the Uttarayana as its starting date is actually December 24, 78 AD. It was the first New Moon after Uttarayana on that date. The start of the new solar year was shifted to Vernal Equinox later when with the passage of time solar Vaishakha became the first solar month of a solar year on the day of Vernal Equinox. All our shastras have praised such phenomena highly so much so that any charities etc. given on such (so called) sayana sankrantis bear eternal fruits as compared to imaginary nirayana sankrantis which are neither as per shastras nor sidhantas, least of all as per modern astronomy. Therefore, as an alternative, Vikrami Lunar Era may be continued as per the criteria of the Shatapatha Brahman etc i.e. a Lunar New Year starts from the first New Moon after the start of Vasanta Ritu. In fact, Vikrami Era was based on the same criterion as fixed in our shastras i.e the first New Moon after Vasanta Ritu as it was a New Moon on February 24, 58 BC after the sun had entered thePauranic and sidhantic i.e. Sayana Pisces (Mina Rasi) when Vasanta started then and when it starts even now. Obviously, there was no nirayana era even at the time of Vikrami Era which thus predates even Christian Era as the later was adopted only in 45 BC whereas the former dates back to 58 BC, even if through back calculation at a much later date! If we continue to follow some imaginary Kali era, real astronomers will laugh on us since the criterion of that era is said to be the fact that the mean longitudes of all the planets including Ketu on that date were zero when actually the longitude of even a single planet was not zero then either as per tropical system or the so called imaginary nirayana system, whatever the ayanamsha—whether Lahiri or Raman or Fagan etc. etc Q. No. 27 in part IV: “Are you using the observed position of the sun, the moon and the planets, as obtained by modern methods, for making your calculation? If not, would you not agree to make use of these so that the basic principle of framing of panchang by using the position of luminaries that conform to their observed position is satisfied? What are the difficulties for not adopting correct observed longitudes?” This question should be: “Since all our shastras and sidhantas have insisted on ‘pratakshe pramanam kim’ i.e. “one does not need any other proofs to prove the existence of something visible to the naked eye” and since the sidhantas have laid down the criterion that irrespective of what the results of their calculations may be, pauranic and sidhantic Makar Sankranti has to be celebrated on the shortest day of the year and the month of Magha on the first New Moon after that” and so on, is it therefore not incumbent on us that we discard all imaginary nirayana Rashichakras and switch over to the real horizon i.e. (so called) sayana topocentric positions of the planets including True topocentric Rahu and Ketu for that particular place for which a panchanga is being prepared instead of preparing them for a hypothetical observer at the centre of the earth which is in fact a smouldering cauldron of molten iron and other metals with temperatures being more than 5000° Celsius?” **************** Tel. 2167508; E-mail: vedic SHRI KRISHEN ASTRO-GRAPHICS 24, Shreshtha Vihar, Delhi - 110092 Dr. K. K. Chakrabarty October 27, 1999 Positional Astronomy Centre New Alipore Calcutta – 700053 Sub: Celebrating marriages in Shradhapaksha and Shradhas in periods auspicious for marriages! Dear Dr. Chakrabarty, Many thanks for your letter No. CLR-01015/4658 of October.12, 1999 about the above subject. I am really glad to note that the Positional Astronomy Centre/India Meteorological Department have realized the plight arising out of multifarious and often conflicting schools of wrong Panchangas in India. From your above letter I note the following points: 1. You are thinking of reviewing the present state of use of the National calendar. 2. You will be reviewing the astronomical items of Panchangas and take steps to conform to actual observed positions of the luminaries. 3. To prepare a base paper on the issue, including actions by the past committees. 