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chapter25.html
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Art and Culture of Tamilnadu
R. Nagaswamy
25. ASTRONOMY AS AN AID TO HISTORY
It is over 125 years ago that a dedicated band of Western scholars like Wilson, Max Muller, Winternitz and Fleet, made a monumental study of ancient Indian literature and culture. Any discerning scholar would be struck by their critical acumen, and their thirst for the proper understanding the real import and possible data of
the compositions.
F.E. Pargiter wrote his thought provoking work, Ancient Indian Historical Tradition in 1922, a very valuable contribution, though it is not absolutely free from prejudices. In epigraphy, Fleet, Kielhorn, Hultzsch and other eminent scholars tried to give a factual framework to Indian history.
One of the most outstanding scholars to concentrate on astronomy as aid to history and epigraphy was L.D. Swamikkannu Pillai, whose Indian Ephemeris, is a work of dedication; indispensable aid for historians and epigraphists of India. Swamikkannu Pillai deserves the greatest praise for his boldness of conception and originality of approach to make Indian astronomy the most acceptable scientific aid to reconstruct Indian chronology. He was at the sametime conscious of its short comings and put forward his conclusions with abundant caution. He worked out all possible solutions for each problem before suggesting any date and his work is undoubtedly a model of scientific enquiry.
In recent years, a lively dialogue is being witnessed on the authenticity of the two great epics, Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata, and their dates as computed from the astronomical data furnished by the Epics themselves. Eminent scholars like H.D. Shankalia and Prof D.C. Sircar have raised certain doubts about the historicity of some of the dates furnished by the epics.
The claim that the Indus script has been deciphered adds new dimensions to the study of our antiquity. The Finnish, Russian and Iravatham Mahadevan's analysis of the script suggests, judging from the grouping of the signs and the possible structure of the language, that the language of the Indus script is Dravidian. The computer analysis seems to rule out the possibility of the language being Indo-Aryan. The Finnish and Russian scholars consider that the religion of the Indus people has an astral basis, which should be taken into account in discussing Indian astronomy.
The question now arises whether there is any basis for a reconsideration of the dates already suggested by scholars. I think that a few points taken for granted are modified by recent discoveries and need re-examination. The following may be cited as an example :
L.D. Swamikkannu Pillai holds that week days were not known in the Tamil country before the eight century A.D. The Vunna Guravaypalem copper plate grant of Paremeśvaravarman I (A.D. 689) refers to Āditya dina (Sunday) trayodasi, Śukla pakṣa in the month of Pauṣya (Tai). This dated epigraph shows that week days were definitely known in south India earlier to 8th century A.D.
The need to re-examine the dates on the basis of astronomical data in ancient literature is thus quite obvious but this re-examination could also benefit by recent scientific aids like electronic computers.
But on the other hand it would be interesting to know the concept of ancient astronomy as found in : (a) the earliest body of Indian literature, the Vedas (the epics and Purāṇas being decidedly later); (b) the earliest body of Tamil literature; and (c) the earliest inscriptions of the country that could be read.
Firstly to consider the Vedic evidence. The concept of 360 days in a year, twelve month cycle and the thirteenth intercalary month, lunar and solar year are known to the Ṛg Veda. "He who, accepting the rites dedicated to him, knows the twelve months and their productions and that which is supplimentarily engendered".
Wilson notes : veda ya upajāyate who-knows what is upa additionally or subordinately produced. The expression is obscure but in connection with the preceding veda māso dvādaśa who-knows the twelve months-we cannot doubt the correctness of the scholiast's conclusion that the thirteenth, the supplimentary or intercalary month of the Hindu luni-solar month, is alluded to, "that the thirteenth or additional month which is produced of itself in connection with the year, yas trayodasi dhika māsā upajayate samvatsara samipe svayam evodpadyate. The passage is important as indicatory of the concurrent use of the lunar and solar year at this period and the method of adjusting one to the other".
Wilson also holds that "the Sabeism of the Hindus, if it may be so termed, differs entirely from that of the Chaldeans in omitting the worship of the planets. The constellations are never named as objects of venerations or worship".
With Vedic sacrifices assuming great proportions in the time of the Yajur Veda, the science of astronomy also advanced as the Sacrifices were intimately associated with the various cycles of the year. The Yajur Veda refers to the twelve months, 24 half-months (chaturyimsati ardhamāsa), the 27 nakṣatras, the bright and dark fortnights (pakṣa), the new moon (amāvāsi), the full moon (pūrṇimāsi), the 6 seasons, etc. The full moon-days of the months of Palguni and Chitra are also explicitely mentioned (Phalguni Pūrṇamāse dīkṣeran; Chitra Pūrṇamāse dīkṣeran, etc.). The equinoxes also are mentioned. These ideas are mentioned in the Atharyaveda as well. A point of interest is that, except the Sun, the moon and Rāhu, the other planets were unknown to the Vedic seers. planetary astronomy based on the positions of the various grahas, which play an important role in the epic and Purāṇic period, seems to be a later development.
