Events that shaped human

migrations
• The last ice age began about 120,000 years ago.
Origins of Astronomy • The Last Glacial Maximum, occurred about 18,000 BCE.
• Between 15,000 BCE and 5,000 BCE, most of the
world's glaciers melted the sea reclaimed former
beaches and even valleys.
• This movement of the sea inland occurred in several
steps.
– 13,000 BC
Mayank Vahia – 9,000 - 8,000 BCE. 22 mm/year
– 6,000 BCE. 2 mm/year
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research – From 3000 BC, the rise is 7.5 mm/year.
Mumbai 400 005 • Myths of great floods occur in many of the world's
cultures.

Origins of Astronomy 1 Origins of Astronomy 2

End of Ice Age and Human

Migration
• The last great Ice Age ended around 15,000 AVERAGE
SNOW LINE
years ago and that must have facilitated human
migration.

Origins of Astronomy 3 Origins of Astronomy 4

1
 1,000,000 years in a nutshell!
• Human race (Homo sapiens) first originate in Africa
about million years ago.
• They remain confined to central and northern Africa for
almost 900,000 years!
• Due to a mixture of reasons such as:
– Sheer tireless desire to explore.
– An overflow from population growth.
– Inability of the local food sources to support a large human
population.
– Internal conflicts of personality within the population.
– Differences in taste and preferred environment for settlement.

They migrate out of Africa about 100,000 years ago.

Origins of Astronomy 5 Origins of Astronomy 6

Origins of Astronomy 7 Origins of Astronomy 8

2
 Migration and evolution Astronomy
• Human race has gone through various stages of development.
– Palaeolithic – First appearance of humans to 10,000 BCE. Neanderthal
• By all indications, serious astronomy begins in
Man & Homo Erectus existed until 30,000 B.C. Stone tools of increasing late Palaeolithic age itself.
complexity mark this period.
– Mesolithic – 11,000 to 9,000 BCE. Metals are used in this period.
– Neolithic – pre-historic period 9,000 – 1,000 BCE. Sophisticated
cultures and organised existence mark this age. • Well accepted astronomical markings have
• Calolithic (Copper Stone) Age, 5500-3000 BCE.
• Bronze Age 3000 -1200 BCE.
been dated to 15,000 BCE
• Iron Age 1200 BCE -
• Silicon age 2000 AD -
– Historic period. • We shall show later that stone carvings of much
• THESE PERIODS VARY FROM REGION TO REGION earlier dates also exist.
Origins of Astronomy 9 Origins of Astronomy 10

Pleiades

Babylonian "map of the world" It

Taurus is the earliest extant map. The
clay tablet is 12.2 cms tall. The
map was composed in
Orion
Babylonia and is the only
Babylonian map drawn on an
international scale. It is a
Persian Period, (500 BCE) copy
of an original dating to late
eighth or seventh century BCE.

Origins of Astronomy prehistoric caves at 11 Origins of Astronomy 12

Lascaux in France.

3
 SO WHAT IS THE ROLE OF ASTRONOMY?
First steps
• Astronomy is the first ‘science’.
• Astronomy begins very early in Human life
• Sky obviously gets noticed quickly.
• The second thing we notice in the sky is
• In a steady landscape, it is the fastest moving thing the Moon
(apart from animals and insects!).

• Sun rise and sunset are important for most life on

Earth.
Origins of Astronomy 13 Origins of Astronomy 14

Moon’s path Calculation of tithis

• Moon moves only in a narrow region in the sky.
• Moon visibly drifts in the night sky. • Tithis are the dates of Lunar Calendar. It is related to the phase
of the moon.
• It follows a specific path that is marked by a series of stars.
• Moon waxes and wanes with a time period of 29/30 days.
Tithi = long. of Moon – Long. of Sun

• At Full Moon the Moon rises at Sunset and then drifts towards the Sun
and after New moon it rises later and later till it rises at Sunset again. • Tithi remains the same until the Moon in increases its distance
from the Sun by 12 degrees. The complete revolution of the
• Full Moon occurs near of different stars each month. Moon (29.5 days) occupies 30 tithis for 3600.
• Synodic (Full moon to full moon) and Sidereal (w.r.t. distant stars) periods
are different. • Moon does not move at constant velocity so the length of tithis
• Since the Sidereal period is 27 days, the sky can be divided into 27
varies.
different parts where the Moon spends 1 day. This forms the basis of
Nakshatras. • The waning phase (from Full Moon to New Moon) is called
• Moon gives us the concept of month, fortnight and week.
Krishna Paksha and the waxing phase (from New Moon to Full
Moon) is called Shukla Paksha. Bhujle and Vahia, 2006
Origins of Astronomy 15 Origins of Astronomy 16