4. To consult appropriate members of IUCCA, Pune and ISRO, Bangalore for preparing more accurate observed positions. At present the Rashtriya Panchanga is being prepared supposedly as per the recommendations of the Calendar Reform Committee of 1954. However, on page 7 of the Report of that Committee it had been said, “This recommendation is to be regarded only as a measure of compromise so that we avoid a violent break with the established custom. But it does not make our present seasons in the various months as they were in the days of Varahamihira or Kalidasa. It is hoped that at not a distant date, further reforms for locating the lunar and solar festivals in the seasons in which they were originally observed (as per the Vedas and other shastras) will be adopted”. In short, the CRC had desired a calendar based on Sayana Rashichakra instead of some Lahiri or Ramana Rashichakra! All the members of that Committee --- including the late N. C. Lahiri – the only Nirayana “Panchanga-copyist” in that Committee, signed that unanimous resolution. There were no dissenting notes from any quarter --- including (again) the late N. C. Lahiri, which means that all of them agreed that the Nirayana calendar that the Committee was suggesting at that point of time was to be used only as a very temporary measure. However, it is a strange yet sad fact that there has been no effort whatsoever from even the Positional Astronomy Centre or the IMD to remove this anomaly of celebrating Uttarayana on December 21 but Makar Sankranti on January 14; or Vishuv on March 21 but Mesha Sankranti on April 14 and so on. To indicate Sayana word with solar ingress (as the PAC is doing) at the time of Uttarayana/Vishuv is in itself a blot on our Vedas, ancient Indian astronomy as well as modern astronomy as no scripture or Sidhanta or modern astronomy have advocated more than one type of Rashichakra and that one is Sayana. Thus the controversy between tropical and sidereal zodiacs itself is meaningless for all such people as know even a bit of astronomy, whether Sidhantic or modern, or those who know our Dharmashastras. As the PAC does not use any “qualifying” suffixes like “Nirayana” or “Grahalaghava Ayanamsha” or “Lahiri Ayanamsha” ingress with any sidereal ingress, it conveys the erroneous impression that instead of an artificial and contrived one it is the real Vedic and “sidhantic i.e. Indian Rashichakra”. In the meantime, a Calcutta ephemeris goes on repeating year after year that the Ayanamsha “discovered” by the late N.C. Lahiri “which is called as Lahiri Ayanamsha is now being used in the Indian Astronomical Ephemeris and the Rashtriya Panchangs of the Govt. of India”. It means clearly that the GOI is subservient to the Ayanamsha of the late N.C. Lahiri prior to whose birth there was no Panchanga in India! It is really amusing, to say the least, that on the one hand PAC produces “Indian Astronomical Ephemeris” completely on tropical basis in accordance with the IAU and other astronomical bodies’ resolutions but surprisingly advocates an imaginary so called sidereal Rashichakra for its own people! We are thus becoming a laughing stock in the eyes of astronomers the world over! Even this dichotomy would have been welcome and appreciated if adopting such an imaginary Lahiri Rashichakra had been as per the injunctions of some Veda or shastra or Purana or even Sidhanta like the Surya Sidhanta etc. All of our sidhantas and puranas, on the other hand, have enjoined just one Rashichakra and that is tropical, the universal one. No Purana or Sidhanta says that Makar Sankranti has any different existence than Uttarayana or Mesha Sankranti is anything else than Vishuv. Same is the case with all our saints like Shri Adi Shankaracharya, Sant Gyaneshwarji, Shri Tulsidasji or even the Shankaracharya of Sharda Mutt at Dwarka more than a hundred years back. The question arises as to why we are following such a messy situation then. Even this question has been answered by the members of the Calendar Reform Committee of 1954 on page 25 of their Report in the following words, “Even today Panchanga making was a financial proposition. Astrology flourished on the principle ‘remember if it fits and forget if it misses....”. Thus Panchanga making is more for money-making than for propagating Dharma! Therefore, before embarking on any attempt to streamline the Calendar, I request you and all concerned to kindly go through the “Report of the Calendar Reform Committee” of 1954 thoroughly since it comprised of eminent scientists and scholars like Dr. M. N. Saha, Dr. K. L. Daftari, Dr. Gorakh Prasad and Prof. R. V. Vaidya all of whom had recommended a Sayana Rashichakra so that it remained linked to our Puranas and seasons. This will help you in taking policy decisions so that your recommendations to streamline the calendar do not get sabotaged by some vested interests---as were the recommendations of the 1954 Committee. If the “vested interests” do succeed in sabotaging your plans to align