In early Tamil literature, one verse is of historic interest as it refers to almost all the planets by name, their respective positions at the time of a lunar eclipse which occured just before dawn. It is the eleventh verse, in the Paripāḍal group referring to the floods in the river Vaigai at Madurai. Basing his calculations on the commentary of the ancient commentator, Parimelaḻgar, Swamikkannu Pillai calculated the date of occurrence of the eclipse. According to the verse, the lunar eclipse took place just before dawn when all the planets were in their respective houses and agni was at its height. Swamikkannu Pillai gave to possible dates, A.D. 17, and A.D. 634 and said that the latter was the more probable. Recently this date is being re-examined.
In the Puraṉāṉūru collections there are many references to astronomical details; one of them is of great interest. Puram 229, sung by Kuḍalūr Kiḻār on the death of the Chera ruler Yānaikat Chëy Māntaran Cëral Irumporai, refers to a meteor which fell in the dead of night of a Paṅguni Uttiram day, when Kṛttikā was in Meṣa rāsi. It also gives the eighth nakṣatra before Uttara, and the eighth nakṣatra after Uttara. The verse also refers to the form of Anuṣa, which resembled a muḍappanai (palm tree) and that of Punarpūsa nakshatra resembled a tank. On seeing this meteor, it was predecited that a great calamity would fall on the ruler. On the seventh day of the occurrence, the royal elephant fell dead; the royal drum was torn to pieces; the King's parasol fell from it's stand; the horses remained motionless and the great ruler attained his heavenly abode as predicted. It is quite clear from the above verse that by the time of Puraṉāṉūru the Zodiac, the months, the nakshatras, their forms and calculating the eighth star, before and after the one at height, were all known to Tamil poets.
The art of predictions based on astronomy was well-known. Two other verses of Puraṉāṉūru (verses 117 and 388) refer to the planet Venus. There was a belief that if Venus appeared in the southern horizon, the country will face drought. The Poet who refers to this belief is none other than the celebrated Kapilar, one of the earliest poets of Saṅgam Works. The same poet and Pālai Gautama, singing the greatness of the Chera rulers in the Patiṟṟuppattu poems (verses 69; 24), make a pointed reference the belief that if Venus remained in its houses it will cause abundance of rains and fertility. Another poet of the Patiṟṟuppattu group, Kumaṭṭūr Kaṇṇanār, states that, if Venus and Mars came together, they will cause drought. Nakkīrar, Nattattanār, Rudrankaṇṇaṇār, and Māṅgudi Marudanār, among the poets of Pattuppāṭṭu refer to Venus. That the Sun is in association with the planets is referred to by Nattattanār in Cirupāṇāṟṟuppaṭai (verses 242-44). That the moon moves amidst the stars is referred to by Nakkīrar. The word mīn is used both in the sense of stars and planets. Planetary astronomy, the luni-solar nature of the calendar and the influence of the planetary positions over human life and environment are well developed in the Saṅgam age. A point of interest is that the Saṅgam works do not seem to refer to weekdays. It has now been established with the help of inscriptions from Mīnākṣipuram, Pugaḷūr, and Tirupparamkuṉṟam that the Saṅgam works date around the beginning of the Christian era.
So far as inscriptions are concerned, the earliest inscriptions of India are those of Aśoka. Aśokan edicts, assigned to the third century B.C., clearly indicate the place of astronomy in Indian life. The name of tithis like aṣṭami, chaturdasi, pañchadasi, Paurnamāsi and the two pakṣas, and the names of months like tiṣya are recorded. For example, Aśoka orders that "on the eighth day (aṣṭami) of every fortnight, on the fourteenth and fifteenth, on the tiṣya punarvasu days, on the fullmoon days of the three seasons and at festivals, bulls should not be castrated". The importance being attached to the natal star of the ruler had a already taken deep roots in the time of Aśoka, whose natal star was punarvasu in the month of tiṣya (Tai).
Jupiter's sixty-year cycle appears in epigraphy for the first time in the (Nāgārjunakoṇḍa inscriptions of Ikṣvāku rulers) in the third century A.D.
The copper plate charters of the early Pallava rulers of Kāñcīpuram give astronomical details, but they mainly mention the regnal year of the ruler, month (māsa), the fortnight (pakṣa) and the day (tithi). The months referred to are Chaitra, Vaisākha, Jyeṣṭa, Śravaṇa, Aśvayuj, Kārtika, Pauṣya and Magha. Three records mention the seasons (ritu) without mentioning the months. These relate to the period between the third and the sixth centuries A.D., A point of interest is that none of them refers to the week-days.
Mention has been made earlier that the week day is mentioned in an inscription of Parameśvaravarman I in the seventh century A.D. Two inscriptions of the Pāṇḍyas of the eight century A.D, coming from Āṉaimalai and Tirupparamkuṉṟam near Madurai, refer to the Kali year 3871 and 3874 respectively, besides giving the name of the week days. Later Tamil inscriptions are full of astronomical references. It seems to us that there is need to compile the history of Indian astronomy on a rational footing to understand one of the important branches of Indian science.