Chapter 15

A Relook into the Historical Progress and

Philosophy of Indian Space Exploration*

M. R. Ananthasayanam,† A. K. Anilkumar‡ and V. Adimurthy§

Abstract

A study of the history and philosophy of the contribution of India towards

the exploration of space since antiquity provides interesting insights. The contri-
butions are described during the three periods namely: (1) the ten millenniums
from 10,000 BC with a twilight period up to 900 AD; (2) the ten centuries from
900 AD to 1900 AD; and (3) the ten decades from 1900 AD to 2000 AD; called
mythological, medieval, and modern respectively. Some important events during
the above periods provide a reference view of the progress. The Vedas during the
mythological period and the Siddhantas during the medieval periods, which are
based on astronomical observations, indicate that the Indian contribution pre-
ceded other cultures. But most Western historians ignore this fact time and again
in spite of many proofs provided to the contrary. This chapter also shows that
Indians had the proper scientific attitude of developing any physical theory
through the triplet of mind, model, and measurements. It is this same triplet that

*
Presented at the Forty-First History Symposium of the International Academy of Astro-
nautics, 24–28 September 2007, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India. Paper IAC-07-E4.3.01.
†
Formerly Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore, India.
‡
Head, Applied Mathematics Division, Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, Trivandrum, India.
§
Dean ( R&D), Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Trivandrum, India.

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forms the basis of the present day well known Kalman filter technique. Up to
about 1500 BC the Indian contribution was leading but during foreign invasion
and occupation it lagged and has been improving only after independence.

Introduction

The history of space exploration can be succinctly stated as an inexplicable

trait of the human nature aspiring to reach the place seen by his eyes in the sky.
However, to do so there is no easy way except to systematically explore the envi-
ronment of space, the celestial objects, and build vehicles to take him there,
which leads to developments in space science and technology. In the present re-
view of the Indian contribution toward the exploration of space from antiquity to
the present, due to page limitation and the author’s competence, the topics have
been restricted to ancient Indian astronomy and, briefly, the developments in
space technology in the country. The progress can be described in the three peri-
ods, namely: (1) the ten millenniums from 10,000 BC with a twilight period up to
900 AD; (2) the ten centuries from 900 AD to 1900 AD; and (3) the ten decades
from 1900 AD to 2000 AD; called mythological, medieval, and modern, respec-
tively. In each of the above periods the identification of some important observa-
tions or works provide a reference view of the progress as shown in Tables 15–1,
15–2, and 15–3 (located at the end of this chapter). Such a subdivision appears
suitable to describe the historical progress in many other topics in science and
technology.
Ancient Indian astronomy [1 to 16] is emphasized more lately because it
represents the best of Indian heritage and pride for Indians who somehow lost the
lead. Subsequently, the newer perspectives, which throw insight to the scientific
attitude and the approach of ancient Indian astronomers [17 to 28], are provided.
The final section provides conclusions from the present study.

Ancient Indian Astronomy and Antiquity of the Vedas

Ancient Indian astronomy is considered to be the oldest of all sciences of

the human race and is as old as the Vedas, since the rituals with altars symboliz-
ing Earth, space, and sky therein are based on astronomical observations of the
Sun, Moon, planets, and the stars, all well known to Vedic Rishis. If we follow
Neugebauer for the Babylonians, then with further antiquity Vedic Indians would
be the first scientists.

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 Law [4] quotes that Max Muller had described the language and poetry of
the Vedas (meaning knowledge in Sanskrit) as “unequalled in any language and
in any later Indian literature for grandeur, boldness, and simplicity, beautiful,
original, and spontaneous and charm.” He placed the period of Vedas (by con-
tents and chronology to Rg, Yajur, Sama, and Atharva Vedas, then Brahmanas
followed later by the Aranyakas, Upanishads, and six Vedangas, which help to
understand Vedas) around 1200 BC. Other scholars felt it is impossible to
squeeze the linguistic, cultural and philosophical developments in the Vedic lit-
erature into a few centuries. Later in life he felt “there is nothing more ancient
and primitive, not only in India, but in the whole Aryan world, than the hymns of
the Rgveda. So far as we are Aryans in language that is in thought, so far Rgveda
is our own most ancient book. . . . Whether the Vedic hymns were composed in
1000, or 1500, or 2000, or 3000 BC no power on earth will ever determine.”
It turns out that with more evidence from anthropology, satellite studies,
geology, linguistic, and literature, the date of Rgveda is getting continuously
pushed further and further into antiquity. Rgveda mentions about 60 times the
mighty river Saraswati flowing from mountains to the sea. Even the region of the
composition of the hymns is indicated by the asymmetry of two numbers that
show the ratio of the longest to the shortest day, leading to the latitude of the
place as the Sarasvathi valleys.
Satellite and geological studies shows it ceased to be a perennial river and
flowed only seasonally sometime before 3000 BC, and by 1900 BC went dry due
to the tectonic shifts in its tributaries Sutudri and Yamuna being captured by
Sindhu and Ganga. Hence Frawley and Rajaram conclude Rgveda must have
been composed long before 3000 BC, with an evolution time of about 2,000
years that places it before 5000 BC. Hence the theory of Aryans invading, set-
tling in Saptasindu region in 1500 BC, and later in 1200–800 BC composing the
Vedas must be removed from textbooks. By the time of Rigveda, the Aryans
were Indians without memory of a foreign land. Tilak showed that astronomy
could be used for fixing the chronology of the events in the Vedic texts in a con-
sistent way.

Astronomy in Rgvedic Hymns

Rgveda, the ancient word document, preserves the astronomical observa-

tions therein with incredible fidelity through a sequence of symbols but with dif-
ferent permutations, as in modern error detection and correction methods in com-
puters and communications theory.