national calendar with the real Vedic i.e. Sayana and topocentric Rashichakra etc. then everything will be back to square one and your recommendations may end in a whimper suggesting in the end “to form another committee to study the question exhaustively” because that is what usually happens with such government committees. As per your letter under reply it is desired that there “should be convergence of opinion” on conflicting opinions for which purpose you want to conduct seminars etc. of different Panchanga-makers. The word “Panchanga-maker” itself is a misnomer as 90% of these so called “panchanga makers” get the data from you so whatever information you supply them is reproduced by them with all the moles and warts to which they make further additions of their own “printer’s devils” which in fact is their own slovenliness even in copying the data from your typescript pages. Others copy the data from overseas ephemerides after adjusting the desired Ayanamshas. In fact, most of the “panchanga-makers” do not know ABC of astronomy, either sidhantic or modern, or of our Puranas so to “seek” their “wise opinion” on such matters is like asking a toddler to expound on the “Theory of Relativity”! There must have been at least a hundred attempts by way of seminars, conferences and papers etc. in India over the last hundred years or so to “develop convergence of conflicting opinions” but none has succeeded so far. The last attempt was a “Conference for Standardization of Panchangas” in Delhi from April 25 to 27, 1994 in which almost all the “Panchanga-makers” and other “scholars” besides predictive astrologers of India had participated. The then Director of PAC also had participated in it. It was presided over by the late Dr. B.V. Raman and (perhaps) the then Union Finance Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram, was the Chief Guest. It had been decided unanimously in that conference that all the panchanga makers would (by weaving a magic wand!) “convert the Surya Sidhanta” mean elements into modern elements with the rider that somehow or the other so called Chitra Ayanamsha (read Lahiri Ayanamsha!) longitudes would be derived from it. In spite of that resolution being unanimous without any “dissensions” from any quarter, prestigious institutions like the Benaras Hindu University, Varanasi; Lal Bahadur Shastri Sanskrit Vishvawidyalaya, Delhi; Sanskrti University at Darbhanga etc. etc. are still preparing their panchangas as per the Surya Sidhanta that also without Bija corrections! However, for deciding the timings of eclipses and heliacal rising and setting of planets like Venus and Jupiter etc. they just copy the details from your data – the only difference being that you do indicate that those are applicable to Central Station of India whereas they just do not do even that. Thus they give the impression that those timings of heliacal rising etc are applicable to the whole of the world as they do not want to lose the sales of their Panchangas! They i.e. BHU give simultaneously the planetary longitudes supplied by you – till a few years back they used to publish Sayana longitudes for the last several decades as perhaps they did not know then that there was any difference between Sayana and nirayana longitudes! However, of late they have “woken up” as they are now reproducing the Nirayana longitudes from you! Clearly, they are not happy with the Surya Sidhanta longitudes! Thus they should have given the ending moments of Tithi, Nakshatra etc. also as supplied by you, but they are following the Surya Sidhanta there! Needless to mention here that they also had agreed to the unanimous decision of producing Panchangas on the basis of Lahiri Ayanamsha! Surprisingly they say that they are producing “Surya Sidhanta Panchanga” as the late Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya had advised it, though I am sure that if he had been alive today even he would have switched over to tropical longitudes because such seers had an open mind for the correct and latest knowledge! Similarly, Dr. B.V. Raman, who had presided over that conference of “unanimous resolutions” was giving Nirayana longitudes of planets in his “Astrological Magazine” as per his own favourite Ayanamsha which is neither as per Lahiri nor Cyril Fagan nor as per the SS nor as per Graha Laghava! The same “glorious tradition” is followed by his offspring today also! Surprisingly, they show Makar Sankranti on the same day as you do it which is actually impossible since as per their own “:Panchanga” in their magazine it should be earlier