Indian astronomy
[9] Indian astronomy flowered in the 5th–6th century, with Aryabhata, whose work, Aryabhatiya, represented the pinnacle of astronomical knowledge at the time.
The Aryabhatiya is composed of four sections, covering topics such as units of time, methods for determining the positions of planets, the cause of day and night, and several other cosmological concepts.
An identifiable native Indian astronomical tradition remained active throughout the medieval period and into the 16th or 17th century, especially within the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics.
Rig Veda 1-64-11 & 48 describes time as a wheel with 12 parts and 360 spokes (days), with a remainder of 5, making reference to the solar calendar.
[12] As in other traditions, there is a close association of astronomy and religion during the early history of the science, astronomical observation being necessitated by spatial and temporal requirements of correct performance of religious ritual.
[13] Vedanga Jyotisha is another of the earliest known Indian texts on astronomy,[14] it includes the details about the Sun, Moon, nakshatras, lunisolar calendar.
[6][7][8][9] By the early centuries of the Common Era, Indo-Greek influence on the astronomical tradition is visible, with texts such as the Yavanajataka[6] and Romaka Siddhanta.
van Buitenen (2008) reports on the calendars in India: The oldest system, in many respects the basis of the classical one, is known from texts of about 1000 BCE.
It divides an approximate solar year of 360 days into 12 lunar months of 27 (according to the early Vedic text Taittirīya Saṃhitā 4.4.10.1–3) or 28 (according to the Atharvaveda, the fourth of the Vedas, 19.7.1.)
[39] This device could vary from a simple stick to V-shaped staffs designed specifically for determining angles with the help of a calibrated scale.
"[39] An instrument invented by the mathematician and astronomer Bhaskara II (1114–1185 CE) consisted of a rectangular board with a pin and an index arm.
[39] Invented by Padmanābha, a nocturnal polar rotation instrument consisted of a rectangular board with a slit and a set of pointers with concentric graduated circles.
[39]The seamless celestial globe invented in Mughal India, specifically Lahore and Kashmir, is considered to be one of the most impressive astronomical instruments and remarkable feats in metallurgy and engineering.
The earliest was invented in Kashmir by Ali Kashmiri ibn Luqman in 1589–90 CE during Akbar the Great's reign; another was produced in 1659–60 CE by Muhammad Salih Tahtawi with Arabic and Sanskrit inscriptions; and the last was produced in Lahore by a Hindu metallurgist Lala Balhumal Lahuri in 1842 during Jagatjit Singh Bahadur's reign.
[41] According to David Pingree, there are a number of Indian astronomical texts dated to the sixth century CE or later with a high degree of certainty.
One of the direct proofs for this approach is the fact quoted that many Sanskrit words related to astronomy, astrology and calendar are either direct phonetical borrowings from the Greek language, or translations, assuming complex ideas, like the names of the days of the week which presuppose a relation between those days, planets (including Sun and Moon) and gods.
[citation needed] With the rise of Greek culture in the east, Hellenistic astronomy filtered eastwards to India, where it profoundly influenced the local astronomical tradition.
"[9] Another Indian text, the Gargi-Samhita, also similarly compliments the Yavanas (Greeks) noting they, though barbarians, must be respected as seers for their introduction of astronomy in India.
While there appears to have been little concern for planetary theory, Muslim and Hindu astronomers in India continued to make advances in observational astronomy and produced nearly a hundred Zij treatises.
After examining La Hire's work, Jai Singh concluded that the observational techniques and instruments used in European astronomy were inferior to those used in India at the time – it is uncertain whether he was aware of the Copernican Revolution via the Jesuits.
The Indian scholar Mir Muhammad Hussain had travelled to England in 1774 to study Western science and, on his return to India in 1777, he wrote a Persian treatise on astronomy.
[59] The last known Zij treatise was the Zij-i Bahadurkhani, written in 1838 by the Indian astronomer Ghulam Hussain Jaunpuri (1760–1862) and printed in 1855, dedicated to Bahadur Khan.
These comprise live and forward-calculating astronomical clocks (calculators) for days, eclipses, visibility of key constellations which are not year-round northern polar ones thus principally but not exclusively those of the zodiac.
As brass time-calculators are imperfect, and to help in their precise re-setting so as to match true locally experienced time, there remains equally his Samrat Yantra, the largest sundial in the world.
[61] Other notable include: Models of the Kerala school (active 1380 to 1632) involved higher order polynomials and other cutting-edge algebra; many neatly were put to use, principally for predicting motions and alignments within the Solar System.
[74][75] ISRO succeeded INCOSPAR and the Department of Space (under Indira Gandhi) was established, thereby institutionalising astronomical research in India.
