SIX
THOUSAND YEAR BARRIER
by Glenn R. Smith
(Durgadass)
http://www.hawaiian.net/~durgadas/Barrier/6000yb.html
http://www.hindunet.org/hssworld/hindutva/hindu_calendar/index.html
This
article on Hindu Calendric system was originally available at http://www.hawaiian.net/%7Edurgadas/Barrier/6000yb.html However, it is currently non-functional.
Western archeologists have a
curious notion that although human beings have been around for hundreds of
thousands of years, civilization itself is a recent invention of only six
thousand years ago. It is believed and taught that the cradle of civilization
began in the fertile crescent of the Mesopotamian valley and from there spread
to Egypt, India and beyond. But there seems to be reason to believe that as one
becomes free from cultural and religious bias one may discover that important
accomplishments of mankind may be traceable to far beyond that time barrier.
The
problems in tracing origins back through time are many. First is the fact that
great periods of time have a tendency to erase traces of cultures. When all
traces decay then the culture is effectively obliterated. Whatever is left
undestroyed by time becomes subjected to the cultural and personal opinions of
archeologists. Such opinions may destroy and obliterate knowledge of the culture
much more effectively than time ever could. Another problem is in the
epistemology or method of knowledge used by countries foreign to the country or
culture being studied. In the west we have a tradition of trying to understand
life by studying corpses or trying to know health by studying disease.
Archeology becomes an exercise of the imagination when trying to reconstruct a
living culture based on remains of pot shards, bones and bricks.
Prior
to the nineteenth century, it was piously believed in western civilization that
the earth was created in seven days at around five thousand years ago. The
Biblical version of creation was challenged by the dual developments of
Darwinism and the discovery of dinosaur fossils. Even though the gradual
acceptance of these new ideas forced a revision of geological time scales, a
corresponding revision within archeological studies lagged. Part of this may
have been due to another emerging ideology of the nineteenth century called
progressivism. Progressivism is the idea that human beings are in a progressive
march towards a goal of better living and greater knowledge. This seductive
ideology had its roots in earlier centuries but had its greatest impact in the
second half of the nineteenth century where it influenced the thinking of such
great men as Darwin and Marx. Although it is easy to accept and defend this way
of thinking as logical and sound, it does have some devious implications. In a
simplistic way it implies that we as a species are infinitely more cleaver than
our ancestors. Since it is possible to measure our advancement in linear terms,
there must be a point beyond which in the past human beings were infinitely
stupid and not clever. Such human beings were incapable of civilization and they
must have lived just prior to six thousand years ago.
These
ethnocentric blinders that some western thinkers unconsciously wear before
venturing into the past have resulted in the tunnel vision view of history as we
know it today. The western tradition of writing history may be traced to the
Judeo-christian scriptures wherein one group of people with shared beliefs write
about the happenings of that group and the people outside that group. The
six-thousand year barrier seems to be a common trait to that tradition. Other
cultures, the Hindus for example, regard the earth in terms of billions of years
old and civilization in terms of hundreds of thousands of years. The Hindus do
not think of time in linear terms with a beginning and an end. Rather, they
think in terms of great cycles of thousands and millions of years. The
archeological method of digging, study and dating of artifacts may be ill-suited
to understanding different cultures that don't share similar attitudes towards
time scales.
Hindu
scriptures were routinely disparaged by early British indologists as exaggerated
stories an myths. Biblical stories on the other hand where accepted by the same
indologists as being somewhere between salient fact and articles of faith.
German indologists Max Mueller proposed the theory about Aryan invaders
colonizing India from the north. This implies that the Indians are so inferior
that it is unlikely, if not impossible, for them to civilize themselves without
outside help. Native versions of the Indian origins found within living
tradition and culture were totally ignored and thought to be unreliable. The
British occupation of India produced scholars who's pious duty was to discredit
the Hindu tradition and culture. Dates of events given in Hindu scripture based
thousands of years ago were redated by the English to have occurred after the
birth of Christ for no other reason than one could never rely on the version of
a Hindu; the speculations of an English nobleman being wholly preferable. It
remains ironic, however, that even if the dates given by the English be accepted
at face value, the Hindu accomplishments in art, architecture, science,
mathematics, literature, medicine and philosophy were made at a time when the
English and all of Europe were still living a neolithic lifestyle.
To
diminish this embarrassing fact, the European scholars have held up ancient
Greece as their cultural champion even to the point of making ridiculous claims
that the Hindus borrowed all the salient features of science and civilization
from them. In no uncertain terms we are lead to believe that the Hindus were
incapable of any high scientific reasoning on their own and therefore depended
upon help from outside sources for further development. Contrary to this point
of view, it can be shown that not only did the Hindus develop a mature culture
independent from western influences, the western cultures borrowed from the
Hindus more often than otherwise.
One
thing to point out is that each major culture of the ancient world had calendars
that were unique in themselves. Calendars are dependent upon the accurate
observation of heavenly phenomenon. In this endeavor the ancients were not
lacking. The five major time schemes of the ancient world are of the Mayan,
Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indian and Chinese cultures. The Jewish calendar is
based upon an earlier Babylonian system and has nothing uniquely original. The
Greeks had no calendar that possessed characteristics different enough to place
them in a separate and distinct category for they also followed the Mesopotamian
standard. The Romans, who borrowed heavily from the Greeks, found it necessary
to borrow from the Egyptians in order to improve accuracy. This demonstrates
that the Romans considered the Greek chronography incomplete and lacking.
