aug 26th, 2006
i am not very satisfied with this explanation. i dont think this does anything whatsoever for indian astrology.
however, it is true that aryabhata was the first person to give a decent value for pi, and a very accurate value for the diameter of the earth. he obviously realized the earth was a sphere. however, he did not come up with a helio-centric theory but i believe continued to view the earth as the center of the universe. it was the astronomers of the kerala school of mathematics -- who also invented infinite series and thus the calculus -- who figured out heliocentricity circa 1300 CE: nilakantha, parameswara and madhava (quite a long time before galileo galieli, by the way).
my suspicion is that -- i haven't explored this any further, although thanks to a pointer to an astrology site when i brought this up before -- aryabhata et al were dealing with the problem of inaccuracies in their model when they looked at the orbits of the known planets of the time (up to saturn). thus, they came up with mathematical functions to explain these discrepancies, and called them the quasi-planets rahu and ketu for ease of use. let us note that it is possible, with a heliocentric theory, to explain various things like the apparently retrograde motion of the inner planets by using complicated theories of epicycles, as the white guys did (using geometry). in the aryabhata model, they may have used algebra to come up with mathematical functions.
anyway, the demotion of pluto doesn't make indian astrology any more or less accurate.
as i have said here before, indian astrology suggests that distant, massive objects have an influence on you. the general theory of relativity suggests that distant, massive objects have an influence on you. both are equally arcane. both require suspension of disbelief. relativity has mathematics behind it that does give fair results in practice. astrology has lost its mathematics and theory, it's mostly rote use of methods, thus it is often less accurate.
practising indian astrologers have no idea about the fundamentals of their mathematics and astronomy -- just as current architects have no idea about the fundamentals of hindu temple-building. thus i would suggest that astrology, rather than being a pseudo-science, is a quasi-science where we have lost the basics.
no, this is not flame-bait, just my general feeling about this. as you guys know, i am not exactly impressed with 'science' as it is full of prima donnas with big egos who make gigantic errors because of non-scientific reasons, such as money. (compare to the 'eminent historian donkeys').
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: J
Aryabhatta, Varahamihira's mathematical science
vindicated
zeenews.com
Friday, August 25, 2006
Mumbai, Aug 25: Indian astrologers today said the
announcement about dropping Pluto as a planet had
endorsed the mathematical and astrological treatises
written by Aryabhatta and Varahamihira centuries ago.
"Indian astrology did not include Pluto as a planet
and the latest announcement by leading global
astronomers after a marathon week-long meeting at
Prague yesterday only endorsed the Indian mathematical
astrology of Aryabhatta and Varahamihira in the sixth
century," eminent mathematical Astrologer Mangal
Prasad told today.
"Western astrology uses Pluto as a planet while Pluto
was always out of Indian astrology and we do not use
it in our calculations. This is the practice from the
days of Aryabhatta and Varahamihira," Prasad said.
"Indian astrology is mathematically concerned with the
nine planets, two of which are Rahu and Ketu that are
nothing but derivatives from the diameter of Earth,
which is a circle having a value Pi (22/7) imbedded in
the equator of Earth," he said.
"This was discovered and mathematically shown by
Aryabhatta and Varahamihira in the sixth century
during the golden period of the Guptas," said Prasad,
the author of books based on the work of the two great
sixth century scientists.
Indian astrology is concerned more with astronomy and
the derivations are from the equator of the Earth,
diameter of the moon, the solar year and how the
planets are viewed in the northern latitudinal region
during January and February, soon after the Sun has
crossed the Tropic of Capricon and moved towards the
northern part of the Hemisphere, he said.
Bureau Report
http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=318058&sid=ENV&ssid=27
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