4
 Names of tithis: (starting with Full Moon)
Constellations
Number Phase Tithi Number Phase Tithi
1 Krishna Pratipada 16 Shukla Pratipada
2 Krishna Dvitiya 17 Shukla Dvitiya • Sky is divided into patterns that we call
3 Krishna Tritiya 18 Shukla Tritiya constellations.
4 Krishna Chaturthi 19 Shukla Chaturthi
5 Krishna Panchami 20 Shukla Panchami
6 Krishna Shashthi 21 Shukla Shashthi • Star patterns on the path of the Moon are called
7 Krishna Saptami 22 Shukla Saptami
8 Krishna Ashtami 23 Shukla Ashtami
Lunar Mansions (asterism) or Nakshatras.
9 Krishna Navami 24 Shukla Navami
10 Krishna Dasami 25 Shukla Dasami
11 Krishna Ekadasi 26 Shukla Ekadasi
• Sun mostly follows this path.
12 Krishna Dwadasi 27 Shukla Dwadasi
13 Krishna Trayodasi 28 Shukla Trayodasi
14 Krishna Chaturdashi 29 Shukla Chaturdashi
• The constellations on the path of the Sun are
15 Krishna Amavasya 30 Shukla Purnima called Rashis or Zodiacal Signs.
Origins of Astronomy 17 Origins of Astronomy 18

Importance of Constellations
• Constellations help remember the sky

• They are small and easily recognisable.

• That they permit a universal definition of

directions independent of geography

Origins of Astronomy 19 Origins of Astronomy 20

5
 Circumpolar constellations Path of the Sun
• Sun mostly follows the path of the Moon. The difference is more
• Not all constellations rise and set. important than the similarity.

• Since the Sun is very bright, Sun’s path is inferred by looking at

the constellations just before Sunrise or just after Sunset.
• Pole star never sets and constellations close to
it also do not set. • The path of the Sun is divided into 12 Rashis or Zodiacal signs.
Roughly 2.25 Nakshatras fit into a rashi.

• The Sun returns to the same Rashi when the Moon completes
• This gives a fixed (north) direction and 12 revolutions.
circumpolar constellations permit determination • 12 months therefore make one year (approximately)
of exact (geographic) north.
Origins of Astronomy 21 Origins of Astronomy 22

Origins of Astronomy 23 Origins of Astronomy 24

6
 The East
• The Sun does not rise in the exact (global) east,
i.e. it does not rise exactly at the point between
north and south.

• It rises in the eastern direction and sets in the

western direction

• But within that, the sun rises exactly in the (local)

east i.e. the line joining sunrise point and sunset
point is perpendicular to the line joining the
observer to the north.

Origins of Astronomy 25 Origins of Astronomy 26

Sunrise and Sunset

• The Sun rise point drifts North of East to South of East

• On Equinox (Spring or Autumn), the Sun rises exactly in the (global) East all
over the world and the day and night are of equal length.

• How high the Sun rises depends on latitude.

• For regions within the Tropics, the day on which the Sun comes exactly
overhead depends on the exact locations and 2 such days occur in a year.

• For regions in the North, Summer Solstice is the day of highest sunrise and
for the South it is the Winter solstice (as experienced in the North).

Origins of Astronomy 27 Origins of Astronomy 28

7
 Date and Time of Solstice and Equinox

year
Equinox
Mar
Solstice
June
Equinox
Sept
Solstice
Dec
Sun and seasons
day time day time day time day time
2002 20 19:16 21 13:24 23 04:55 22 01:14 • Any observer will notice this drift of the Sunrise point
2003 21 01:00 21 19:10 23 10:47 22 07:04
2004 20 06:49 21 00:57 22 16:30 21 12:42
(against the background geography) and its relation to
2005 20 12:33 21 06:46 22 22:23 21 18:35 seasons.
2006 20 18:26 21 12:26 23 04:03 22 00:22
2007 21 00:07 21 18:06 23 09:51 22 06:08
2008 20 05:48 20 23:59 22 15:44 21 12:04 • If you reside in cold regions outside the tropics, Sun,
2009 20 11:44 21 05:45 22 21:18 21 17:47 and its location become more important than the
2010 20 17:32 21 11:28 23 03:09 21 23:38
2011 20 23:21 21 17:16 23 09:04 22 05:30
Moon.
2012 20 05:14 20 23:09 22 14:49 21 11:11
2013 20 11:02 21 05:04 22 20:44 21 17:11
2014 20 16:57 21 10:51 23 02:29 21 23:03
• These cultures therefore become Sun worshipers.
Origins of Astronomy 29 Origins of Astronomy 30

Winters and Summers Sun and Rashis

• For Northern Hemisphere, winter is the time the • The constellations at Sunrise change with time.
Sun spends south of equinox. • The constellations on the Sun’s path (Rashis) are so
designed that in 1 lunar Synodic month (30 days) the
Sun moves 1 Rashi. There are 12 Rashi.
• By this count, there are 187 days for summer
and 178.4 for winter. The winters are shorter • Since 360 < 365, seasons begin to drift 6 to 7
and colder in the northern hemisphere. days/year and in 5 years, addition of a month is
required to synchronise the calendar with the seasons.