Hindu
astronomy, their method of observation and the resulting calendrics differs
considerably from the Greeks. Now the question arises that if the Hindus
borrowed from the Greeks why didn't the Hindus also modify their calendar with
the Greek calendar? Remember that ancient astronomy and calendrics were
inseparable. Another point: It is a usual occurrence that a borrowed concept
takes along a borrowed technique. The methods of observation usually accompanies
the knowledge of the things observed. Why is it that the Hindus have a totally
unique system of measurement and observation indigenous to their astronomical
lore? The champions of western culture would have us overlook these details.
It
seems highly evident that the co-existing Indian and Mesopotamian cultures
exchanged ideas long before the Greeks learned how to civilize themselves. Any
similarity between Greek and Hindu sciences is either co-incidental or due to
Greek plagiarism of Indian and Mesopotamian concepts. Yet the bias regarding
Greek primacy in all things ancient persists in western educational institutions
today. Cultural bias is as destructive of fact as is the passage of time erasing
artifacts. What is often passed off as profound knowledge and discovery is
nothing more than the reinforcement of bias.
The
main concern that would indicate the existence of civilization long before six
thousand years ago is that of time measurement or calendrics, the study of which
reveals much of what is missing from the digging and dating of bones. The
calendar is a vital point of focus for any organized culture or society.
Religious, economic and agricultural activities revolve around the calendar. To
construct accurate tables of heavenly cycles, a culture must observe the sky for
many centuries or at least borrow tables from another culture that has spent
centuries studying the heavens. The amount of accuracy derived from observing
the heavens over a long period of time suggests that the roots of civilization
and some of its earliest accomplishments are much older than six thousand years.
Specifically the Indian and Mesopotamian cultures.
BASIS
OF THE SEXAGESIMAL SYSTEM
The
sexagesimal system of measurement is based on the number sixty. There are sixty
seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in a hour. When we measure angles, we use the
sexagesimal to express units in degrees, minutes and seconds. This method of
measurement familiar to both the Indian and Mesopotamian cultures. It may be
that one culture borrowed from the other or that both developed the system
independently. Or it could be of such antiquity that both cultures shared a
common origin. Whatever the case, it seems quite evident that the sexagesimal
system may be based in large part upon the observation of the planets,
specifically Jupiter and Saturn.
After
every sixty years, Jupiter and Saturn will return to the same relative place in
the zodiac. Even though they conjoin every twenty years, it is every third
conjunction that they will be in the same zodiacal position as they were sixty
years before. Jupiter takes twelve years to complete one circuit of the zodiac.
It takes thirty years for Saturn to complete a similar circuit. Consider the
following:
*
Jupiter takes twelve years years to transit the zodiac. The zodiac has twelve
signs. Jupiter travels an average thirty degrees or one complete sign in one
solar year.
*
Saturn takes an average thirty years to transit the zodiac. Each zodiacal sign
has thirty degrees and Saturn travels one degree per month. Thirty months for
Saturn to travel one sign. Three hundred and sixty months for Saturn to transit
the entire zodiac. Jupiter divides the zodiac into twelve parts or signs. The
number derived from Saturn's motion suggests the division of each sign into
thirty parts or degrees.
- Jupiter
and Saturn take sixty years between conjunctions to reach the same place in
the zodiac. This joint motion suggests the third and fourth division of the
degree into sixty minutes and each minute into sixty seconds.
The
sixty years cycle of Jupiter and Saturn gives rise to another interesting
number. In a sixty year period, Jupiter will complete five circuits of the
zodiac and Saturn will complete two circuits. The combined individual cycles
equal seven which is also the total number of visible planets plus the two
luminaries.
SEVEN DAY WEEK
The
primacy given to Saturn and Jupiter becomes apparent by the study of the
origination of the seven day week which, contrary to common opinion, was not
followed by everyone in the ancient world.
The
ancient Egyptians had a ten-day week. The Vedic Indians had a six-day week. The
ancient Babylonians who started the month on the day after the new moon, had the
first, eighth, fifteenth and the twenty second day marked out for religious
services. This was a kind of seven-day week with sabbaths, but the last week
might be of eight or nine days duration, according as the month, which was
lunar, had a length of 29 or 30 days. The ancient Iranians had a separate name
for each day of the month, but some days, at intervals of approximately seven,
were marked out as Din-i-Parvan, for religious practices. The pattern followed
appears to have been similar to the Babylonian practice.
The
continuous seven-day week was evolved on astrological grounds by unnamed
Chaldean astronomers at an unknown epoch, but at least, long before the first
century A.D. The Jews adopted it as a cardinal part of their faith during the
days of their contact with the Chaldeans.
