01-23-2006, 09:05 AM
Influence of foriegn astronomers on ancient Indian astronomy.
Here I quote from the article published by VigyanPrasar.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Ancient India made some big advances in science because it was in constant contact with other countries. After the conquest of the Indus basin by Darius around 520 B.C. India was thrown wide open to Babylonian influences. Through the Persians, India also came into contact with Greece. These contacts further increased during Alexander's campaign and again when the Greco-Bactrian kingdoms were established in North-West India. All these contacts greatly helped India in enriching her sciences, particularly astronomy.
This long period of intercourse with the west introduced many new ideas in the traditional system of Indian astronomy. The result was the advent of a class of texts called Siddhantas, characterised by a better scientific approach and more comprehensive treatment. There is ample evidence to show that Aryabhata (499 A.D.) and Varahamihira (6th century A.D.) were well-acquainted with Greek astronomy. The most celebrated astronomers after Varahamihira were Brahmagupta (b.598 A.D.), Lalla (8th cent.), Manjula or Munjala (10th cent.), Shripati (c.1039 A.D.) and Bhaskaracharya (b.1114 A.D.). In the post-Bhaskara period not much original work in astronomy and mathematics was done in India till modern times.
By the eighth century the Arabs had extended their conquests from Spain to Central Asia and to the border of India. Under the patronage of the Caliphs books of Indian, Persian and Greek science were translated into Arabic. In about 800 A.D. Aryabhata's treatise Aryabhatiyam was translated into Arabic under the title Zij-al-Arjabhar. Before that, in 772 A.D., Brahmagupta's two works, the Brahmasphuta-Siddhanta and the Khandakhadyaka, were taken to Baghdad and translated into Arabic. The knowledge of Indian numerals and the decimal place-value system reached the Arabs along with the Indian mathematical-astronomical works rendered into Arabic.
The Arab scientists, apart from analysing and commenting on what they inherited, made many original contributions of their own. The Islamic world produced great mathematician-astronomers such as al-Khwarismi (780-850 A.D.), al-Battani (850-929 A.D.), Tabit ibn Qurra (836-901 A.D.), al-Sufi ( 10th cent.), al-Biruni (973-1848 A.D.), Omar Khayyam (c.1048-1124 A.D.) and Nasir al-din at-Tusi (1201-1274 A.D.). The last one was in charge of the observatory at Maragha in Iran. In 1420 A.D., Ulugh Begh, grandson of Timur, built an observatory at Samarkand. Using very big but high-precision instruments he prepared a star catalogue which was much better than that of Ptolemy.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Are these claims true?
Pradeep
Here I quote from the article published by VigyanPrasar.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Ancient India made some big advances in science because it was in constant contact with other countries. After the conquest of the Indus basin by Darius around 520 B.C. India was thrown wide open to Babylonian influences. Through the Persians, India also came into contact with Greece. These contacts further increased during Alexander's campaign and again when the Greco-Bactrian kingdoms were established in North-West India. All these contacts greatly helped India in enriching her sciences, particularly astronomy.
This long period of intercourse with the west introduced many new ideas in the traditional system of Indian astronomy. The result was the advent of a class of texts called Siddhantas, characterised by a better scientific approach and more comprehensive treatment. There is ample evidence to show that Aryabhata (499 A.D.) and Varahamihira (6th century A.D.) were well-acquainted with Greek astronomy. The most celebrated astronomers after Varahamihira were Brahmagupta (b.598 A.D.), Lalla (8th cent.), Manjula or Munjala (10th cent.), Shripati (c.1039 A.D.) and Bhaskaracharya (b.1114 A.D.). In the post-Bhaskara period not much original work in astronomy and mathematics was done in India till modern times.
By the eighth century the Arabs had extended their conquests from Spain to Central Asia and to the border of India. Under the patronage of the Caliphs books of Indian, Persian and Greek science were translated into Arabic. In about 800 A.D. Aryabhata's treatise Aryabhatiyam was translated into Arabic under the title Zij-al-Arjabhar. Before that, in 772 A.D., Brahmagupta's two works, the Brahmasphuta-Siddhanta and the Khandakhadyaka, were taken to Baghdad and translated into Arabic. The knowledge of Indian numerals and the decimal place-value system reached the Arabs along with the Indian mathematical-astronomical works rendered into Arabic.
The Arab scientists, apart from analysing and commenting on what they inherited, made many original contributions of their own. The Islamic world produced great mathematician-astronomers such as al-Khwarismi (780-850 A.D.), al-Battani (850-929 A.D.), Tabit ibn Qurra (836-901 A.D.), al-Sufi ( 10th cent.), al-Biruni (973-1848 A.D.), Omar Khayyam (c.1048-1124 A.D.) and Nasir al-din at-Tusi (1201-1274 A.D.). The last one was in charge of the observatory at Maragha in Iran. In 1420 A.D., Ulugh Begh, grandson of Timur, built an observatory at Samarkand. Using very big but high-precision instruments he prepared a star catalogue which was much better than that of Ptolemy.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Are these claims true?
Pradeep