• This is called the intercalary month.

Origins of Astronomy 31 Origins of Astronomy 32

8
 Sun and Moon together
• When the Moon returns to a Nakshatra it doesn’t have the same phase
• Phase of the Moon is decided by its distance from the Sun
• At each of Full Moon, the Moon is 2.25 Nakshatras away from the previous
Full Moon, and the Sun is 1 Rashi ahead (Rashis are defined that way)
• Sun and Moon move in the same direction suggests that the Earth is
spinning in the same direction as it is rotating.
• The Sun’s plane (Orbital plane of the Earth around the Sun or the Ecliptic) is
inclined to the Moon’s path by 5o.

• Point of intersection of the two planes are called the nodes. These nodes are
called Rahu and Ketu. These nodes rotate with a period of 18.6 years.

Origins of Astronomy 33 Origins of Astronomy 34

Celestial Equator and Ecliptic Ecliptic and Orbit of Moon

NCP NCP
Ketu (Descending Node) at VE
Lunar Orbit
Ecliptic Ecliptic
SS

Celestial Equator Celestial Equator

AE

Angle
VE
between the
WS
two is 23.5o

Motion of Sun VE = Vernal Equinox

and Moon
SS = Summer Solstice
AE = Autumnal Equinox
WS = Winter Solstice Rahu (Ascending Node) at VE
Hrishikesh Joglekar Origins of Astronomy 35 Origins of Astronomy 36

9
Ecliptic and Orbit of Moon Ecliptic and Orbit of Moon

NCP NCP

Origins of Astronomy 37 Origins of Astronomy 38

Ecliptic and Orbit of Moon Ecliptic and Orbit of Moon

NCP NCP

Rahu (Ascending Node) at WS

Origins of Astronomy 39 Origins of Astronomy 40

10
Ecliptic and Orbit of Moon Ecliptic and Orbit of Moon

NCP NCP

Rahu (Ascending Node) at AE

Origins of Astronomy 41 Origins of Astronomy 42

Ecliptic and Orbit of Moon Ecliptic and Orbit of Moon

NCP NCP

Origins of Astronomy 43 Origins of Astronomy 44

11
Ecliptic and Orbit of Moon Ecliptic and Orbit of Moon

NCP NCP

Rahu (Ascending Node) at SS

Origins of Astronomy 45 Origins of Astronomy 46

Ecliptic and Orbit of Moon Ecliptic and Orbit of Moon

This complete cycle

NCP takes 18.6 years NCP

Rahu (Ascending Node) at VE

Origins of Astronomy 47 Origins of Astronomy 48

12
 Planets Planet periods
• Of the ~ 6,000 stars visible at night (from ~ 1022 stars), • Mercury goes around the Sun 88 (earth) in days.
there are 5 objects apart from Sun and Moon which are not • Venus takes 0.61 (earth) years
stationary. They are called Planets. • Mars takes 1.88 (earth) years
• These are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. • Jupiter takes 11.9 (earth) years
• Saturn takes 29.4 (earth) years
• Their path is not random. They move more or less on
the same path as the Sun and the Moon. • Mercury goes 30o from the Sun
• Venus goes 60o from the Sun
• Mercury moves the fastest and Saturn the slowest.

Origins of Astronomy 49 Origins of Astronomy 50

Ancient Calendars
Making calendars
• Vedanga Jyotish (1200 BC) This is the oldest Lunar calendar. It
contains a 5-year Yuga of 62 synodic lunar months.
• In order to keep track of time over long periods
of years, a method of counting has to be • Brihaspati samvatsar (year) chakra: 60 year cycle of Jupiter. The years
have names like ‘Prabhav’, ‘Vibhav’ etc.
devised. This is called a calendar.
• The Griha-parivritti cycle: It consist of 90 solar years. The length of 1
year being 365.2586 days. The year commences with sun entering
• Apart from counting, special markers are Mesha (Aries sign). This type of calendar is used in southern peninsula
of India especially in Tamilnadu.
introduced to ensure that the counting is
correct. • Saptarshi era: consists of cycles of 2700 years. It originated with the
supposition that seven Rishis stay in each Nakshatra for 100 years.
This era was in use in Kashmir.
• It also encourages study of rare events by • The currently used calendar is Luni-solar calendar in which each
pointing out their rarity. month is synodic lunar month of 29.5 days. One year consists of 12
such months = 254 days. The remaining 11 days of the year are
Origins of Astronomy 51
adjusted in Adhik maas (intercalation month) that occur generally 52
Origins of Astronomy
in
the 3rd, 5th, 8th,11th,14th,16th and 19 year cycle of years.