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 The Vedic hymns indicated concepts, such as a spherical Earth, a heliocen-
tric model, and the precession of the equinox. The astronomical truths in Vedas
are wrapped in stories involving deities [15] made the early scholars unfamiliar
with modern science and astronomy unable to decode their contents. In Aithreya,
Brahmana (3.44) says the sun never sets or rises . . . making night what is below
and day to what is on the other side. An elaboration of the above speaks of an-
tipodes of Earth and implies Earth’s rotation. The precession of the equinox was
also known, based on adjustment at the beginning of the month for the sacrifices
being adjusted over the course of thousands of years as shown in Table 15–1. As
an example of the symbolic nature of describing astronomical features, Rgveda
(RV1.112.13) declares that the Asvins, namely Mercury and Venus, drink soma
and have phases like the Moon that imply heliocentric theory. If Earth were at the
center of the solar system, Mercury and Venus would not have exhibited phases.
These are also known as morning or evening stars, denoting their visibility just
before sunrise or sunset. The Asvins moved sometimes east to west and some-
times west to east (RV1.139.4) meaning direct and retrograde motions unlike
outer planets that have only occasional retrograde motions.
The world was supported by 12 massive pillars, Earth stood on the back of
four elephants, in turn supported on the back of a huge tortoise, which itself was
supported by a serpent floating in a limitless ocean. The pillars symbolize
months, elephants denote directions, and the tortoise is one of Vishnu’s avatar,
implying that Earth is supported in space in its orbit around the Sun, and the
coiled serpent refers to Earth’s rotation.

Stars in Vedic Period

The Vedic astronomers, based on observations, determined the motion of
the Sun and the Moon, with reference to the 27 stars with Sanskrit names of an-
cient Vedic deities in Rgveda (5.51), which indicates their antiquity. Similarly
the 12 zodiac names emerge from the name of the deity. Max Muller opined that
the stars are completely of Indian origin, otherwise different Gods, hymns, wor-
ship, and sacrifices would have followed. It could not be of Chinese origin hav-
ing only 24 single stars, whereas the 27 Indian stars are mostly groups. Rgveda
refers to Sun as the daytime star. The sunspots are mentioned in Rg and Yajur
Vedas.

Planets in Rgveda
The Vedic Indians could not have missed the faster and brighter planets in
the sky. Nowhere in Rgveda were the planets mentioned together, although they
were studied. The later Vedanga Jyothisa (VJ) in the second millennium BC also

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did not mention the planets, perhaps being unnecessary for calendar considera-
tions for the performance of the Vedic rituals. Kak [10] has shown that astro-
nomical information is at the very basis of the number of hymns in the design of
Vedic books. He has shown that the information about the sidereal and the syn-
odic period of the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are embed-
ded in the Rgvedic books. The sidereal period is with respect to the fixed stars
and the synodic period is the interval from the time a planet is at the middle of
retrograde motion to the next time it is in such a state. He further shows that the
probability of the number of hymns could have been chosen randomly but cor-
rectly is extremely small.

Numbers in Rgveda Texts

The number of syllables in Rgveda is 432,000 and equals the number of
muhurtas (one day has 30 muhurtas) in 40 years. The number 108 has a special
place in Vedas. The number 108 = 27 x 4 with the mapping of the sky into 27
stars. In the Vedic calendar the months were lunar, but the year was solar. The
distances of the Sun and Moon from Earth is nearly 108 times their diameters,
which makes their angular distances almost identical. Kak has many more char-
acterizations of the hymns in the Rgvedic books. The solar year was taken to
have 371 thitis and hence the Rgvedic scholars were aware of the 18-year eclipse
cycle—the number 3,339 stands for 371 x 18/2. This represents the number of
thitis between similar lunar eclipses, separated by nearly 18 solar years, counting
only the dark fortnights. This is also the syllable count of the hymns in Rgveda in
the astaka (eight-book) format.

Priority of Vedas over Other Traditions

In the ancient world there could have been a broad exchange of general
ideas and interactions through trade. But the independent tradition of observing
the planets during the Vedic period (much earlier than Babylon, since 2000 BC)
made many of the constants in the later Siddhantic texts differ from that of the
Babylonians and the Greeks. Pingree [8] believes that (1) the ratio of longest to
shortest day of 3:2 used after 700 BC, (2) the use of linear functions to obtain
daylight length in intermediate months, (3) the use of a water clock, (4) thiti as
the 30th part of lunar month, (5) the two intercalary months in five years, and (6)
the concept of five-year yuga were imported from Babylonian astronomy to
Vedic astronomy. But these have been answered [10] by Kuppanna Sastry and
Achar, thus proving the antiquity of the latter.

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 Figure 15–1: Earth’s precession per year on summer solstice [13].

Figure 15–2: Sun/Earth/star positions on spring equinox day over past 5,000 years
showing Earth’s precession [13].

272
Precession of the Equinox
The precession of the equinox has been accounted for qualitatively by
Vedic priests by regressing the year beginning from constellation Margasiras to
Rohini to Krittika with the passage of time. Only after Aryabhata, the Indian as-
tronomers made quantitative measurements. The effect of the precession of the
equinox is shown in Figures 15–1, 15–2, and 15–3 for the summer solstice,
spring, and summer solstices days.

Figure 15–3: Sun/Earth/star positions on summer solstice day over past 5,000 years
showing Earth’s precession [13].

Calendars in Vedic Astronomy

The easy way of measuring a day is between two sunrises, and for a month
between two full moons. The “sidereal year” is the time required by the Sun to
move from a given star to the same star again, equaling 365.256364 days, and it
is the one followed in Vedas. The “tropical year” known as “astronomical,”
“equinoctial,” “natural,” or “solar” year is equivalent to one complete circuit of
the ecliptic by the Sun, equaling 365.242190 days, and it is the one that deter-
mines the seasons. The above two differ by about 20 minutes per year and neces-
sitate a change in the beginning of a year in the Hindu calendar, so that the natu-