Chaldean
astronomers flourished between the seventh century B.C. and the third century
A.D. They gave particular attention to the study of the movement of the Sun, the
Moon, and the planets, which they identified with their gods. They believed the
destiny of kings and states were controlled by the gods, (the planets), and
attached the greatest importance to the observation of their positions and
movements. They attached magical value to the number seven which was the number
of planets or gods controlling human destiny. The two outermost planets, Jupiter
and Saturn, moved slowly and solemnly and therefore determined the measured
boundaries of all planets within. After every sixty years Jupiter and Saturn
meet in the same general area of the zodiac. During that sixty years, Jupiter
completed five circuits of the zodiac and Saturn completed two circuits. The
combined number of circuits for these ponderous planets is seven.
Jupiter
and Saturn along with the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus and Mars, were identified
with the chief gods of the Babylonian pantheon.
Notice
that the order of the planets in table 1 coincides with the apparent average
daily motion of the planets from the slowest, Saturn, to the fastest, the Moon.
These
seven gods, sitting in solemn conclave, control the destinies of kings and
countries, and it was believed that their will and judgment with respect to a
particular country or its ruler could be obtained from an interpretation of the
position of the seven planets in the heavens, and the nature of the motion of
the planets (direct or retrograde). Part of the divinatory practices included
knowing what part of the day or night was being ruled or watched over by the
gods. Occurrences during a particular watch was believed to forebode particular
events consistent with the nature of the watching god.
TABLE 1
PLANET |
GOD - NAME |
FUNCTION |
Saturn |
Ninib |
God of Pestilence and Misery |
Jupiter |
Marduk |
King of Gods |
Mars |
Nergal |
God of War |
Sun |
Shamash |
God of Law and Justice |
Venus |
Ishtar |
Goddess of Fertility |
Mercury |
Nabu |
God of Writing |
Moon |
Sin |
God of Agriculture |
The
day was divided into 24 hours, and each of the seven gods was supposed to keep
watch on the world over each hour of the day in rotation. The particular day was
named after the god who kept watch at the first hour at Sunrise. Thus on
Saturday, the watching god on the first hour was Saturn, and the day was named
after him. The succeeding hours of Saturday were watched by the seven gods in
rotation as follows: SEE FIGURE 1
Above
shows the picture for Saturday. On this day Saturn keeps watch at the first
hour, so the day is named after him. The second hour is watched over by
(2)Jupiter, third by (3)Mars and so on. Saturn is thus seen to preside at the
8th, 15th and 22nd hours of Saturday. Then for the 23rd, 24th and 25th hours
come in succession (2)Jupiter, (3)Mars and (4)Sun. The 25th hours is the first
hour of the next day, which is accordingly named after the presiding planet of
the hour, viz, (4) which is the Sun. We thus get Sunday following Saturday. If
we now repeat the process, we get the names of the week days following each
other, as follows:
Saturday,
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
The
Jews, it may be mentioned, reckon the days by ordinal numbers---the first,
second, third.....seventh day. Although they derived their calendar almost
entirely from the Babylonians, they eschewed the god names as being inconsistent
with their monotheistic religion. the ordinal first day is Saturday, which is
their sabbath.
The
ancient Indians did not use the seven day week. The most ancient usage of day
names used in India was that of the Nakshatra. There are twenty seven lunar
asterisms or constellations in the old lunar zodiac. This number was derived
from the average number of days it took the Moon to complete one circuit of the
heavens in relation to any particular star (one sidereal revolution). Since the
Hindus didn't use hours to divide their day, the natural consequence of using a
seven day week would not follow. Instead they divided a day into 60 equal parts
called ghatikas. Each ghatika is equal to 24 minutes. The word "ghatika"
means little jar and thus the use of water clocks suggest itself. A ghatika is
further divided into 60 vinadikas. So between the two cultures, it was the
Hindus who made direct use of the sexagesimal system whereas the Chaldeans used
an indirect method of 24 hours.
It
wasn't until much later in the third century AD where we find the first usage of
the seven day week in India. Indeed much of the rest of the world had not
adopted it until after the first century AD. It was unknown to the writers of
the New Testament who did not mention anything about the day of the week on
which Christ was crucified or the the week day which he is alleged to have
ascended to heaven. The fixing of Friday and Sunday for these incidents is a
later concoction, dating from the fifth century after Christ. All that the New
Testament books say is that he was crucified on the day before the Hebrew
festival of Passover which used to be celebrated and is still celebrated on the
full-moon day of the month of Nisan. The continuous seven day week was unknown
to the classical Greeks, the Romans, the Hindus and early Christians. It was
introduced into the Christian world by an edict of the Roman emperor
Constantine, about 323 AD, who changed the Sabbath to the Lord's Day (Sunday),
the week day next to the Jewish Sabbath. Its introduction into India is about
the same time and from the same sources. The week days are not found in earlier
Hindu scriptures like the Vedas of the classics like the great epic Mahabharata.
They occur only from 484 AD, but not in inscriptions of 300 AD or earlier. Even
now, they form but an unimportant part in the religious observances of the
Hindus which are determined by the Moon's phases and lunar asterisms.
In
the schema of the Moon's phases we see a repeated pattern to that of Jupiter and
Saturn. (See page 4). A lunar month is made up of 30 tithis. Each tithi is
determined when the moon moves in advance of twelve degrees ahead of the Sun.