by two days! They do not, however, show any Uttarayana etc. as they do not want to be caught on the wrong foot on which they have been “treading” all along! In Maharashtra, Tilak Panchanga is being published every year supposedly on an Ayanamsha advised by the Surya Sidhanta and it is also known as “Revati Paksha” because the Rashichakra is said to start from Revati. Surprisingly, a leading predictive astrologer, however, has disowned this Ayanamsha because according to him “Zeta Piscium” i.e. Revati star itself has disappeared! The Tilak Panchanga has a large following even if sometimes some of the festivals (even the Nirayana ones!) differ by a month or so from that of yours - as do the ending moments of (nirayana) Nakshatras, yogas etc.! These panchangakars say that they are publishing such a Panchanga because the late Bal Gangadhar Tilak had advised it, when actually he had said in his “Orion” that our ancestors followed only a tropical Rashichakra! We are having simultaneously even today Panchangas based on Graha Laghava or Makaranda etc. like Mani Ram’s Panchanga from Mumbai; Veni Madhav Panchanga from Rishikesh and Brahman Maha Mandal Panchang from Jammu & Kashmir. It is not that these Panchanga-copyists are not aware of the fallacy of such billions of so called sidereal Rashichakras etc. but they cannot tell the public “the naked truth” as then they will lose the sales of their Panchangas. So it is money more than anything else that will continue to compel most of the Panchanga-copyists to “agree to disagree unanimously”. Even if they take “unanimous decisions” they will conveniently forget them (“selective amnesia”!), just as the late N. C. Lahiri had “forgotten” to inform the general public through his ephemerides and Bangla Panchangas etc. that the CRC had recommended to follow only temporarily the sidereal Rashichakra invented by him! It may be mentioned here that in the meetings of the Calendar Reform Committee of 1954 it was only the late N. C. Lahiri, who was also its Secretary, who had “suggested” to get its recommendations ratified by “Pundits” i.e. Panchanga makers, because he knew that no “Pundit” would accept a real Vedic i.e. tropical calendar as they would lose the sales of their Panchangas then. Thus the nirayanawallas succeeded in making all the efforts of the CRC a waste of time, energy and public money – since in spite of its best efforts and desire, the “Committee” was not able to get our calendar aligned to the seasons as was done by the Vedic and Pauranic Rishis or the Sidhantic astronomers. The only reason for the failure of the CRC was that it tried to get its recommendations ratified by “Pundits” as suggested by its Secretary. Thus the only “benefit” the nation reaped on the whole from such an exercise of the CRC to achieve unanimity was that out of the frying pan of Graha Laghava Panchangas we jumped into the fire of Lahiri Panchangas as he had cleverly selected the so called Chitra Ayanamsha only as it was nearer to Grahalaghava Ayanamsha then. Now these Panchanga-copyists and predictive astrologers “boast” that the Calendar Reform Committee had recommended a sidereal zodiac/calendar with Lahiri Ayanamsha! In my own humble way I have been bringing all these facts to the knowledge of a common man that by subscribing to a nirayana zodiac we are going neither as per our shastras nor as per our Sidhantas nor as per the modern astronomy. Their response has been overwhelming. I am enclosing excerpts from a few responses. These are from people who do not have any predictive axes to grind and who are simply amazed as to how we have been going on a wrong track for such a long period. (These opinions are also given in my ephemeris for 1998, 1999 and 2000 AD). But such readers are helpless since the teaching shops of astrology like “ Bharatiya Vidya Bhavans” and “All India Councils of Astrological Sciences” etc. etc. go on teaching the “scientific art” of “making correct predictions from incorrect data” on the bases of the same Lahiri Ayanamsha Panchangas! I have been sending copies of my Panchangas to you and also to the Director General of India Meteorological Department, New Delhi, every year regularly, bringing it to the notice of the PAC as well as the IMD as to how the “Calendar Makers to the nation” are, by publishing a Lahiri Ayanamsha based Panchanga, helping the dissemination of misinformation that we had been following a sidereal zodiac in ancient India when actually the CRC itself had advised “to locate the lunar and solar festivals in the seasons in which they were