Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c14: VIII. Astronomy
Hindu Achievements in Exact Science: A Study in the History of Scientific Development c14
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VIII. Astronomy
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ASTRONOMICAL lore is probably as old as mankind. Elementary knowledge about the celestial bodies and meteorological phenomena is common to the races of antiquity, e.g., Chaldæans, Egyptians, Chinese, Hindus, and Greeks, as well as to all primitive races of men. That, however, is not to be regarded as forming the science of astronomy, unless the epoch of mere observation be lifted up to the level of an epoch of science.
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The cultivation of astronomy, *as science*, after it began as such, did not make less progress among the Hindus than among the Greeks under Hipparchus (*c* 150 B.C.) and Ptolemy (A.D. 139).
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1. Lunar zodiac: The earliest astronomy of the Hindus is believed to have been borrowed from the Babylonians. This consisted in the conception of the lunar zodiac with twenty-seven *naksatras* (constellations). But this elementary division of the sky, suggested by the passage of the moon from any point back to the same point, may have been original to the Hindu priests, as Colebrooke and Max Müller believe. The Saracens, however, learned their *manzil* (twenty-eight constellations) from the Hindus in the eighth century.
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2. Dodecameries: Aryabhata (A.D. 476) knew of the division of the heavens into twelve equal portions or "dodecameries." This zodiacal division came down from the Babylonians to the Greeks about 700 B.C. (?). But it was only by the first century B.C. that the Greeks had twelve separate signs for the twelve divisions. Aryabhata named the twelve divisions by words of the same import, and represented them by the figures of the same animals, as the Greeks. The Hindu zodiac, if it is foreign at all, seems thus to have been derived from the Greek, rather than from the Babylonian.
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3. Rotation, 4. Eclipses: Aryabhata knew the truth that the earth revolves on its axis. The true cause of solar and lunar eclipses also was explained by him.
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5. Epicycles: The hypothesis of the epicycles in accounting for the motions of the planets and in calculating their true places was the greatest generalization of Hipparchus. This was discovered by the Hindus also. But according to Burgess, "the difference in the develpoment of this theory in the Greek and the Hindu systems of astronomy precludes the idea that one of these peoples derived more than a hint respecting it from the other."
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6. Annual precession of the equinoxes, 7. Relative size of the sun and the moon as compared with the earth, 8. The greatest equation of the centre for the sun: With regard to these calculations, the Hindus "are more nearly correct than the Greeks."³
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9. Times of the revolutions of the planets: With regard to these, the Hindus are "very nearly as correct" as the Greeks, "it appearing from a comparative view of the sidereal revolutions of the planets that the Hindus are most nearly correct in four items, Ptolemy in six."³
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10. The determination of the lunar constants entering into the calculation of lunar periods and eclipses reached a remarkable degree of approximation (much above Græco-Arab computations) to the figures in Laplace's Tables.⁵⁹
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The Hindus were acquainted with Greek astronomy and its merits. Varaha-mihira's (A.D. 505–587) candid acknowledgment of the fact that this science is "well established" among the "barbarian" Yavanas (Ionians, i.e., Greeks) leaves no doubt on the point. The only question is about the amount and period of influence.
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According to Burgess there was "very little astronomical borrowing between the Hindus and the Greeks." It is difficult to see precisely what the Hindus borrowed, "since in no case do the numerical data and results in the system of the two peoples exactly correspond."
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A certain amount of foreign help may have given an impetus to the science in India. But the loan was thoroughly Hinduized. According to Whitney,³ the Indians assimilated the Greek astronomy by (1) The substitution of sines for chords, and
(2) The general substitution of an arithmetical for a geometrical form.
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On the strength of subsequent developments, Seal claims that Hindu astronomy was not less advanced than that of Tycho Brahe (1546–1601).
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Werner quotes passages to indicate that Hindu astronomical instruments were introduced into China. According to Mikami, Hindu astronomers served the Chinese government on the Astronomical Board, sometimes even as President (seventh century and after). Chinese translations of Sanskrit works¹ like "The Brahman Heavenly Theory" are also recorded. Several calendars were modelled on the Hindu, e.g., probably the one by Itsing (683–727). During the eighth century Hindu astronomy was introduced among the Saracens, also, as noticed above.
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¹ * Four Hindu books on astronomy and three on mathematics are scheduled in Book XXXIV of the "Sui Shoo" or History of the Sui Dynasty (A.D. 589–618).