Here we see the numbers 30 and 12 that are common with Saturn and Jupiter. A
complete synodic period (a complete revolution around the zodiac in relation to
the Sun) of the Moon, however, takes only 29 civil days. (A civil day for the
Indians is reckoned from sunrise to sunrise). It is quite a regular occurrence
for a tithi to be expunged from the consecutive civil day count. This
characteristic of the Hindu calendar is not found in the Greek, Chinese or
Mesopotamian calendars. Other cultures, without exception, use solely a civil
day count of 28, 29 and 30 days for their lunation cycles and had not even
considered a pure lunar day count independent from the civil reckoning. The
consistency of the Hindu astronomical methods make it unlikely that they
borrowed their knowledge from other sources. And the repeated usage of the
sexagesimal measurement makes it more like that they were the inventors of the
system.
The
lunar asterisms (nakshatras) are derived from the average daily motion of the
Moon's mean sidereal cycle, which is 13° 20' of arc. In a circle of 360 degrees
this would make twenty seven nakshatras. Each nakshatra has a planetary ruler
and they are shown as follows:
NAKSHATRA |
RULER |
NAKSHATRA |
RULER |
NAKSHATRA |
RULER |
NAKSHATRA |
RULER |
Ashvini |
Ketu |
Pushyami |
Saturn |
Svati |
Rahu |
Shravana |
Moon |
Bharani |
Venus |
Aslesha |
Mercury |
Vishakha |
Jupiter |
Dhanishtha |
Mars |
Krittuka |
Sun |
Magha |
Ketu |
Anuradha |
Saturn |
Shatabhisha |
Rahu |
Rohini |
Moon |
Purva Phalguni |
Venus |
Jyestha |
Mercury |
Purva Bhadra |
Jupiter |
Mrigasira |
Mars |
Uttara Phalguni |
Sun |
Mula |
Ketu |
Uttara Bhadra |
Saturn |
Ardra |
Rahu |
Hasta |
Moon |
Purva Ashadha |
Venus |
Revati |
Mercury |
Punarvasu |
Jupiter |
Chitra |
Mars |
Uttara Ashadha |
Sun |
|
|
In
the above table you may have noticed the two strange words "Rahu" and
"Ketu". These are the nodes of the moon and their usage in astronomy
is important for predicting the eclipses of the Sun and the Moon. Although they
possess no mass or density, they are treated as planets in the sense that they
have an effect on human affairs.
NAKSHATRAS
Whatever
constellation (nakshatra) the Moon was in at sunrise, the entire day was named
after it. The nine rulers of the nakshatras are repeated three times in
sequence. So in this sense you can say that the Hindus followed a nine-day week.
The same effect as a weekday is thereby achieved in terms of socio-religious
significance. Whereas the Chaldeans used an unbroken consecutive day count of
hour and day rulers. The Hindus used a more concrete system of the observable
Moon in a group of stars. But there is a common thread that is stitched between
both the seven-day week and the twenty seven nakshatras. It is this: As we look
back to figure 2 we see a seven pointed star indicating the weekday lords.
Saturn is placed at the top because he is the slowest planet and the week was
deemed to start with Saturday. Lets rotate that star and place the Sun at the
top.
Now
in figure 4, lets make room for two more
planets:.... SEE FIGURE 4
This
figure appears in a book by Chiero the famous palmist in which he refers to this
as the "Seal of Solomon." If this is true then the Jewish king
probably obtained it from sources during their contact with the Chaldeans and
Babylonians. If we were to add two more planets to this seal the obvious place
would be in the areas vacated by the points of Jupiter and Mercury. Their
placement in the seal is shown in figure 5. SEE FIGURE 5
Hindu
astrology treats the nodes as planets even though they possess no mass and
density. They are sensitive points where the path of the Moon crosses the path
of the Sun. Being invisible, it is quite fitting that they should not have a
point of the star aiming at them in the diagram shown above.
But
note the general position of the planets and see how they are unchanged from the
Chaldean star order. Now, the next diagram, figure 6, will show the connection
with the Hindu nakshatra order. SEE FIGURE 6.
Compare
this diagram with table 2, the nakshatras and rulers. Here the order is
clockwise starting with Ketu, going to Venus, the Sun, down to the Moon, back up
to Mars, over to Rahu, Jupiter, Saturn and finally bypassing over to mercury.
The detour down to the Moon doesn't seem so strange when you consider that the
nakshatra reckoning is entirely dependent upon the Moon's position in the
constellations. In fact, this diagram may taken as a single pointed star with
the significant planet being at the single point.
It
seems that the similarities between Hindu astronomy and Chaldean magical seals
are too great to be a mere coincidence. It is quite likely that the two share a
similar origin or that one was derived from the other. But since ancient Hindu
tradition and current usage make more consistent usage of a direct base sixty
system of counting, and the other cultures use a derivative of that, it seems
more likely that the sexagesimal is of Hindu origin.
