Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Who goes around whom, Earth vs Sun?

Who goes around whom, Earth vs Sun?

Heliocentric theory of our solar system was first propounded by Copernicus in 1453. He propounded that the Sun is the center of our universe and all planets revolve around it. As it was against the views of the holy Bible, he had been prosecuted. Afterwards in the year 1632 Galileo, supported this view and became sinner in the eys of Church.

But, Indian perception about our solar system is clearly stated in Vedas and other oriental Astronomical texts.

Ancient Vedic knowledge is very lucid in its expression about Sun being the center of our Universe(Solar system).


Let us analyze few Vedic verses in this regard,


mitro daadhaara prthavimutyam mitrah krstih

(Rigveda 3.5.59.1)

Sun, with his attracting force is holding this earth and other celestial bodies.


Trinabhicramajaramanarvam yenemaa visva bhuvaanitastuh

(Rigveda 1.164.1)

All the celestial bodies (planets) are moving in elliptical orbits.


आयम् गौः प्श्निरक्रमीत् असदन्मातरं पुरः पितरं च प्रयन्त्स्वः।

(Rigveda 10.189.1)

Moon being the sub planet of Earth, is revolving around its motherly planet earth and earth is revolving around its fatherly planet Sun.


Sun never sets or rises ,because of earth's movements , it appears to us as sun rising in the east and setting in the west.

(Rigveda- Aitareya Brahman)


Aryabhatta, had clearly explained this phenomenon with a logical principle called, “Laghu-Guru Nyaya”(लघु गुरु न्याय). Laghu means small or light weighted object, Guru means big or heavy object . It implies that a small object revolves around a big object, like a disciple going around a Guru or Teacher.


He had also stated that Moon gets Light from the Sun and so shines. He is the first person to propound that each planet moves around itself and he had accurately calculated the time taken for Earth's rotation around itself and Earth's revolution around Sun.

In the Indian view, the Sun and the moon were also considered to be “Graham” (The meaning of the word should not be mistaken for Planet). “Graha” in Sanskrit means that which influencesor which gets influences.


Many Astronomical and Astrological calculations of various Indian Astronomers were based on the relative positions of various celestial bodies. Hence these calculations should not be interpretted as “Earth centered Universe”. There ws a crystal clear clarity among Indians that Sun is the center of Universe. The Vedas, and the above-referred Indian Astronomical texts, substantiate this fact.

(Source: Ancient Indian Science & its relevant to modern world P-27; Published by Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeth, Tirupati).

1 comment:

  1. You know what, I guess we Indians have a great vedic culture to fall back on. Why dont you write something about the scriptures and their close resemblance with the western verses? I think the whole world needs a uniting force and we can surely do our bit by pointing out similarities :)

    That is jus a suggestion!

    ReplyDelete