The History of Indian Literature c9.219

c9.219

A decided advance in astronomical science was made through the discovery of the planets. The earliest mention of these occurs, perhaps, in the Taittiríya-Áraṇyaka, though this is still uncertain;²⁷¹ beyond this, they are not noticed in any other work of the Vedic period.²⁷² Manu's law-book is unacquainted with them; Yájnavalkya's Code, however—and this is significant as to the difference in age of these two works—inculcates their worship; in the dramas of Kálidása, in the Mṛichhakaṭí and the Mahábhárata, as well as the Rámáyaṇa, they are repeatedly referred to.∗ Their names are peculiar, and of purely Indian origin; three of them are thereby designated as sons respectively of the Sun (Saturn), of the Earth (Mars), and of the Moon (Mercury); and the remaining two as representatives of the two oldest families of Ṛishis,—Añgiras (Jupiter) and Bhṛigu (Venus). The last two names are probably connected with the fact that it was the adherents of the Atharva-Veda—which was likewise specially associated with the Ṛishis Añgiras and Bhṛigu—who at this time took the lead in the cultivation of astronomy and astrology.† Besides these names others are also common; Mars, for example, is termed 'the Red;' Venus, 'the White' or 'Beaming;' Saturn, 'the Slow-travelling;' this last being the only one of the names that testifies to any real astronomical observation. To these seven planets (sun and moon being included) the Indians added two others, Ráhu and Ketu, the 'head' and 'tail' respectively of the monster who is conceived to be the cause of the solar and lunar eclipses. The name of the former, Ráhu, first occurs in the Chhándogyopanishad,²⁷³ though here it can hardly be taken in the sense of 'planet;' the latter, on the contrary, is first mentioned in Yájnavalkya. But this number nine is not the original number,—if indeed it be to the planets that the passage of the Taittiríya-Áraṇyaka, above instanced, refers—as only seven (*sapta súryáḥ*) are there mentioned. The term for planet, *graha*, 'the seizer,' is evidently of astrological origin; indeed, astrology was the focus in which astronomical inquiries generally converged, and from which they drew light and animation after the practical exigencies of worship had been once for all satisfied. Whether the Hindús discovered the planets independently, or whether the knowledge came to them from without, cannot as yet be determined; but the systematic peculiarity of the nomenclature points in the meantime to the former view.²⁷⁴