It
may be argued that the sexagesimal was not founded upon the joint cycles of
Jupiter and Saturn but upon some other measurement such as the average number of
three hundred and sixty days in a year. This, of course, is assuming that
ancient man was incapable of counting the correct number of days in a year and
that he was infinitely unclever. For the sake of argument, lets accept that
position. There still remains the problem of dividing the year into parts that
would yield a base sixty system of counting. The Babylonians divided their year
into three seasons. The Hindus, however, divided their year into six seasons. Of
the two cultures which do you think would arrive at a base sixty system?
But
judging from the rest of Hindu astronomical techniques it is clear that they
knew precisely how long the solar year was. All the other planetary cycles were
also studied with great scrutiny. From this it may be tempting to think that the
sexagesimal was arrived at in order to provide the great average mean of
measurement for celestial phenomena just as today the binary mode of counting is
most convenient for computer science. Three hundred and sixty, which is a
multiple of the sexagesimal, is the midpoint number between the 365 day solar
year and the 354 day lunar year. One synodic period of mars is 780 days which is
equally divided by 60 thirteen times. Between two consecutive conjunctions of
Saturn and Jupiter in a twenty year period, Mercury will go retrograde a little
over sixty times. The Hindus also based their knowledge of breath control,
Pranayama, upon the sexagesimal system. In one twenty four hour period, or
between two consecutive sunrises, a person takes an average of 21600 breaths,
each breath being four seconds long. This number, 21600 divided by 60 equals
360.
To
all but the harshest critic the above may be evidence enough to form an opinion
on the origin of the sexagesimal system. But the critic may remain unconvinced
for various reasons. The above is only circumstantial. One can apply any number
of coincidental facts to any ancient culture and come up with some pretty
amazing things. After all, no ancient text were quoted giving support to Hindu
origins. To quell these doubts we present final evidence that not only shows the
superiority of Hindu astronomy but also proves damaging to the theory that the
Greeks were the greatest in all matters of the ancient world.
HINDU COSMOLOGICAL TIME
CYCLES
The
structure of Hindu astronomy is built upon the foundation of their unique
concept of cosmological time cycles. No other culture on Earth has or is known
to have such a unique system of cosmology. The only other culture to come close
to the vast scale of time conceived by the Hindus are the Mayan. Western
scholars have completely misunderstood the value of the Hindu cosmological time
cycles and believed them to be nothing more than crude number speculations. In
their translation of the Surya Siddhanta, the editors Burgess and Whitney
routinely disparage the Hindu authors:
The system of periods is not of
astronomical origin.......Its artificial and arbitrary character is apparent. It
is the system of the Puranas and Manu, a part of the received Hindu cosmogony,
to which astronomy was compelled to adapt itself............The arbitrary and
artificial method in which the fundamental elements of the solar system are here
represented is not peculiar to the Surya-Siddhanta; It is also adopted by all
other text books, and is to be regarded as a characteristic feature of the
general astronomical system of the Hindus.
Not
only is this opinion in error but the astronomical quantities derived from these
cosmological time cycles are vastly more accurate than anything achieved by the
Greeks. And they were in use at a time when the British were still living a
neolithic lifestyle.
OUTLINE OF HINDU COSMOLOGY
Prior
to the creation of the universe, Lord Vishnu lies asleep on the ocean of all
causes. He rests upon a serpent bed with thousands of cobra-like hoods. While
asleep, a lotus sprouts from His navel. Upon this lotus is born Brahma the
creator of the universe. Lord Brahma lives for a hundred years and then dies,
while Lord Vishnu remains. One year of Brahma consists of three hundred and
sixty days. At the beginning of each day Brahma creates the living beings that
reside in the universe and at the end of each day the living beings are absorbed
into Brahma while he sleeps on the lotus. On day of Brahma is known as a KALPA.
Within each KALPA there are fourteen MANUS and within each MANU are seventy one
CHATUR-YUGAS. Each CHATUR-YUGA is divided into four parts called YUGAPADAS.
From
the first chapter of Surya-Siddhanta, the most revered authoritative source of
Hindu astronomy, we have the following passage:
11. That which begins with
respirations (prana) is called real.......Six respirations make a vinadi, sixty
of these a nadi:
12. And sixty nadis make a sidereal
day and night. Of thirty of these sidereal days is composed a month; a civil (savana)
month consists of as many sunrises;
13. A lunar month, of as many lunar
days (tithi); a solar (saura) month is determined by the entrance of the Sun
into a sign of the zodiac; twelve months make a year. This is called a day of
the gods.
14. The day and night of the gods
and of the demons are mutually opposed to one another. Six times sixty of them
are a year of the gods, and likewise to the demons.
15 & 16. Twelve thousand of
these divine years are denominated a chatur-yuga; of ten-thousand times four
hundred and thirty two solar years is composed that chatur-yuga, with its dawn
and twilight. The difference of the krita-yuga and the other yugas, as measured
by the difference in the number of the feet of virtue in each is as follows:
17. The tenth part of a
chatur-yuga,
multiplied successively by four, three, two, and one, gives the length of the
krita and the other yugas: the sixth part of each belongs to its dawn and
twilight.
18. One and seventy chatur-yugas
make a manu; at its end is a twilight which has the number of years of a
krita-yuga, and which is a deluge.
19. In a kalpa are reckoned fourteen
manus with their respective twilights; at the commencement of the kalpa is a
fifteenth dawn, having the length of a krita-yuga.
