2001/01/15 by Subhash Kak
Physics and Astronomy · #physics.hist-ph #physics.ed-ph
published as IN Astronomy Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Astronomy, Helaine Selin (ed), Kluwer, 2000, pp. 303-340 · 52 pages
arxiv created 2001/01/15 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
This paper provides an overview of the birth and early development of Indian astronomy. Taking account of significant new findings from archaeology and literary analysis, it is shown that early mathematical astronomy arose in India in the second millennium BC. The paper reviews the astronomy of the period of the Vedas, the Brahmanas, and the Vedanga Jyotisha. The origins of Puranic cosmology are also explained.