originally observed”. I have also been sending copies of my Panchangas to the Hon’ble President of the Republic of India; the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India besides to almost all the Union Ministers and most of the Chief Ministers of the states etc. apart from all the leading newspapers and magazines to bring to their notice the sad plight in which we are these days because of the wrong calendar system based on an imaginary Lahiri Rashichakra. It is therefore heartening to note that these discrepancies have been taken note of by you. My “Shri Krishen Universal Ephemeris & Panchang” for 2000 is in press and a copy of that also will be sent to you and all the other concerned officials when it is received from the press. In that issue it has been shown as to how we are being taken for a ride by the vested interests that have become worse than Duryodhana as money is the only consideration for them. In view of the above, I have the following suggestions: 1. The “Positional Astronomy Centre” (PAC) themselves have been playing a cruel joke with the Hindus as a whole. PAC is supposed to be deciding the fairs and festivals etc. as per the sunrise timings etc. of Central Station of India which has a longitude of 82°.5 E and a latitude of 23°N 11’ but ironically PAC is using geocentric (and that also so called nirayana) lunar and solar longitudes for obtaining ending moments of tithis, nakshatras, yogas etc. etc. on the basis of which religious festivals and fairs are decided. Perhaps it is using the sunrise timings of Central Station of India only since the sun never rises in the “Geocentre” may be otherwise it would have taken even sunrise timings of Geocentre for deciding the religious fairs in India! Anybody knowing even ABC of astronomy should be aware that Geocentre is actually the core of the earth that has nothing but molten iron and other metals at temperatures of more than 5000° Celsius. It is only a hypothetical point for fixing planetary co-ordinates etc. How important astronomically the topocentric longitudes etc. are can be judged from the fact that such longitudes for any period from about 2000 BC to 3000 AD for any place and for any time are available freely on the Internet from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA, USA Predictive astrologers and Panchanga-copyists etc. being ignorant of the difference between the geocentric and topocentric longitudes etc. is understandable. But it is really bad luck of the Hindus as a whole that till date an organization like the Positional Astronomy Centre or the IMD have been making us celebrate all our religious festivals and muhurtas on wrong days and timings not only by following an imaginary Lahiri Rashichakra but that also a geocentric one. The PAC should know that even the Nirayana ending moments of tihis, nakshatras, yogas etc. can differ up to two hours in case of the Central Station of India from that of the “Geocentre”! All such astronomical monstrosities should be removed immediately and Tithis, Nakshatras etc. decided only as per the topocentric and Sayana Rashichakra– it maybe for the Central Station of India or for Delhi---though personally I would prefer it for Delhi as most of the “astrologers” make Delhi their base for mundane predictions for India as it is the “Capital of the largest democracy of the world”. (It maybe mentioned here that if a crucial topic like “geocentric versus topocentric” also is subjected to a “referendum” to have “diverse opinions converging” the “majority Panchanga-copyists” and “Jyotihsis” will “veto” in favour of geocentric because they are afraid that they will be taken to task by their clients as to how they had been making correct predictions and fixing correct muhurtas and matching horoscopes correctly from such Dasha-Bhuktis as did not have even the correct Bhayat and Bhaboga to start with – or such planetary longitudes as were not meant for the place of the event at all. So the less such Jyotishis and panchanga-copyists are involved in such selfless matters the better for the overall spiritual health of the country). 