20. The kalpa, thus composed of a
thousand chatur-yugas, and which brings about the destruction of all that
exists, is a day of Brahma; his night is of the same length.
21. His extreme age is a hundred,
according to this valuation of a day and a night. The half of his life is past;
of the remainder, this is the firsts kalpa.
22. And of this
kalpa, six manus are
past, with their respective twilights; and of the Manu son of Vivasvat, twenty
seven chatur-yugas are past;
23. Of the present, the twenty
eighth chatur-yuga, this krita yuga is past........
Now
to make plain what is stated above. Commentaries are very clear on the fact that
in verse 12 the "sidereal day" refers to a revolution of the Earth
relative to any fixed star and is the true revolution reference point of the
Earth. Verse 13 refers to "a day of the gods" means one sidereal year.
A night of the gods is half a sidereal year. Verse 21 mentions "his extreme
age is a hundred refers to the lifespan of Brahma and consists of one hundred
years of 360 days. Each of these days being two kalpas long. Verse 23 shows that
the Surya-Siddhanta was composed right after krita-yuga and during the
treta-yuga. The present yuga we are in right now is the kali-yuga which is said
to have begun on Friday February 18th 3102 B.C. of the Julian calendar. This
becomes clearer when represented in a tabular form.
TABLE 3 INFRASTRUCTURE
OF THE CHATUR-YUGA PERIOD
PERIOD |
DIVINE YEARS |
SOLAR YEARS |
PERIOD |
DIVINE YEARS |
SOLAR YEARS |
dawn |
400
|
144,000
|
dawn |
300
|
108,000
|
KRITA YUGA |
4000
|
1,440,000
|
TRETA YUGA |
3,000
|
1,080,000
|
twilight |
400
|
144,000
|
twilight |
300
|
108,000
|
TOTAL |
4,800
|
1,728,000
|
TOTAL |
3,600
|
1,296,000
|
PERIOD |
DIVINE YEARS |
SOLAR YEARS |
PERIOD |
DIVINE YEARS |
SOLAR YEARS |
dawn |
200
|
72,000
|
dawn |
100
|
36,000
|
DVAPARA YUGA |
2000
|
720,000
|
KALI YUGA |
1,000
|
360,000
|
twilight |
200
|
72,000
|
twilight |
100
|
36,000
|
TOTAL |
2,400
|
864,000
|
TOTAL |
1,200
|
432,000
|
CHATUR YUGA TOTAL |
12,000 DIVINE YEARS |
4,320,000 SOLAR YEARS |
|
INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE KALPA
PERIOD
Two
kalpas make a day and night of Brahma. The kalpa is 4,320,000,000 sidereal years
made up of 1,000 chatur-yugas or 10,000 kali-yugas. An additional dawn and
twilight of 1,728,000 years each is made to fit the kalpa.
TABLE 4
1 CHATUR YUGA = 4,320,000 sidereal years
1 MANU = 71 CHATUR YUGA plus a twilight the
length of one krita yuga
71 Chatur yuga = 306,720,000 sidereal years
1 krita yuga as introductory dawn = 1,728,000 sidereal years
1 Manu = 308,448,000 sidereal years
1 KALPA = 14 MANUS plus introductory dawn of one
krita yuga
14 Manus = 4,318,272,000 sidereal years
1 krita yuga as introductory dawn = 1,728,000 sidereal years
1 Kalpa = 4,320,000,000 sidereal years
The entire life-span of Brahma may be measured
thus :
day of Brahma |
4,320,000,000 sidereal years |
night of Brahma |
4,320,000,000 sidereal years |
Total |
8,640,000,000 sidereal years |
days in a year |
x 360 |
one year of Brahma |
3,110,400,000,000 sidereal years |
one hundred years |
x 100 |
Brahma's life span |
311,040,000,000,000 sidereal years |
time before Brahma's rebirth |
311,040,000,000,000 sidereal years |
After
Brahma dies it takes a period of time equal to his lifespan until he is reborn
and the cycle starts over.
ASTRONOMICAL VALUES DERIVED
Now
that the Hindu cosmological time cycles are completed we can derive useful
astronomical values from them. The first is the measurement of the day which
begins with the breath. One respiration is a prana. Six prana equal one vinadi.
Sixty vinadis equal one nadi, (also known as a ghatika). Sixty nadis equal one
sidereal day. A sidereal day equal the time it takes for the earth to make one
complete rotation on its axis in relation to a fixed star. A sidereal day is
slightly shorter than a civil day of 24 hours. A sidereal day is equal to 23
hours, 56 minutes and 3.4446 seconds.
1 SIDEREAL DAY |
23h 56m 03.4446s |
60 NADIS |
23h 56m 03.4446s |
1 NADI |
23m 56.06s |
VINADI |
23.93s |
1 PRANA |
3.99s |
It
is clear in the text of Surya-Siddhanta and the current practice of Indian
astrology that SIDEREAL measurements are of primary importance. Tropical
measurements are also used but in a secondary way.
