Vedic Cosmography and AstronomyThe mysteries of the fifth Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam have long puzzled students of Vedic cosmography and astronomy. Confronted with a description of the universe that seems much at variance with the information provided by our senses and standard astronomical calculations, foreign observers and even Indian commentators from the middle ages up to the present have concluded that the Bhagavatam`s account elaborated in other Puranas must be mythological. On the other hand the same persons have been much impressed with vedic astronomical treatises the jyotisasastras which provide remarkably accurate measurements of the solar system. |
Contents
The Astronomical Siddhāntas | 11 |
Vedic Cosmography | 47 |
The Vertical Dimension | 83 |
The Empirical Case for the Vedic World System | 105 |
Modern Astrophysics and the Vedic Perspective | 119 |
Red Shifts and the Expanding Universe | 145 |
Questions and Answers | 161 |
Appendix | 181 |
Bibliography | 201 |
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Common terms and phrases
according to modern appear Aryabhata's ascending node astronomical astronomical siddhāntas Bhagavatam Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvati Bhū Bhū-mandala billion miles Brahmā calculations celestial equator celestial sphere circumference computed corresponds cycle demigods described diameter dimensional disc distance Doppler effect dvīpas earth globe ecliptic equinoxes evidence Fifth Canto Figure galaxies Greek heliocentric higher higher-dimensional Hipparchus Hubble's constant idea Indian astronomers Indian astronomy indicates interpretation Jambūdvipa Jupiter jyotișa śāstras Kali-yuga Krsna locations Lord lunar Mahārāja mandala Mars material mean longitudes mean positions Mercury miles per yojana million modern astronomy modern Western moon motion Mount Meru Mountain observations ocean orbit parameters physics Pingree Pingree's plane of Bhū-mandala planetary systems planets polestar Ptolemaic Ptolemy's Purāņas quasars Rahu red shifts refers region relative rotation Saturn Satyaloka solar space Srila Prabhupāda stars statement suggest Sumeru Surya-siddhānta Table theory three-dimensional Tifft universe Vedic cosmology Vedic literature Venus verse yojanas yuga Zeta Piscium