2. Another anomaly that the Rashtriya Panchanga is giving rise to is that it compares the so called sidereal mean/osculating elements of modern astronomy with that of the Surya Sidhanta Mean Elements every year! This is really making a mockery of the modern astronomy as well as of the Surya Sidhanta and doing justice to neither because there can never be any sidereal mean/osculating elements as far as modern astronomy is concerned since all that the PAC is doing is deducting Lahiri Ayanamsha from the mean/osculating elements supplied by overseas observatories and reproducing them in the Rashtriya Panchanga. Similarly, to say that the Surya Sidhanta was advocating any sidereal zodiac is tantamount to celebrating Uttarayana not even on January 14/15 but on February 7 (instead of December 21!) since then you have to subtract (and not add!) the Surya Sidhanta Ayanamsha of 22° 29’ 45” as on January 1, 1999 from Lahiri Nirayana longitudes to make the Surya Sidhanta longitudes equal to tropical longitudes of today that also after making the so called “beeja corrections” in the “Surya Sidhanta”! The Surya Sidhanta has been, in fact, a very practical sidhanta --- laying down the condition that irrespective of what results its labyrinth calculations yield, the day has to be the shortest on the Uttarayana Day! It has called this very Uttarayana as sun’s ingress into Makara Rashi – there are no two types of Rashichakras - one Lahiri Rashichakra and the other i.e. Sayana! 3. It is good news that the PAC is consulting great Indian astronomers like Dr. Jayant Narlikar of UCCA, Pune; of Indian Space Research Organization, Bangalore etc. I suggest that prominent astronomers from other institutions also should be involved in deciding the real setting of Indian calendar---which should be simply and purely on tropical bases without any Ayanamsha – zero Ayanamsha as suggested by the “Calendar Reform Committee” in 1954 originally. 4. The presumption that our shastras had advocated some imaginary Lahiri Rashichakra has been demolished by me in my panchangas for 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 quoting chapter and verse from: I) All the four Vedas, II) Brahmanas like the (a) Shatapatha Brahmana (b) Aitreya Brahmana © Taitriya Brahmana etc. III) Upanishads like Brihadarnyak, Chhandogya, Katha etc. IV) Puranas like: (a) Vishnu Purana (b) Srimad Bhagavata © Shiva Maha Purana (d) Devi Purana (e) Matsya Purana (f) Markandeya Purana etc. etc. V) The Ramayana (b) the Adhyatma Ramayana © the Mahabharata (d) Rama Charitamanasa etc. VI) Dharma Shastras like the Manusmriti etc. VII) Ancient astronomical works like (a) the Rig /Yajur Jyotisham; (b) the Vedanga Jyotisha etc. VIII) Sidhantas like: (a) the Surya Sidhanta; (b) Panchasidhantika (that includes all the important five sidhantas of yore) etc. . IX) Commentators like Sayana Acharya, Adi Shankaracharya, Hariswamin, Nilakantha etc. X) Views of the saints like Sant Gyaneshwarji, Shri Eknathji etc. XI) Tantriks like Shri Abhinavgupta (Tantraloka) etc. In fact there is hardly any scripture or Sidhanta worth the name that has not been quoted by me in support of the (so called) tropical Rashichakra having been enjoined in the ancient India. 5. I have quoted extensively from latest astronomical works and also proved it conclusively in my 1999 ephemeris by going back by ten thousand years and forward by a similar span of years in time that our Vedic seers were the most accomplished astronomers of yore who fixed a calendar linked to the seasons and thus tropical year – they could not even for a moment think of any Lahiri Rashichakra since the “great” N. C. Lahiri was not even in his “embryonic” stage then! 6. Kindly go through the contents of my ephemerides of 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 once again. I am sure you will find an answer to all the serious or even frivolous questions these nirayanawallas may ask. It is, therefore, hardly any use to fall back upon the same “plea of convergence of opinion” as that will never be there and your project will be a non-starter then. You will have to do what the Calendar Reform Committee had suggested as back as 1954 (page 20) in the following words: “India is the country of blind orthodoxy. Whenever any improvement is proposed the people suppose that they will be drowned in the torrent of improvements and they oppose the improvement blindly. Any person who wants to introduce the improvement has to be firm and should not give way to such resistance. Signatories of the memorandum (suggesting Lahiri Rashichakra) are the persons who would resist any improvement. Now they would resist the improvements in the calendar and if they become successful they would then resist the necessary improvements in the Dharmasastra also. We should not take account of such people” You will therefore, have to be the torch bearer and pass a resolution (“bull”/ordnance!) like Pope Gregory did in 1582 to set right the Julian calendar and make everything according to the (so called) tropical topocentric rashichakra in the reformed calendar which should include: a) Daily (so called) sayana topocentric longitudes of all the planets including Uranus, Neptune & Pluto; b) Daily declinations of the topocentric sun and the daily latitudes and declinations of the topocentric moon. The latitudes etc. of other planets may be given alternately or bi-weekly. c) Daily topocentric longitudes of True Rahu and True Ketu d) Ending moments of topocentric (so called) sayana tithi, nakshatras, yogas, karna etc. etc. e) Giving the fairs and festivals as per the tropical and topocentric Rashichakra. In short, the so-called Nirayana Geocentric Rashichakra has to be discarded completely. 