THREE MEAN MOTIONS OF THE SUN
The
three mean motions of the Sun used to construct the Cosmological Time Cycles
shown above are as follows:
1
sidereal year = 360........days............( I )
_____________
6.............days......( II )
_______________
0.2563795.....days.....( III )
_________________________________________
366.2563795............sidereal
revolutions of the Earth
Remember
we are not talking about civil solar days here, we are talking about the total
number of times the Earth rotates on its axis in relation to a single star
during the course of one year. This happens to be one greater than the mean
solar days in a year which is.......
1
sidereal year = 365.2563795...mean solar days.
These
three mean motions of the Sun may be compared to the hour, minute and second
hands of a clock. Each cycle is counted and completed separately. Using this
system of the three mean motions, the ancients reckoned time that put the day,
year and longer periods of time into exact correspondence with each other.
PROOF OF THE SEXAGESIMAL
NUMBER SYSTEM
The
first two mean solar motions, that of 360 + 6 Earth revolutions, generate the
sexagesimal number system completely. A count of six for every 360 is the same
as one for every 60. This is the basis of the six seasons of the year observed
by the Hindus. Counting six days per year, the second mean motion of the Sun
completes a cycle of 360, the number of degrees in a circle, after 60 years
which correlates with the Babylonian sossos period and the cycles of Jupiter and
Saturn.
YEAR
|
1st MEAN MOTION
|
2nd MEAN MOTION
|
TOTAL
|
1
|
360
|
6
|
366
|
2
|
720
|
12
|
732
|
3
|
1080
|
18
|
1098
|
4
|
1440
|
24
|
1464
|
5
|
1800
|
30
|
1830
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
10
|
3600
|
60
|
3660
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
60 ( sossos )
|
21,600
|
360
|
21,960
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
600 ( neros )
|
216,000
|
3600
|
219,600
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
*
|
3600 ( saros )
|
1,296,000
|
21,600
|
1,317,600
|
In
the same interval that the first mean motion completes a count of 21600 it has
done so at a rate 60 times greater than the second mean motion 360 X 60 and
represents the number of arc minutes in a circle. The number 21600 is also the
same average number of breaths (prana) a person will make in a 24 hour period.
VEDIC
EVIDENCE OF THE SIDEREAL YEAR
The
Rig Veda, the earliest of the Hindu scriptures says the following:
Twelve spokes, one wheel, navels
three.
Who can comprehend this?
On it are placed together three
hundred and sixty like pegs.
They shake not in the least.
( Dirghatama Rishi, Rig Veda 1.164.48 )
A seven-named horse does draw this
three-naved wheel....
Seven steeds draw the seven-wheeled
chariot.....
Wise poets have spun a seven-strand
tale
around this heavenly calf, the Sun.
( Dirghatama Rishi, Rig Veda 1.164.1-5 )
The
number seven related to the Sun has much significance when understanding the
third mean solar motion ( 0.2563795 ). The Kali-yuga of 432,000 years is the
unit of reference for determining the length of the sidereal year in Hindu
cosmological time cycles. During the course of 10,000 years there are seven
rotations of the third mean solar motion. For a single year the count is
0.2563795 diurnal revolutions of the earth. For two years it is .512759 and so
on. One complete rotation ( to equal 366.2564...) of the third motion takes
1428.571429 sidereal years. Or you can reduce it to a fraction of 1428 4/7
sidereal years.
The
integer of this sidereal interval, 1428 years, multiplied by the number of
years in a Kali-yuga and then further multiplied by seven equals the number of
years of fourteen Manus. (see table 4).
1428
X 432,000 X 7 = 4,318,272,000 = 14 MANUS
The
fractional part of this sidereal interval, 4/7 years, multiplied by seven and further multiplied by the number of
years in a Kali-yuga equals the time of an introductory dawn ( see table 4 ).
(
4/7 ) x 7 x 432,000 = 1,728,000 years = introductory dawn.
Relating
the Vedic verses above to what we have just demonstrated it is clear that the
"navels three" refer to the three mean motions of the Sun and
"seven-wheeled chariot" to the rate of precession of the equinoxes.
Thus, there can be no doubt that the cosmological time cycles were already an
established conclusion at the time of the Vedic era and not in the formative
stages.
PRECESSIONAL
CONSTANT DEMONSTRATED
Before
demonstrating the unmistakable fact of the precession inherent in the
cosmological time cycles, let us show the readers how the British translators of
the Surya-Siddhanta made fools of themselves when they wrote:
To make such a division accurate,
the year ought to be tropical, and not the sidereal; but the author of the
Surya-Siddhanta has not yet begun to take into account the
precession.........The earliest Hindu astronomers were ignorant of, or ignored,
the periodical motion of the equinoxes........
Again
this opinion is in error. If Burgess and Whitney were not so blinded by
arrogance and conceit they might have been able to improve their knowledge by
careful study of the Surya-Siddhanta. The precession is clearly derived from the
cosmological time cycles as shown below. The chatur-yuga of 4,320,000 years is
the unit of reference for determining the rate of precession used in the
construction of the Hindu cosmological time cycles.
The
constant rate of precession is 50".4 = 0° .014 = 7/500 degrees or
precession per sidereal year.
This
is the same as one degree of precession in 71 3/7 = 71.42857........sidereal
years.
