Fwd: [hc] Àryabhata's oldest exact astronomical constant?

[Guest guest]

hinducivilization , " Avtar Krishen Kaul "

<jyotirved wrote:

 

Shri Jai Maharajji,

Namaskar!

I have read almost all the books by Cheiro, besides books by several

other palmists. Cheiro does not appear to have revealed any of

his " secrets " regarding palm-reading by which he is supposed to have

made astoundingly accurate predictions. All his books are of general

type. Personally, I found " Laws of Scientific Hand Reading " by

Benham (Taraporewala) more informative.

Anyway, coming to Cheiro's views, " From the astronomical calculations

that the figures in their temples represent, it has been estimated

that the Hindus understood the precession of the equinoxes centuries

before the Christian era. "

It is actually a very vague statement, a very general one and without

any reference to any particular temple of any particular state where

he saw such " figures " ! It can be anybody's guess as to what Cheiro

meant when he said, " the astronomical calclatons that the figures in

their temples represent.. " .

Secondly, most of the temples take into account the direction of

sunrise/sunset etc. at the time of construction so that the sun's

rays fall on the deity's feet at the time of sunrise for maximum

number of days in a year. And the sunrise timings etc., being

related to seasons, have nothing to do with precession!

 

Thirdly, as on date, prior to the Surya Sidhanta, we do not have any

astronomical work that talks of planets like Mangal, Shani etc. vis-a-

vis Mesha, Vrisha etc. Rashis, much less about precession!

And since I have read quite a few sidhantas like (i) all the five

sidhantas of Pancha-sidhantika (about 2nd century BCE!); (ii) the

current Surya Sidhanta (about 4th/5th century AD); (iii) Shishya-dhi-

vridhida of Lalla (6th century AD); (iv) Vateshwra Sidhanta of

Vateshwara (9th century AD); (v) Laghumanasa of Munjala (10th century

AD) and (vi) last but not the least Sidhanta-Shiromani of Bhaskara-II

(12th century AD), I can assure you with all the emphasis at my

command that prior to Laghumanasa of Munjala, no astronomer has

touched the topic of Ayanamsha (leave alone precession!) even with a

barge pole!

As I have read all the works in original Sanskrit with their

commentaries in Sanskrit and translations in English and/or Hindi, I

can equally assure you that there is no possibility of there being

any " misrepresentation " by some " Xtian missionaries " while

interpreting/translating those works.

 

As late as twelfth century AD, Bhaskaracharya, in his own Vasna

Bhashya on his Sidhanta Shiromani has touched this topic of lack of

knowledge of Ayanamsha by the earlier astronomers with the

words, " Why did not earlier astronomers like Brahmagupta etc.

discusss Ayanamsha " and he has answered his own question himself with

his comments, " Because during their era, the Ayanamsha was small that

is why they did not notice it " . And Brahmagupta was around in 6th

century AD and till his time, actually till the time of Munjala,

nobody even noticed any discrepancy in the longitudes vis-a-vis

ayanamsha!

And even Ayanamsha has actually nothing to do with precession of

equinoxes! It is just the difference between the calculated

longitudes of the Surya Sidhanta vis-a-vis the actual phenomena like

Vishuva (Vrnal Equinox) i.e the so called Sayana Mesha Sankranti and

the one as per the calculations of the SS and so on!

And Munjala (10th century AD), the first Indian astronomer to have

touched the topic of Ayanamsha, has advised that the Ayanamsha is to

be added to the calculated longitudes of the SS at the rate of one

arc minute (60 arc seconds) per year from 444 Shaka! In other words,

he wanted " nirayana " to be made sayana! It is quite opposite to what

the so called nirayan jyotishis, including Shankuntala Devi!, do

these days---convert sayana into nirayana!

In other words, the nirayana is really niradhar---i.e. the so called

nirayana rashis, with hundreds of ayanamshas, has actually

no " adhar " -- base/foundation, not even the sidhantas, much less the

scriputres or the Vedas!

Nirayana rashis are thus actually a myth created by jyotishis around

14th/15th century AD that made Ganesha Daivajnya spin a work viz.

Grahalaghava, asking exactly to do opposite to what Munjala had

advised i.e. Grahalaghava has advised to subtract ayanamsha from the

visible phenomena (drik-pratyaya longitudes) like Vernal Equinox etc.

at the rate of one arc minute per year from Shaka 444!

