Post-Vedanga Pre-Siddhantic Indian Astronomy

Summary

Sajjan Singh Lishk’s study “Post‑Vedāṅga Pre‑Siddhāntic Indian Astronomy” examines a neglected phase in the history of Indian astronomy lying between the composition of the Vedic Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa and the emergence of the classical Siddhāntic texts. He argues that most histories jump directly from the prehistoric to the Siddhāntic period, leaving an impression that Indian astronomy emerged fully formed under foreign influence. Drawing on early Jaina canonical works such as the Sūrya Prajñapti and Jambūdvīpa Prajñapti, the paper contends that an indigenous astronomical tradition flourished in this intermediary era. The author challenges Western scholars who claim that the Hindus borrowed much of their science from Greece; instead, he cites Indian sources that predate Greek contact by centuries and notes that texts like Vṛddha Jyotiṣa, Nirvāṇa‑kāṇḍa and Paitāmaha Siddhānta were already being commented upon before the Siddhāntic period. The article examines key elements of this early astronomy. It analyses Jaina cosmological concepts of time, such as the division of the day into muhūrtas and the calculation of the ratios of daylight variation, and notes that Jaina authorities even applied Bernoulli’s theorem to correct errors in water‑clock measurements, revealing a sophisticated understanding of fluid dynamics. Lishk discusses Jaina planetary cycles, including twelve‑year cycles for Jupiter, twenty‑eight‑year cycles for Saturn, and a sixty‑year Jovian cycle, and points out that these cyclical concepts are free from foreign influences. The paper also describes Jaina classification of nakṣatras and of heavenly bodies into categories such as bha, tāra‑grahas, upagraha and kulapūla, and compares these with later Siddhāntic categorizations. The author highlights Jaina explanations of eclipses, noting that forty‑two lunar and forty‑eight solar eclipse cycles were observed through repeated observations and that these cycles are completely independent of Mesopotamian saros or metonic systems. Observations of helical rising of Venus, lunar occultations and cometary phenomena are recorded, and Jaina astronomers are shown to have used instruments such as the gnomon, clepsydra, star‑clock and conch shell for timing and orientation. The paper concludes that Jaina scholars played a critical role in bridging the gap between the Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa and the Siddhāntic era, and that their indigenous methodology refutes the notion that Indian mathematical astronomy was merely a derivative of Greek science.