13
 The Saptarshi Era Saptarshi Era
• An interesting time line in the Vedic literature is
the Saptarshi Era.

• It states that the Saptarshi constellation moves

into different Nakshatras giving different eras. It
is generally assumed to be wrong.

• However, the exact manner of the definition

clearly shows that the starting date of the Era is
2300 BC and originates in southern Gujarat.
(Sule, Vahia, Bhujle, 2005) 2100 BC 2000 AD
Origins of Astronomy 53 Origins of Astronomy 54

Yuga in Vedic Literature Yuga: Recent interpretation

• There are 4 Yugas the duration scale of 4:3:2:1
• Satya Yuga or Krita Yuga (1,728,000 years),
• Yuga concept is introduced in Vedic astronomy • Treta Yuga (1,296,000 years) ,
to synchronise solar and lunar calendars. • Dvapara Yuga (864,000 years)
• Kali Yuga (432,000 years)
• The yuga period of five years, whose
constituent years are called samvatsara, • Satya Yuga or Krita Yuga - dhyana (meditation)
parivatsara, idavatsara, anuvatsara, and • Treta Yuga - yajna (sacrifice)
idvatsara, has been in use since Vedic times. • Dvapara Yuga - archana (worship)
• Kali Yuga - daana (alms)
• However, there are actually 1826.2819 days in
a yuga of five solar (sidereal) years. • More acceptable interpretation is that they are Daivik years or days. This
gives Yugas to be 1200: 2400: 3600: 4800 years (total 12,000 years).
Furthermore, there are 1830.8961 days in a
period of 62 lunar months. It is suggested that • It is believed to have begun with the death of Krishna in 3102 BC?????.
~4.5 days were dropped as ‘reset error’. • This reference of time is still used in religion and literature.
Origins of Astronomy 55 Origins of Astronomy 56

14
 Calendars in use
• The Vikram era:
– Begins with the coronation of King Vikramaditya.
– The year 1900 AD corresponds to 1958 of the Vikram era,
– It is popular in northern India and Gujarat.

• The Saka era:

– Begins with King Salivahana's accession to the throne.
– The year 1900 AD would be 1823.
– Popular in southern India, this reference in almost all-
astronomical works in Sanskrit written after 500 AD.
– The Government calendar also follows the Saka era.

Origins of Astronomy 57 Origins of Astronomy 58

NORTH

South

Origins of Astronomy 59 Origins of Astronomy 60

15
 Rohini Shakat Bhed
• Rohini Shakat Bhed is
defined as an event where
Saturn or Mars came inside
the triangle of Rohini.
• Calculations with modern
ephemeris, its occurrence
can be dated.
• The event last occurred in
5284BC and then 9339 BE
prior to that.

Origins of Astronomy 61 (Mahajani, Vahia, Apte and Jamkhedkar,

Origins of Astronomy 62
2005)

Nakshtras Vernal Equinox

• Nakshatras are the path of Moon in the night sky. Zodiacs are the path of
the Sun in the night sky.
• Zodiacs were designed in Babylonia before 3000 BC.
• Nakshatras appeared fully defined in Babylonia after 1000 BC.
• Zodiacs are needed for people preoccupied with Seasons while
Nakshatras are needed for people interested in calendar and time keeping.
• Nakshatras therefore seem to be Harappan in origin who were sea
fearers. Summer solstice

Avg Value VS Year from 3500 BC-2000 AD

5.00
Moon's Avg Value of Dec at

4.50

THERE IS CLEAR EVIDENCE 4.00

3.50
3.00

THAT NAKSHATRAS WERE 2.50

peak`

2.00
1.50
DESIGNED AROUND 3000 1.00
0.50
0.00
BC. -4000 -3500 -3000 -2500 -2000 -1500 -1000 -500 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Year

Bhujale and Vahia, 2006

Origins of Astronomy 63 Origins of Astronomy 64

16
 Outstanding issues
• Impact of astronomy on residential and burial
sites
• Origins of astrology Isn’t this more than enough for 1
• Affects of precession on the seasons lecture?
• Mythologies, symbolisms and formalisation of
astronomy
• Records of comets and supernovae

Origins of Astronomy 65 Origins of Astronomy 66

Acknowledgements
• I want to acknowledge all the known and unknown Web
sources that I have used in the lecture.
• My special thanks to WIKIPEDIA which provided some valuable
information.
• I want to thank my friends Sudha Bhujle, Kavita Gangal,
Hrishikesh Joglekar, Parag Mahajani, Aniket Sule. I have stolen
ideas and images from all of them!

• I want to particularly thank Dr. Jamkhedkar who has been my

constant source of inspiration on this subjects.

• I want to express my apology to all those whom I may have

forgotten to thank.
Origins of Astronomy 67

17