273
ral cycle of seasons always occur at the same in the 12 months of the calendar
year. The time taken by the Moon to complete one revolution, called “sidereal
period” with respect to the fixed stars, is 27.3216615 days. The interval between
two full moons, called “synodic period or lunar month,” is 29.530589 days. The
luni-solar calendar adjustment is to find integers such that:
x years = y months = z days
and is nearly ensured by adding, from time to time, an intercalary month to the
regular months to ensure that seasonal festivals and agriculture practices do not
go out of step [11]. The fire altar in Satapatha Brahmana denoted even the asym-
metric motion of the Sun with respect to Earth between the equinoxes and sol-
stices [10].
The Rgvedic references to year, season, month, and days are not direct but
by implication. Thus, in RV 1.164.48, a “twelve follies, one wheel, three axles,
who knows this? In that wheel there are 360 spokes moving and unmoving.” The
meaning is 12 months, one year, three seasons, and 360 days. Because days are
not found after 360, it may mean 360 solar days, or 354 lunar days, but both are
shorter than a solar year of 366 days and thus need intercalation. Hence when the
lunar calendar was used, 12 days were added at the end of each year. When the
system was changed from lunar to luni-solar, then one full month was added after
every 2½ years. Subsequently, when there was a solar year of 360 days, it fell
short of six days, in which case one month was added after five years. Regarding
the number of seasons, Tilak stated that when Aryans moved from the northwest,
deeper inside India, the number of seasons increased to three, five, six, or even
seven seasons in a year. About the seventh season, it is said that six are twins
made up of two months each, but the seventh is the intercalary month. Further the
solar year, containing an error of a percent day in each year, was corrected by
deducting one month after every 40 years. This is stated in the Veda as “Indra
discovered Sambara concealed in the mountain after a search of 40 years.” [4].
Precession causes the cycle of seasons (tropical year) to change slowly
(one day per 71 calendar years) in the position of the Sun with respect to the stars
at an equinox. In about 2,000 years the months shift through one star in the con-
stellation and thus keep falling back due to the precession. Thus the first month
in the rainy season may be Bhadra, Shravana, or Ashada in lesser and lesser an-
tiquity of the related star epoch. The shifting of repeating seasons through the
year, but across varying stars in the constellations, helps to date several state-
ments in the Vedic texts over many millenniums as given in Table 15–1. Abha-
yankar [21] traces various events from the ancient 7000 BC up to possible future
2450 AD.

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 Indian Exploration of Space from Antiquity to Present

The first period of naked eye observations of Vedic astronomy extends

from remote antiquity up to Siddhantic texts. The ancient records were available
in the oral traditional literature of the Vedic times. In his “Orion,” Tilak [3] stated
that for the different periods of the Vedas, the astronomical statements unmis-
takably pointed to the vernal equinox (VE) in the constellation of the Mriga or
Orion, during the period of Vedic hymns around 4500 BC receded to the constel-
lation of the Krittikas or the Pleaides around 2500 BC in the days of the Brahma-
nas.
There was no systematic compilation of astronomical knowledge before
Rishi Laghada’s VJ. The VJ text specifies the winter solstice (WS) at the begin-
ning of Sravistha (Delphini), VE in 10 deg of Bharani, summer solstice (SS) at
the middle of Ashlesa, and autumnal equinox (AE) in 3 deg, 20 min of Visakha,
giving it a date of around 1200 BC. Varahamihira states in 505 AD that SS was
at the end of ¾ of Punarvasu and WS at the end of first ¼ of Uttarashada, leads to
1150 BC [14]. Using the commercial SkyMap software for the Sun and Moon
coming together in Dhanistha star (identified with δ Capricorni instead of β Del-
phini that is at more than 30 deg from the ecliptic) at the time of WS, Narahari
Achar [23] suggests an even earlier date for VJ as 1800 BC. The duration of the
shortest and longest days as mentioned in VJ helps to locate the place of compo-
sition at 35 deg north near Takshashila. VJ classifies time as solstices and equi-
noxes, increase and decrease of day and night duration in the ayanas, seasons,
solstitial tithes, omission of tithis, table of parvas, solar and other types of years,
revolutions of Sun and Moon as seen from Earth and their transit through stars,
intercalary month, and so on.
There was a period of about 2,000 years after VJ when apparently the pro-
gress was perhaps not written and if written has not survived [10]. The next was
the appearance of the three texts namely Aryabhata Siddhanta, Brahmasputa
Siddhanta, and Surya Siddhanta from the main schools. Generally a Siddhantic
text discusses the mean and true position of the planets, precession of the equi-
nox, direction, place, and time, solar and lunar eclipses, and many more. The post
Siddhantic period saw steady and continuous developments in astronomy.
In the second period many Karana texts appeared, aiding easy usage of the
Siddhantic texts. The salient features of these, unlike Siddhantas, are to provide
(1) the smaller number of days from the date of their compilation to facilitate
easy computing, (2) simple approximations to the various formulae without loss
of accuracy, (3) empirical corrections to enable the observations match the pre-
dictions from the text, and (4) tables for quick computations. Even in the later

275
20th century many karana and other types of texts on many aspects of astronomy
were produced. It may be of interest to note that even comets were observed, for
example, by Bhattotpala (937 AD), who listed comets named after Rishis who
studied them and recognized their reappearance during their lifetimes using pre-
vious records [11].
Sarma discovered the outstanding contribution by the Kerala school during
this period. There was a continuous and dedicated effort to improve the model
parameters of the planets, computational efficiency, and accuracy. Although tele-
scopes were brought to India in early 17th century, their use somehow did not
spread throughout India.
The Tantrasangraha of Neelakanta revised the models for the interior plan-
ets preceding Tycho Brahe by about 100 years. This implied that the five planets
(Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn) move in eccentric orbits around the
Sun, that in turn goes around Earth, thus very close to the ultimate heliocentric
model [17]. The skillful and dedicated work of Samanta Chandrasekhar toward
the end of the 19th century, using crude instruments, brought out the best non-
telescopic results better than in the earlier Siddhantic texts [18,19].
In the third period, during the first half, astronomy, atmosphere, and cos-
mic ray studies formed the main scientific activity toward the exploration of
space. The contributions of Saha, Chandrasekhar, and Mitra, in particular, re-
ceived international acclaim. The discovery by Ramanathan of a higher and
cooler tropopause over India was accounted for in the two tropical standard at-
mospheres proposed by Pisharoti. Ananthasayanam and Narasimha completed
such an activity by proposing an International Tropical Reference Atmosphere,
valid all the way from sea level to 1,000 km and useful for many aerospace and
remote-sensing applications. Table 15–3 shows significant space technological
activities during the period after independence commenced with sounding-rocket
studies. The space technology matured in steady steps to the launch remote sens-
ing, geostationary, remote sensing, and other types of satellites.

Present Status of Indian Space Exploration

Although India has lost the lead, it is possible to catch up, even with a de-
layed start, as exemplified by the Ariane and Airbus programs of the European
community or India’s own aircraft, missile, satellite, and launch vehicle pro-
grams.

