Intercourse between India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of Rome c13.51

c13.51

It is, however, in one respect only that we can definitely ascribe any real debt on the part of India to Greece. This is in the science of astronomy⁴. The Indians frankly acknowledged their indebtedness to Greek science in this respect: “ The Yavanas are barbarians,” writes the author of the Gārgī Saṃhitā, “ yet the science of astronomy originated with them, and for this they must be reverenced like gods.” There are five Siddhāntas, or Treatises, on astronomy, in medieval Sanskrit literature,—the Paitāmaha, the Vāsiṣṭha, the Sūryya, the Pauliśa and the Romaka. These frequently mention “ Romaka ” as a “ famous city,” and Romaka is also alluded to several times in the Bṛihat Saṃhitā and Pañcha Siddhāntikā of Varāhamihira¹. This Romaka must be Alexandria, of course. The Pauliśa Siddhānta is based on the astronomical works of Paul of Alexandria (circa 378 A.D.). And Rome had ceased to exist as a centre of culture by the time of Varāhamihira (d. 587 A.D.). Further evidence may be found, if needed, in the fact that these writers all use the Greek names for the planets and the signs of the Zodiac instead of their regular Sanskrit appellations. Thus we have Kriya (Κριός, Aries), Tāvuri (Ταῦρος), Jituma (Δίδυμος), Pāthona (Παρθένος); Āra (Ἄρης), Heli (Ἥλιος), Asphiyit (Ἀφροδίτη), Himna (Ἑρμῆς), and so on. Similarly