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
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. 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.
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.
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 indologist Max Müller
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.
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.
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.
The 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
AD, 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
BC and the third century
AD.
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.
Table 1: Babylonian gods represented in the heavens by the planets.
|
Body |
God |
Function |
|---|
| 1 | Saturn | Ninib | God of Pestilence and Misery |
| 2 | Jupiter | Marduk | King of the Gods |
| 3 | Mars | Nergal | God of War |
| 4 | Sun | Shamash | God of Law and Justice |
| 5 | Venus | Ishtar | God of Fertility |
| 6 | Mercury | Nabu | God of Writing |
| 7 | Moon | Sin | God of Agriculture |
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.
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:
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 8
th, 15
th and 22
nd hours of Saturday. Then for the 23
rd, 24
th and 25
th hours come in succession (2)Jupiter, (3)Mars and (4)Sun. The 25
th
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. 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:
Table 2: Nakshatras and their associated planetary rulers.
|
Nakshatra |
Ruler |
|---|
| 1 | Ashvini | Ketu |
| 2 | Bharani | Venus |
| 3 | Krittika | Sun |
| 4 | Rohini | Moon |
| 5 | Mrigashia | Mars |
| 6 | Aridra | Rahu |
| 7 | Punarvasu | Jupiter |
| 8 | Pushya | Saturn |
| 9 | Aslesha | Mercury |
| 10 | Magha | Ketu |
| 11 | Purva Phalguni | Venus |
| 12 | Uttara Phalguni | Sun |
| 13 | Hasta | Moon |
| 14 | Chitra | Mars |
| 15 | Svati | Rahu |
| 16 | Vishakha | Jupiter |
| 17 | Anuradha | Saturn |
| 18 | Jyeshtha | Mercury |
| 19 | Mula | Ketu |
| 20 | Purva Ashadha | Venus |
| 21 | Uttara Ashadha | Sun |
| 22 | Shravana | Moon |
| 23 | Dhanishtha | Mars |
| 24 | Shatabhisha | Rahu |
| 25 | Purva Bhadra | Jupiter |
| 26 | Uttaea Bhadra | Saturn |
| 27 | Revati | Mercury |
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:
This figure appears in a book by Chiero the famous palmist in which
he refers to this as the "Seal of Solomon." Other writers assert that
ther are many different Seals of Solomon and that this is only one.
Whatever the case may be, 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.
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.
Compare this diagram with
Table 2,
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 Britons 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. One 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 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. 16 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 18
th 3102
BC of the Julian calendar. This becomes clearer when represented in a tabular form.
Table 3: Infrastructure of the Chatur–Yuga period.
|
Divine Years |
Solar Years |
|---|
| Krita–Yuga Period |
|---|
| Dawn | 400 | 144,000 |
| Krita–Yuga | 4,000 | 1,440,000 |
| Twilight | 400 | 144,000 |
| Subtotal | 4,800 | 1,728,000 |
| Treta–Yuga Period |
|---|
| Dawn | 300 | 108,000 |
| Treta–Yuga | 3,000 | 1,080,000 |
| Twilight | 300 | 108,000 |
| Subtotal | 3,600 | 1,296,000 |
| Dvapara–Yuga Period |
|---|
| Dawn | 200 | 72,000 |
| Dvapara–Yuga | 2,000 | 720,000 |
| Twilight | 200 | 72,000 |
| Subtotal | 2,400 | 864,000 |
| Kali–Yuga Period |
|---|
| Dawn | 100 | 36,000 |
| Kali–Yuga | 1,000 | 360,000 |
| Twilight | 100 | 36,000 |
| Subtotal | 1,200 | 432,000 |
| Total | 12,000 | 4,320,000 |
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.
| one Chatur‐Yuga = | | 4,320,000 sidereal years |
| one Manu = |
71 Chatur‐Yugas = |
306,720,000 sidereal years |
| + 1 Krita‐Yuga = |
1,728,000 sidereal years |
| = | | 308,448,000 sidereal years |
| one Kalpa = |
14 Manus = |
4,318,272,000 sidereal years | |
| + 1 Krita‐Yuga = |
1,728,000 sidereal years | |
| = | | 4,320,000,000 sidereal years |
The entire lifepsan of Brahma may be measured thus:
| Day of Brahma | 4,320,000 sidereal years |
| Night of Brahma | 4,320,000 sidereal years |
| 8,640,000 sidereal years |
| × 360 days in a year | 3,110,400,000,000 sidereal years |
| × 100 years | 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.
Derivation of Astronomical Values
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.
| one sidereal day |
23h 56m 03.4446s |
| sixty nadis |
23h 56m 03.4446s |
| one nadi (ghatika) |
23m 56.06s |
| vinadi |
23.93s |
| one 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:
| one sidereal year = |
360 sidereal days
+ 6 sidereal days
+ 0.2563795 sidereal days |
| = |
366.2563795 sidereal days |
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…
- One 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.
Table 4: The structure of the Babylonian sossos period.
| Year | First
Mean
Motion | Second
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 |
| (sossos) 60 | 21,600 | 360 | 21,960 |
| (neros) 600 | 216,000 | 3600 | 219,600 |
| (saros) 3600 | 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 × 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 1428⁴⁄₇ sidereal years.
366.2563795…
0.2563795…
|
= |
10000
7 |
= |
1428⁴⁄₇ 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 × 432,000 × 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 × 7 × 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.
Precesional Constant Demonstrated
Before demonstrating the unmistakable fact of the precession
inherent in the cosmological time cycles, let us show the readers how
the Western 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 cultural 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 of precession per sidereal year.
This is the same as one degree of precession in 71³⁄₇ = 71.42857 sidereal years.
This correlates to the cosmological time cycles as follows:
- One manu
- 71.4 chatur‐yugas
- ¹⁄₁₄th of an introductory dawn
- 0.02857… chatur‐yugas
- ¹⁄₁₄th kalpa
- 71.42857… chatur‐yugas
In the interval of ¹⁄₁₄
th kalpa there are:
(71³⁄₇) × 4,320,000 × 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.
Is it just a happy coincidence that the Cosmological Time Cycles
agree with the precession? Burgess and Whitney would probably think so.
Other related values of interest are:
- 1 precessional year
- 25,714²⁄₇ sidereal years
- 7 precessional years
- 180,000 sidereal years
- 7 × 18 (126) cycles of the 3rd mean mothion of the Sun
- 7 × 24 (168) precessional years
- 1 chatur‐yuga
- 168,000 precessional years
- 1 kalpa
(4,320,000 ÷ 168) × 0°.014 = 360°
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 × (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 31
st 1899 are:
- One 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
× 365.2421988 + 1 |
|
= |
366.2563627 diurnal revolutions of the Earth |
| Precession in longitude in one year |
= |
50″.2564 ×
365.2563627
365.2421988
|
|
= |
50″.2583 |
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
| Hindu | Newcomb | Difference |
|---|
| Constant of Precession | 50″.4 / year | 50″.2583 / year | 0″.1417 / year |
|---|
| Sidereal Year (Solar) | 365.2563795 | 365.2563627 | 1.4 seconds / year |
|---|
| Tropical Year | 365.2421756 | 365.2421988 | −2.0 seconds / year |
|---|
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 one sixth 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″ × (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 one sixth 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.