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 Indian Scientific Philosophy and Some General Remarks

It is useful to appreciate the scientific attitude of the various contributors.

Also, some useful comments are helpful to understand and teach ancient astron-
omy or perhaps any other subject provided.

Development of a Physical Theory

In developing any physical theory, the results from newer experiments or
observations are combined with the existing theory, based on an acceptable or
reasonable basis to further improve the theory. As shown in Table 15–4, this can
be translated as the existing (estimate) and the newer information (measurement)
are combined suitably (criterion) to have better or improved (updated) informa-
tion as the fundamental principle of the Kalman filter, as stated in Appendix A.
Another way of looking at the development is through the triplet of the mind,
model, and measurements.

Changes Are Inevitable

The classical image of Indians as conservative is not true, and they do not
fear change. They have very clearly understood that if there is one thing that is
true, it is that change with time—be it celestial objects, atmosphere, space debris,
economics, or society, and any model describing their evolution—needs correc-
tions based on periodic observations at various time intervals.

Accept Changes
One should recognize change and adapt one’s approach to life’s problems.
The important point of Nilakantha (1444–1545) is that although all the “sastras”
are the creations of great minds, that of divine grace, they become “slatha” after
sometime, because they are created by human beings and are always imperfect
and so cannot form the ultimate or absolute truth.

Toward Truth through Pseudo Procedures

The philosophy of Bhaskara-I (c. 600–680) has been that the various no-
tions, introduced in developing a physical theory of planetary motion, are aids to
arrive at the final results, and the entire procedure is fictitious (!) to arrive at the
ultimate truth via untrue means. Putumana Somayaji (1660–1740) also in his
comprehensive treatise, KaranaPaddhathi, stated that the various concepts and
the derivations based on them are not really true but only help to compute the

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position of the celestial bodies [16]. Thus the operational success of a theory is
given precedence over rigorous conceptual framework.

Operationally Acceptable Imperfect Models

The Indian astronomers, in particular from the Suddhantic period, although
belonging to different schools, continued to refine the model parameters to match
the observations. Thus operationally acceptable models were continuously
evolved, rather than seeking what was the true picture. They went on providing
answers about how the geometry of the planetary motion is, rather than ask
“What is the origin of planetary motions?” as pointed out by Chandrasekhar [20].

Choice of Suitable Variables

The various calendars evolved over a period of time. First it was the lunar,
then luni-solar, and later the solar calendar. A suitable time scale of days,
months, and a year, along with the various time scale of the motion of the Sun,
Moon, and the stars, have been used to obtain a convenient calendar for varying
purposes of daily, monthly, and yearly rituals. The problem was how to specify
in a simple and easy way a reference, or a standard to celebrate the festivals and
the rituals.

Stability and Sensitivity in Imperfect Models

There has been an element of luck for the Indian astronomers in history.
For them only the rates of motion of the planets was of interest in their calcula-
tions of the ephemerides and not their distances. The planetary distances given by
Samanta Chandrasekhar follow both Bode’s law and Kepler’s law and is close to
the modern value, whereas the earlier Aryabhatiya, SurysSiddhanta, and
SiddhantaSiromani could not follow any of these laws, although they gave the
same time period for the planets. The reason for this is that the earlier works as-
sumed equal speeds in their orbit for all planets, whereas Samanta’s results are
based on Tychonic model in which only the Sun and Moon orbit Earth, and other
planets orbit the Sun [19]. This shows that in spite of the sensitivity of some im-
portant quantities in a problem, some stability does not mean the whole theory is
perfect!

Levels of Documentation
The Siddhantic texts chose the beginning of Mahayuga (4,320,000 years)
as the epoch, and they contained a large number of pages and topics that were not
suitable for day-to-day use, because only scholars could follow it. The Tantra

278
texts had fewer topics and explanations and chose a more convenient epoch, such
as the beginning of the Kaliyuga. At the next level the Karana texts served as a
handbook by taking a convenient and contemporary date as the epoch. providing
the necessary corrections to facilitate making a Panchanga for practical purposes
[14]. Compare this with the airworthiness codes evolved by analysts and re-
searchers that the designer should meet, and in turn the flight manuals prepared
by designers for the pilots to follow, and next the assurance provided by the op-
erator to the flying public whose opinion about the accident is fed back to the
analysts forming a closed loop. At various levels one need not necessarily know
how the document has been generated from the previous level, but simply follow
the codes or the instructions, as the case may be, to ensure safe flight operations.

Better Writing
In his History of Ancient Indian Mathematics, Srinivasiyengar lamented
“the unfortunate habit of writing everything in prose [has] contributed immensely
to the difficulties of modern commentators as quoted by Thruston [22]. The
method would no doubt have been explained from master to pupil, and in turn to
his pupil and so on, illustrated with numerical examples.” Most present-day writ-
ing has more of prose and less of tables, figures, graphs, and flow charts that can
make it easy for a reader. These provide a bird’s-eye view, like pictures from a
remote-sensing satellite that can indicate many features not understandable by
trekking through the forest of prose. A search of the Internet, reports, and many
textbooks collecting the results would provide a lesson even for the instructor! In
fact the history and philosophy of the development of the concepts in any subject
provides a natural evolution that can be followed and retained more easily and
enthusiastically.

Criticisms about Vedic Astronomy

Many historians try to discredit the tradition of observational Vedic astron-
omy in India. But for the recorded astronomical observations many of the events
in Ramayana, Mahabharata, and other texts could not have been dated with con-
fidence. In particular the conjunction of many celestial objects in the sky, being
less probable, helps to determine the epochs with greater certainty. Playfair, Bil-
lard, and van der Waerden have demonstrated that it is impossible to define the
positions of the celestial objects in the distant past with no knowledge of gravity,
the governing differential equations of motion, and the methods of solving them,
and not to speak of the uncertainties in the various parameters in the equations
and finally provide results and that too for about 10 parameters! Koenraad Elst
feels it is a scandal when Playfair’s findings were around for about 200 years, but

279
linguists and indologists published a speculative Vedic chronology with utter
disregard for the contribution of Indian astronomy. Billard [6] in 1971 made
computer-based statistical studies and demonstrated that independent astronomi-
cal observations are the characteristic of Indian astronomers throughout history.
The three figures of Billard [6] from Kak [10] shows that Aryabhata corrected
the SurysSiddhanta values, and later Lalla corrected his parameters, making it
valid over a larger number of centuries. Such continuous updates based on obser-
vations by the Kerala school bears this out. Finally, Narahari Achar [23], based
on sophisticated simulations using Planetarium software, could place the date of
the Mahabharata war at 3067 BC, thus proving that the various sequences of
events in such texts cannot be dismissed as fiction.