He has thus put the cart before the horse, and made a mess of

everything--even the sidhantic calculations!

Late N. C. Lahiri dovetailed his Ayanamsha, on the shoulders of an

imaginary Chitra-paksha, to Grahalaghava Ayanamsha, so that there was

no " violent break " from Grahalaghava Sankrantis in around 1940 or

so! Lahiri was actually more worried about the sale of his Vishudha

Sidhanta Panjika and Lahiri's Indian Ephemeris than the actual

sidhantic astronomy!

Not surprisingly, the same Lahiri later inveigled himself into Saha

Calendar Reform Committee of 1954 as its Secretary and made those

recommendations also subservient to his ayanamsha with the result

that the Rashtriya Panchanga has a permanent fixture of Lahiri

Ayanamsha, on the basis of which it decides annual fairs, festivals

and muhurtas, with the only difference that now they are taking the

actual rate of precession as ayanamsha per year---the starting year

being as imaginary---a non-existent point supposed to have been

opposite Chitra Star in 285 AD!

That is why we are celebrating all our festivals and muhurtas not as

per the Vedic or Pauranic or even Sidhantic dicta but only as per the

whims and fancies of Lahirwalas!

Moral of the story: Hindus do not need enemies to ruin their dharma

if they have friendly " Vedic astrologers " around to do so!

Again, it is no surprise that nirayana-walas claim making correct

predictions---with all the hundreds of ayanamshas--forgetting that if

one ayanamsha is correct all the rest are incorrect! They are also

unware that the sidhantas talk of only a (so called) sayana

rashichakra, without exception!

Thus it appears that " nirayanawalas " , inlcuidng Shakuntala Devi-

walas, can make correct predictions only from incorrect data!

 

As such, pl. rest assured that none of the sidhanta-makers till about

tenth century AD were aware about Ayanamsha, leave alone precession,

whatever Messrs Cheiro and Company may say!

Regarding Cheiro's other statements that palmistry emanated from

India, I have no comments since I am no authority on the subject.

About Vedas being the oldest scriputres, I personally feel the same

thing.

With regards,

A K Kaul

PS

Pl. do not get an impression that I am advocating a so called sayana

jyotisha. All I am saying is that the Sidhantas and the Puranas have

referred to only so called sayana rashis and not any so called

nirayana ones. Astronomically, there are no rashis---mcuh less

sayana or nirayana---since the zodiac cannot be divided into twelve

neat equal compartments, euphemistically known as rashis

(astrological signs)

AKK

hinducivilization , Jyotishi <jyotish2000@>

wrote:

>

> Related excerpt:

>

> Count Louis Hamon, known to millions as Cheiro, earned the highest

appellations through thirty years of diligent study of the science of

prediction. He was an expert in both astrology and numerology but

was most famous for his amazing knowledge of palmistry. He wrote in

1949:

>

> " As regards the people who first understood and practiced this

study of the hand, we find undisputed proofs of their learning and

knowledge. Long before Rome or Greece or Israel was even heard of,

the monuments of India point back to an age of learning beyond, and

still beyond.

>

> " From the astronomical calculations that the figures in their

temples represent, it has been estimated that the Hindus understood

the precession of the equinoxes centuries before the Christian era.

>

> " In some of the ancient cave temples, the mystic figures of the

deities] silently tell that such knowledge had been possessed and

used in advance of all those nations afterward so celebrated for

their learning.

>

> " It has been demonstrated that to make a change from one sign to

another in the zodiacal course of the sun must have occupied at least

2,140 years, and how many centuries elapsed before such changes came

to be observed and noticed it is impossible even to estimate.

>

> " The intellectual power that was necessary to make these

observations speaks for itself; and yet it is to such a people that

we trace the origin of the study under consideration. With the spread

of the Hindu teachings into other lands do we trace the spread of

knowledge of palmistry.

>

> " The Hindu Vedas are the oldest scriptures that have been found,

and according to some authorities they have been the foundation of

even the Greek schools of learning. "

>

> - Cheiro's Language Of The Hand by Cheiro; Herbert Jenkins

Limited, London, 1949.

>

> Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi

> Om Shanti

>

 

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