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 Aryabhata's ascending node astronomical astronomical siddhāntas Bhāgavatam Bharata-varṣa Bhū Bhū-mandala Brahma calculations celestial equator celestial sphere circumference computed corresponds cycle demigods described diameter dimensional disc distance Doppler effect dvipas earth globe ecliptic equinoxes evidence Fifth Canto Figure galaxies Gosvāmi Greek heliocentric higher higher-dimensional Hipparchus Hubble's constant idea Indian astronomers Indian astronomy indicates interpretation Jambudvipa Jupiter jyotiṣa jyotișa śāstras Kali-yuga Kṛṣṇa locations Lord lunar Mahārāja mandala Mars material mean longitudes mean positions Mercury miles per yojana million miles modern astronomy modern Western moon motion Mount Meru Mountain observations ocean orbit parameters physics Pingree Pingree's planetary systems planets polestar Ptolemaic Ptolemy's Purāṇas quasars Rahu red shifts refers region relative rotation Saturn Satyaloka solar space Śrila Srila Prabhupada Srimad-Bhāgavatam stars statement suggest Surya-siddhanta Table theory three-dimensional Tifft universe Vaiṣṇava Vamsidhara Vedic cosmology Vedic literature Venus verse Vṛndāvana yogi yojanas yuga Zeta Piscium