Conclusions

The ancient Indian astronomy is the earliest scientific study in the world.
The Vedic astronomers had the best possible scientific approach, commensurate
with the facilities and the knowledge at the time. Although India has lost the lead,
it can be made up, as shown by the Ariane and Airbus programs and India’s aero-
space programs. The history and philosophy in any subject helps to convey the
fundamental concepts. The subject matter should contain far more tables, figures,
and flow charts for comfortable learning. Also user-friendly software in astron-
omy would help to understand conflicting and interesting issues, making sensitiv-
ity studies to obtain insight into the effect of the errors.

Appendix A: Formulations of Kalman Filter

The ancient Indian astronomers corrected the parameters of the model for
the planetary motion at various times using observational data as can be seen in
Figures 15–4, 15–5 and 15–6. The triplet of the model, measurement, and mind is
used to evolve a physical theory, shown in Table 15–4, is just the principle of
Kalman filter, as well.
In the Kalman filter formulation there are (1) the predicted state estimate
plus its covariance, (2) measurement equations, and (3) the state update equa-
tions. Further, one needs to be given, otherwise estimate it somehow through the
filter formulation itself, the initial state and its covariance together with the co-
variance of state and measurement noise matrices denoted by XO, PO, Q, and R
respectively. To remark briefly—assume that XO is given. The R is fairly objec-
tive. PO is partially subjective as well as objective to be chosen for the filter to

280
operate properly. The choice of Q, termed “notorious” in the literature, is highly
subjective depending on the desired performance of the filter, such as during the
transient and the steady state. The cost function helps to optimally choose these
in a systematic way. This is not surprising since the time-dependent filter is sub-
jective, like statistics that is time independent. The situation is like the choice of
pole placement in control theory by the analyst to adjust the gains leading to the
desired transient and steady state behavior. Except for a small fraction of the
people the choice of filter statistics even to handle sophisticated problems is ad
hoc after some manual trial and error and not to speak of the cost function that
has been mostly forgotten (!)

Figure 15–4: Differences in longitude (SuryaSiddhanta) [10].

281
 Figure 15–5: Differences in longitude (Aryabhatiya) [10].

The sensitive filter statistics PO, Q, and R can be traded to the more robust
Kalman gain K—a fact utilized to handle many highly nonlinear problems [27].
The K is a measure of the relative importance to be given to the predicted model
values to the observations. Working with K avoids the covariance equations, thus
saving huge computer time. Similar to the filter statistics, the gain K is also sub-
jective but as shown in such problems can be systematically chosen based on a
cost function. The ancient Indian astronomers must have chosen the gain K sub-
jectively.

282
Figure 15–6: Differences in longitude (Lalla) [10].

283
 Table 1: Important Events between 10,000 BC – 900 AD
10000– End of the ice age. Agriculture had commenced. The Taittiriya Brahmana (3.1.2)
9000 BC refers to Purvabhadra star as rising due east would be an event not before 10000 BC
and since Rgveda is more ancient than Brahmanas, it can be placed even before
10000 BC.
9000– The Taittiriya Samhita (6.5.3) places the constellation Pleiades at the WS, which
8000 BC correlates with astronomical events that took place in 8500 BC at the earliest.
8000– Excavations at Neveli Cori in Turkey reveal advanced civilization with meticulous
7000 BC architecture and planning. The above discovery with megalithic elements going
back into 8th millennium showed a sculpture representing a Vedic priest with clean
shaven head and a tuft! Siddharth quotes a total eclipse terminating the Treta Yuga
around 7300 BC as the time for Ramayana.
7000– Rig Veda verses (1.117.22, 1.116.12, 1.84.13.5) say WS begins in Aries. Tilak’s
6000 BC estimate of Rgveda is around 6000 BC. Largely agrarian people cultivating barley
and cattle inhabited the city of Mehrgarh west of Indus river near Bolan pass from
around 6500 BC to 7000 BC. Rgveda frequently mentions barley and milk cattle
could have come from this agrarian period as a precursor to the Indus–Saraswati
civilization.
6000– Aithreya Brahmana explicitly refers to the asterism Punarvasu presided over by the
5000 BC deity Aditi, rising exactly east, which happened around 6000 BC.
5000– Tilak in his Orion stated for the different periods of the Vedas the astronomical
4000 BC statements unmistakably pointed to the VE in the constellation of the Mriga or
Orion during the period of Vedic hymns around 4500 BC. A naked eye observation
of the conjunction of the planet Jupiter and δ Cancri in Taittitriya Samhita belongs
to the period around 4650 BC.
Sage Agastya after crossing Vindhya mountain saw the star Agastya for the first
time around 4000–5000 BC. He started the first Tamil Sangam and the last Sangam
ended near the beginning of Christian era. With about 200 kings ruling on an aver-
age for 20 years, would place Agastya’s epoch around 4000 BC agreeing with as-
tronomical dating.
4000– The date of Mahabharata War based on computer simulations by NarahariAchar is
3000 BC 3067 BC. The Vedic and post-Vedic texts indicate the constellations on the equinox
points, which were there from 4000 BC for the RgVeda, as pointed out by Tilak
through around 3100 BC for the Atharva Veda and the core Mahabharata. The
Margashira star meaning beginning of the year points to fourth millennium BC
when the Sun was in that asterism at the VE.
3000– The rainy season may be Bhadra, Shravana, or Ashada in lesser and lesser antiquity
2000 BC of the related star epoch. The Kaushitaki Brahmana puts the WS at the new moon of
the sidereal month Magha for Mahashivaratri (the longest night of the year at the
winter solstice) festival, now falling 70 days later points to 2600 BC ± 1,100 years
for the establishment of this festival. The year beginning with full moon of Magha
indicating SS in Maghas and VE in Krittka in 2350 BC is the time of composition
of Taittreya–Samhita and Tandya–Brahmana.
The spring equinox conjunct with Rohini star recorded in various Brahmanas indi-
cates their date around 3400 BC. The α Draconis remained as the pole star Dhruva
during several centuries before and after 2800 BC.