This
correlates to the cosmological time cycles as follows:
In
the interval of 1/14th kalpa there are:
(
71 3/7) x 4,320,000 x 0°.014 = 4,320,000 degrees of precession = 12,000
precessional years
From
table one we see that a period of one chatur yuga is 4,320,000 years and is
equivalent to 12,000 divine years.
Other
related values of interest are:
1 precessional year |
= 25,714 2 / 7 sidereal years |
7 precessional years |
= 180,000 sidereal years |
7 x 24 = 168 precessional years |
= 1 chatur yuga |
168,000 precessional years |
= 1 kalpa |
( 4,320,000 /168 ) x 0.014 |
= 360 degrees |
DERIVATION OF THE TROPICAL YEAR
In a chatur yuga, there are :
4,320,000 sidereal years = 4,320,000 + 168
tropical years
where 168 is the number of precessional years.
Therefore,
1 tropical year = ( 4,320,000 x (
366.2563795... - 1 )) / 4,320,168
= 365.2421756... mean solar days
It
has been shown conclusively that the Hindu Cosmological time cycles are based
upon the diurnal motion of the Earth in reference to any particular fixed star,
hence it is purely of sidereal origin. The later practice of adopting the
ahargana or "heap of days" is based upon solar and civil day reckoning
which is of obvious practical value for calendrics. The sidereal basis of the
cosmological time cycles is without question the oldest known positive proof of
the origin for the sexagesimal number system.
COMPARISON
WITH MODERN SCIENCE
The
standard values for the tropical year and annual precession in longitude
determined by Simon Newcomb for the epoch 1900.0, mean noon at Greenwich
December 31st 1899 are:
1 tropical year |
= 365.2421988 |
precession in one year |
= 50".2564 |
The sidereal year and its precessional
constant may be derived from these values. 1 sidereal year (
1900.0 ) = ( 360" / ( 360" - 50".2564 )) x ( 365.2421988 ) + 1
= 366.2563627 diurnal revolutions of
the Earth
precession in longitude in one year = (
365.2563627 / 365.2421988 ) x ( 50".2564 )
The
following shows the astronomical quantities used in the construction of Hindu
cosmological time cycles with those of Simon Newcomb for the epoch 1900.0
QUANTITY |
HINDU |
NEWCOMB |
DIFFERENCE |
constant of precession |
50".4 / yr |
50".2583 / yr |
0".1417 / yr |
sidereal year ( solar ) |
365.2563795 |
365.2563627 |
1.4 sec / yr |
tropical year |
365.2421756 |
365.2421988 |
- 2.0 sec / yr |
The
sidereal year in the above table refers to the number of solar civil days it
takes for the earth to orbit the sun in relation to any particular star. The
former is a sidereal-diurnal relation and the later is a sidereal-solar
relation. The very close agreement between the length of the year as measured by
Hindu cosmological time cycles and that determined by modern science, together
with the demonstrated great antiquity of the cycles, shows that the rotation of
the Earth is not being sensibly retarded by "tidal friction" or any
other cause. Astronomers today would do well to look for lack of accuracy in
their measurement of the Sun's mean motion and to the variations of long periods
in the rotation of the Earth to explain the so-called slowing down of the earth.
BREAKING
THE BARRIER
The
question may be asked how could such accurate constants of precession, as that
of the Hindu cosmological time cycles, have been obtained without modern
instruments and techniques? At least one thing must be allowed for and that is a
very long period of uninterrupted observation.
Naked
eye observations are accurate up to 1/6 of a degree. In the case of observing
the precession moving uniformly on the celestial sphere, it would then be
possible to obtain an accurate rate up to three decimal places in not less than
50" x ( 72 years / 1° ) or 3,600 years. Measuring the precession is not as
simple as that, however. Before attempting to measure the precession, the exact
times of the equinoxes must be measured first. Ptolemy, the Greek astronomer,
speaks with pride in the Almagest of "very accurately" observing the
equinox to within a quarter of a day! That is, to within at best one quarter of
one degree of arc. Add to this the difficulty presented by the proper motion of
the stars. The star Sirius, for example, has a very large proper motion of
-0".553 ecliptic longitude per year. It would take 1,000 years for Sirius
to move 1/6 of a degree and for this mistake to be noticed by a naked eye
observer. In addition to this, still, the motion of the Earth's perihelion would
become noticeable and have to be accounted for. With all these factors, it is
difficult to imagine how they can be resolved into a system that would allow
continuous observation to produce a constant of precession accurate to three
decimal places in less than 10,000 years.
Similar
arguments can be put forth to show that to measure the sidereal period of the
Sun to eight decimal places could not be accomplished by naked eye observations
alone in any less time.
Even
if we cannot comprehend a civilization going back 10,000 years prior to the
six-thousand year barrier, we still must face the incredible genius of the
cosmological time cycles themselves: a calendar for eternity so accurate that
its formulations must be considered as laws of nature, while at the same time a
structure so simple, symmetrical, and orderly, that the best scholars and
astronomers of modern times have completely failed to see the astronomical
basis. In this light we can understand why the Hindus regarded this knowledge as
a revelation from the gods.
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