7. The start of the Shaka year should be from Vaishakha instead of Chaitra since as per our shastras and modern astronomy Vishuv is nothing but Solar ingress into Pauranic Mesha Rashi i.e. Vaishakha (and not Chaitra as shown in the Rashtriya Panchanga) which takes place every year around March 21 these days. 8. Once the PAC has taken all such decisions in consultation with all the leading astronomers of the country, it should present to the Panchanga-makers the tropical and topocentric longitudes and festivals etc. as a fiat accompli. If all these nuances are explained to a common man by a reputed body like PAC quoting the opinions of our great astronomers, apart from our scriptures, they will accept it. I may mention here that for this purpose the ground is already fertile as I have been taking up cudgels over the last several years and there is a lot of enthusiasm in the general public. 9. There are bound to be dissensions though – they will be against even Lahiri Rashichakra that you have been presenting till date --- but those will have to be ignored unless they support their arguments by any scriptural authority, which they can never do. (Astronomical authority will be in your favour i.e. in favour of a Seasonal calendar – about which I am sure). 10 On the other hand, the more you try to achieve a consensus the more you will defeat your purpose of uniting the nation since the maximum of resistance will be from predictive astrologers, according to whom “(in India) Adharma started not by following a non-existent Nirayana Lahiri Rashichakra but when the Kashmiris and Bengalis degraded and debased Shakti worship by following Kaula-Chara called Vamachara with its obscene five makaras”. (“Pari Prasna” by Prof. P.S. Sastri in the Astrological Magazine of February 1999) (Please see my ephemeris for 2000 in which I have refuted these slanders). 11. I am sending copies of this letter-cum-representation to the Hon’ble President of the Republic of India; the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and also to almost all the Union Ministers and Ministers of State and Deputy Ministers etc. etc. since very often such Ministers or Deputy Ministers are the chief guests at such “Panchanga Standardization Conferences” that are usually back to square one by endorsing “Lahiri Ayanamsha being the first best for making correct predictions from incorrect data”. The circular of my 1999 ephemeris is enclosed and it will be sent to all the above addresses also. A copy of my “Shri Krishen Universal Ephemeris and Panchang” for 2000 also will be sent to most of the said addresses when received from the press. If you need any more copies of my ephemeris for any year kindly do let me know. If you so advise, I shall be glad to send those copies to any astronomers or officials etc. whom you may desire, without any obligation on your part. A copy of this letter is being sent to the Director, ISRO; and also Dr. Jayant Narlikar at Pune. I am sure that with the new calendar based not only on our scriptures but even latest scientific discoveries, India will go into the new Gregorian Millennium with her head held high that we have after all streamlined our calendar (better late than never!) instead of yielding to the tactics of “majority Panchanga-makers” whose only interest is minting money by sabotaging the recommendations of the bodies like the “Calendar Reform Committee” of 1954 just to boost the sale of their Panchangas and ephemerides. Kindly take some speedy action about it since we have already suffered a lot on account of following wrong Rashichakras. With kind regards, Yours sincerely, (Avtar Krishen Kaul) Publisher Shri Krishen Universal Ephemeris & Panchang P.S. I am sending this letter to you by E-mail so that you receive it before October 29, 1999. A copy of it will follow by post. Encl. 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