284
2000– SHATAPATHA BRAHMANA provides an overview of the broad aspects of Vedic
1000 BC astronomy. Vedic rituals were based on full and new moons, solstices, and equi-
noxes. Some Hindu scholars date it around 1800 BC based on the reference in it of
the Sarasvati river drying up around 1900 BC. Archaeoastronomers have dated it to
around 2000 BC based on a reference to the Pleiades (Krttikas) “rising in the east”
at AE (ŚBM 2.1.2.1). The Maitrayania Brahmana Upanishad (6.14) refers to the
WS being at the midpoint of the Sravista segment and the SS at the beginning of
Magha indicating 1660 BC.
VEDANGA JYOTHISA (VJ) by Lagadha is the earliest available consolidated
astronomical text. In the text it specifies WS at the beginning of Sravistha (Del-
phini), VE in 10 deg of Bharani, SS at the middle of Ashlesa, and AE in 3 deg 20
min of Visakha giving a date of VJ around 1200 BC. Using the commercial soft-
ware SkyMap for the Sun and Moon coming together in Dhanistha star (identified
with δ Capricorni instead of β Delphini that is at more than 30 deg from the eclip-
tic) at the time of WS, Narahari Achar suggests even earlier date for VJ as 1800
BC. The VJ system is a coordinate system for the Sun and Moon in terms of 27
stars enabling the calculation of the thitis.
1000–0 Many scholars presuppose the completion of Vedic literature before the rise of Jain-
BC ism in the latter half of 8th century BC, thus the beginning of the Brahmana period
in 800 BC impossible.
0– The year beginning was changed from WS to VE during the Siddhantic period. But
900 AD the memory of WS is preserved by the Makara Sankranthi festival in 285 AD. But
with the loss of astronomical significance both the above now occur after 24 days
due to precession. This shows the need to reform Indian panchanga to be consistent
with ancient tradition.
SURYA SIDDHANTA (unknown author). This has undergone progressive changes
from about 400 AD to 1100 AD.
ARYABHATA (476–550). Father of Indian epicyclic theory. In the Ptolemic sys-
tem deferents were large circles centered on Earth and epicycles were smaller cir-
cles whose center moved around the circumference of the deferents. In contrast
Aryabhata has different values of the circumferences of epicycles for odd and even
quadrants. Since the prevailing Surya Siddhanta differed from his observed data, he
gave corrected values in his Aryabhatiyam very much followed in south India. Such
corrections were continued at later times by Haridatta, Parameswara, and Nilakanta.
Aryabhata stated that Earth is round, rotates on its axis (a fact that brought criticism
from some contemporary scholars), orbits the Sun, and is suspended in space and
also explained lunar and solar eclipses. Assuming the zero sidereal longitudes at
midnight in Ujjain, on 17/18 February 3102 BC as the beginning of Kaliyuga, and
knowing the number of revolutions of the planet since then would help to calculate
the present longitude. His Aryabhata Siddhanta describes astronomical instruments.
VARAHAMIHIRA (505–587) adversary of Aryabhata, but popular among public
produced the PanchaSiddhanta consisting of Saura (best), Pitamaha (not so correct),
Vasistha (methods are crude), Romaka (not applicable to Indian methods of astro-
nomical computations), and Paulisa (probably variant of a Greek name Paulos,
obsolete by his time!) is mostly a systematic collection than original contribution.
HARIDATTA (650–750) recognizing the deviations from the Aryabhata system for
the observed longitudes of the planets promulgated the Parahita system of astro-
nomical computation on the occasion of the 12 yearly Mahaamaagha festival at
Thirunavaya. Introduced a simpler katapayadi system of letter notation for numbers
than of Aryabhata. His Vaghbhava correction made the results from Aryabhata
more accurate.

285
 BRAHMAGUPTA (598–668) wrote Brahmasputasiddhanta and Khandakhadyaka,
a practical manual. His Siddhanta is popular in northern and western India and
translated into Arabic. His remark about gravity is “bodies fall toward the earth as it
is in the nature of the earth to attract bodies, just as it is in the nature of water to
flow.”
BHASKARA-I (c. 600–680). Although not a direct disciple of Aryabhata, was his
great admirer. He wrote Maha Bhaskariyam, Laghu Bhaskariyam, and Aryabhatiya
Bhasya a commentary on Aryabhatiyam.
VATESVARA (b 880 AD). His VateswaraSiddhanta a standard work on astronomy
was later adopted by Sripathi and Bhaskara II. In each chapter problems are given
as in modern textbooks.
__________________________________________________________________
SS = Summer Solstice/Dakshinayana when Sun travels south. (The longest day is
21 June.)
WS = Winter Solstice/Uttarayana when Sun travels north. (The shortest day is 21
December.)
AE = Autumnal Equinox (The day and night are equal on 22 September.)
VE = Vernal Equinox (The day and night are equal on 20 March.)
The equinoxes occur at the two intersections of the celestial equator and the eclip-
tic. The dates are true on an average. The Vedic rituals were based on the times for
full, and new moons, solstices, and equinoxes. The uncertainties occur in dating the
various events because of the identification of the stars from groups generally, their
location with respect to the ecliptic, magnitude, and even the number as 27 or 28.

Table 2: Important Events between 900 AD – 1900 AD

900– ARYABHATA II (920–1000) wrote an astronomical treatise MahaSiddhanta.
1000 MUNJALA (932 AD) wrote Laghumanasam. Munjala and Bhaskara introduced the
corrections to account for the irregularities in the Moon’s motion due to evection
and variation.
1000– SRIPATHI MISHRA (1019–1066) wrote Siddhantasekhara and Ganitatilaka for
1100 teaching purposes. A third correction to account for the annual variation in the
Moon’s motion was given by him.
1100– BHASKARA—II, also called BHASKARACHARYA, (1114–1185). His Siddantha
1200 Siromani, in four parts, deals with arithmetic, algebra, celestial globe, and the plan-
ets. His also wrote a handbook, Karnakutuhala.
1200– Vakyakarana (around 1282 AD) text is the basis of Vakyapancangas, perhaps based
1300 on works of Bhaskara and Haridatta. The laborious siddhantic computations are
cleverly circumvented but do account for Ayanamsa.
MAHADEVA (1275–1350) composed Mahadevi, extensive planetary tables along
with instructions called Grahasiddhi to facilitate the computation of daily almanac.
Popular in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
1300– MADHAVA of Sangamagrama (1340–1425) the greatest mathematical astronomer
1400 of medieval India. In his Venvaroham a facile procedure is evolved to read out the
true position of Moon every 36 minutes.
1400– PARAMESWARAN NAMBUDIRI (1360–1455) had the best observations before
1500 Tycho Brahe. Lived with fishermen since ostracized for such activity and made
observations from the age of 53. His eclipse observations not tallying with the ear-

286
 lier Parahita system of Haridatta led him to propose the Drk system of Drig-
ganitham. He provided zero corrections for planets at the beginning of Kaliyuga, a
smoothing technique!
NEELAKANTA SOMAYAJI (1444–1545). His Tantrasangraha provided a unified
theory of planetary heliocentric model preceding Tycho Brahe by revising the mod-
els of Mercury and Venus. He corrects Aryabhata’s constants in his SiddhantaDar-
pana and Tantrasangraha.
1500– JYESTHADEVA (1500–1610) wrote the world’s first calculus text, Yuktibhasa in
1600 Malayalam, and Drk-karana on observations.
GANESA DAIVAGNA (b 1507) wrote Grahalaghavam at the age of 13, a simple
text for calculating the planetary positions for practical work devoid of trigonome-
try, geometry, and epicyclical models.
ACYUTA PISARATI (1550–1621) gave the rule to transfer a planet’s position
from its orbit to the ecliptic.
1600– PUTUMANA SOMAYAJI (1660–1740). His comprehensive treatise, Karana-
1700 Paddhathi, and the earlier Tantra Sangraha and Yuktibhasa helped the Europeans to
solve the menacing navigation problem in particular at sea.
1700– RAJA JAI SINGH SAWAI (1688–1743) assembled scholars trained in diverse
1800 traditions. Built massive pre-telescopic observatories in masonry and stone in Delhi,
Jaipur, and other places to help update planetary tables.
1800– CHANDRASHEKHAR SIMHA (1835–1904). Due to inadequate siddhantic values
1900 made his own observations with a pole, two sticks “T,” and timing devices. Inde-
pendently had all three corrections of Moon. His skill, practice, and better
Tychonic-like model gave the best results even for orbital sizes. Wrote his
Siddhanta Darpana in Oriya on palm leaves. He had not seen or heard of a telescope
until late in life and deeply regretted.

Table 3: Important Events between 1900 AD – Until Date

1900– 1908 Nizamiah observatory at Hyderabad established in 1901.
1910 1909 John Evershed of Kodaikanal Observatory discovers the radial motions of
sunspots, known as Evershed effect, and the shift of sunspot spectra toward red, due
to Doppler effect.
1910– 1920 Saha’s thermal ionization equation that goes by his name and its application to
1920 stellar atmosphere was first given in the paper “On Ionization in the Solar Chro-
mosphere,” published in the Philosophical Magazine of October 1920. Rated by
Eddington as one of the 10 most outstanding discoveries in astronomy and astro-
physics after the telescope.
1920– 1920 Ground-based observations of cosmic rays in 1920s and 1930s by Bose,
1930 Vibha, Choudhury, et al. in Calcutta.
1929 Ramanathan’s discovery of the higher and cooler troposphere over India pub-
lished in Nature.
1930 The work on ionosphere by Mitra in Calcutta published in Nature. Experi-
mental evidence of E-region.
1930– 1930 Bhaba publishes a paper concerning absorption and shower production of
1940 cosmic rays.
1933 Chandrasekhar’s famous work on black holes and his mass limits.

287
 1935 Mitra and Shyam discover an ionospheric region around 55 km and called it
the D layer. They also explain Appelton’s ionization anomaly.
1937 Bhaba publishes the paper “On the Penetrating Component of Cosmic Radia-
tion” in the Proceedings of Royal Society.
1940– 1940 During the 1940s, balloon-borne observations were carried out by Bhabha in
1950 Bangalore.
1945 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research set up for research in nuclear sciences,
cosmic rays, and mathematics.
1950– 1950 During the 1950s, underground measurements of cosmic rays in Kolar near
1960 Bangalore at a depth of nearly 2 km. Later cosmic rays and particle interaction stud-
ies with nuclear emulsion stacks flown on balloon-borne platforms.
1953 Physical Research Laboratory established in Ahmedabad.
1954 Astronomical observatory set up at Varanasi.
1957 Solar observations undertaken during IGY.
1959 SAAT and SATU standard atmospheres for the tropical regions proposed by
Pisharoti.
1960– 1962 INCOSPAR formed by the Department of Atomic Energy. The first sounding
1970 rocket, Nike–Apache, launched from an equatorial station at Thumba near Trivan-
drum as an international cooperative effort from the United States, France, the
United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union.
1964 The Center for Advanced Study in Astronomy established at Osmania Univer-
sity.
1964 India admitted as a regular member of IAU.
1965 Space Science and Technology Center established in Thumba.
1967 Kavalur observatory was set up.
1967 Launch of indigenous Rohini sounding rocket from Thumba. Later, many
such launches from Balasore in Orissa.
1969 Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) formed under Department of
Atomic Energy.
1970– 1970 Names of seven Indian scientists put on Moon.
1980 1971 The Madras and Kodaikanal observatories were combined into an autono-
mous institute called Indian Institute of Astrophysics at Bangalore.
1972 The Raman Research Institute at Bangalore commenced its astronomy pro-
gram.
1972 Space Commission and Department of Space set up on 1 June. ISRO brought
under DOS.
1974 Aryabhata with X-ray payload launched.
1975 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research started X-ray and astronomy program.
1975 ISRO’s first satellite, Aryabhata, was launched from the Soviet Union.
1975–1976 Satellite Instructional Television Experiment performed.
1976 Three more Indian names put on Moon.
1977 Discovery of the rings of Uranus. Satellite Television Experiment Project
conducted.
1979 Bhaskara-I, an experimental satellite for Earth observations, launched from
the Soviet Union. First experimental launch of SLV-3. The Rohini satellite onboard
could not be launched.
1979 Second experimental launch of SLV-3. The Rohini satellite onboard success-
fully launched.
1980– 1981 First development launch of SLV-3. RS-D1 placed in orbit. APPLE, an ex-
1990 perimental geostationary communications satellite successfully launched.

288
 Bhaskara-II launched.
1982 INSAT-1A launched in April and deactivated in September.
1983 Second developmental launch of SLV-3. RS-D2 placed in orbit. INSAT-1B
launched.
1984 Discovery of the outer rings of Saturn.
1984 Sq. Ldr. Rakesh Sharma becomes the first Indian to go into space as part of an
Indo–Soviet manned space mission.
1987 First developmental launch of ASLV with SROSS-1 satellite onboard. The
satellite could not be placed in orbit.
1988 Launch of first operational IRS-1A. Second developmental launch of ASLV
with SROSS-2 onboard could not be placed in orbit. INSAT-1C launched on 21 July
and abandoned in November 1989.
1990 INSAT-1D launched.
1990– 1991 Second operational remote sensing satellite, IRS-1B, launched.
2000 1992 Third developmental launch of ASLV with SROSS-C satellite placed in orbit.
INSAT-2A, the first satellite of the indigenously built INSAT launched.
1993 Ananthasayanam and Narasimha propose reference atmospheres for the mid-
latitude and tropics.
1993 INSAT-2B launched. First developmental launch of PSLV with IRS-1E on-
board. Satellite could not be placed in orbit.
1994 Fourth developmental launch of ASLV with SROSS-C2 onboard. Satellite
placed in orbit. Second developmental launch of PSLV with IRS-P2 onboard. Satel-
lite successfully placed in polar Sun synchronous orbit.
1995 INSAT-2C satellite launched. Launch of third operational IRS-1C.
1995 Giant Meter Wave Radio Telescope set up near Pune.
1996 Third developmental launch of PSLV with IRS-P3 onboard. Satellite placed in
polar Sun synchronous orbit.
1997 INSAT-2D satellite launched. Becomes inoperable on 4 October. First opera-
tional launch of PSLV with IRS-1D onboard. Satellite placed in orbit.
1999 INSAT-2E launched by Ariane from Kourou. The IRS-P4 (OCEANSAT),
launched by PSLV-C2 from Sriharikota, along with a Korean and German satellite.
2000– 2000 INSAT-3B launched by Ariane from Kourou.
until 2001 The first developmental launch of GSLV-D1 with GSAT-1 onboard from Sri-
date harikota. Placed the satellite in a lower orbit. ISRO’s PSLV-C3, successfully
launched three satellites of ISRO, Germany, and Belgium into their intended orbits.
2002 Successful launch of INSAT-3C by Ariane from Kourou. ISRO’s PSLV-C4,
successfully launched KALPANA-1 satellite from Sriharikota.
2003 Successful launch of INSAT-3A by Ariane from Kourou. The developmental
launch of GSLV-D2 with GSAT-2 onboard from Sriharikota. Successful launch of
INSAT-3E by Ariane from Kourou. ISRO’s PSLV-C5, successfully launched
RESOURCESAT-1 (IRS- P6) satellite from Sriharikota.
2004 The first operational flight of GSLV (GSLV-F01) successfully launched
EDUSAT from Sriharikota.
2005 ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, PSLV-C6, successfully launched
CARTOSAT-1 and HAMSAT satellites from Sriharikota. Successful launch of
INSAT-4A by Ariane from Kourou.
2006 The second operational flight of GSLV-F02 was unsuccessful. Both the rocket
and the communications satellite INSAT-4C destroyed over the Bay of Bengal after
the rocket’s trajectory veered outside the permitted limits.
2007 Successful launch of INSAT-4B by Ariane from Kourou. The ISRO’s PSLV-
C8 successfully launched an Italian astronomical satellite. GSLV-F04 launch suc-
cessful and INSAT-4CR in orbit.

289
 2008 PSLV-C10 successfully launched a commercial satellite POLARIS. PSLV-C9
successfully launched Indian Cartographic satellite and nine other mini commercial
satellites. PSLV-C11 launched (22 October 2008) successfully Chandrayaan-1,
India’s first mission to the moon. Chnadrayaan-1 carried 11 scientific instruments
built in India, USA, UK, Germany, Sweden and Bulgaria.
2009 PSLV-C12 launched successfully Indian Radar Imaging Satellite RISAT-2
along with a student mini satellite ANUSAT. PSLV-C14 launched successfully
Oceansat and four small satellites. Chandrayaan-1 detected presence of water on
the Moon. The findings from M3 onboard Chandrayaan-1 clearly showed a marked
signature in the infrared region of 2.7 to 3.2 micron in the absorption spectrum,
which provided a clear indication of the presence of hydroxyl and watermolecules.
2010 PSLV-C15 launched successfully Cartographic satellite along with four com-
mercial satellites. GSLV-D3, GSLV-F06 failed in its mission to inject a communi-
cation satellite in GTO.
2011 PSLV-C16 launched successfully a remote sensing satellite ResourceSat-2
and other two small satellites. PSLV-C17 launched successfully a communication
satellite. PSLV-C18 launched successfully India–France Megha-Tropiques along
with three mini satellites. GSAT-8 was successfully launched on Ariane-5.
2012 PSLV-C19 successfully injected Indian Radar Imaging Satellite.

Table 4
Different Examples of the Triplet Helping to Understand Nature

No Triplets
1 Model Measurement Mind
2 Theory Experiment Progress
3 P0 is Partly Subjective R is Fairly Objective Q is Highly
and Objective Subjective
4 Read Write Think
5 Existing Rules Experience with Rules Newer Rules
6 Bhakti Yoga Karma Yoga Jnana Yoga
7 Evolving Truth (How?) Newer Experiments Ultimate Truth
(Why?) (Who?)

290
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