An Analytical Study of Traditional Knowledge in Indian Astronomy during Ancient and Medieval Period

This poster titled "An Analytical Study of Traditional Knowledge in Indian Astronomy during Ancient and Medieval Period" was presented in the National Youth Conference on Indian Knowledge Systems (NYCIKS 2023) at IIT Roorkee, India during 25-27 August 2023.

The basic idea of all branches of science essentially includes the concept of natural laws to visualize the natural phenomena as an ordered sequence of events linked together by a chain of cause-and-effect relationships. It is interesting to note that of all science disciplines, astronomy is the first stepping stone towards the scientific mission of systematic observations followed by mathematics. The astronomy here indicates only observational or positional astronomy, which introduced the concept of linking movement of celestial objects and seasons on the earth. India has a rich legacy in astronomy dating back more than two millennia. The remarkable contributions by Aryabhatta, Varahamihira, Brahmagupta, Bhaskara-I and Bhaskara-II glorify heritage in Indian astronomy. However, the footstep of modern astronomy in India was in tow with the Europeans. The earliest recorded use of a telescope in India was by Jeremiah Shakerley (1626-1655), who viewed the transit of Mercury in 1651 from Surat in western India. In 1689, Jesuit priest Father Jean Richaud (1633-1693) discovered from Pondicherry that the bright star Alpha Centauri is a double-star. In 1764, Major James Renell (1742-1830) was appointed as the East India Company surveyor and astronomy was hitherto used in the process of surveying. This particular application of astronomy paved the way towards the institutionalisation of modern astronomy in India. In 1787, Madras Observatory was initiated by William Petrie, an officer of the East India Company with the use of two 3" achromatic telescopes, two astronomical clocks and a transit instrument. Around hundred and ten years later in 1899, astronomical activity of the observatory was shifted to Kodaikanal and Madras observatory became a purely meteorological observatory. The systematic solar observations were commenced at Kodaikanal Observatory in early 1901. Apart from the study of the sun to which the observatory was primarily devoted, magnetic, meteorological and seismological observations were also carried out there since inception. As reported by B. K. Sen, there were 103 observatories in India in 1878, which was increased to 128 in 1885. All these observatories carried out observations, and many of them brought out varieties of periodic publications, though any periodical or journal solely devoted to astronomy did not appear in India before the year 1902. 2. Objectives This paper intends to present some glimpses of the traditional knowledge of Indian astronomy during ancient and medieval periods. 3. Methodology The study will be carried out using the secondary sources of information, including the Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar and other bibliographic databases. 4. Results and Significance of the work The first research articles on modern astrophysics were published in Asiatik Researchers. Nearly 70 research articles on modern astrophysics were published from India up to independence. The article highlights the significant works carried out by the Indian astronomers during the ancient and medieval period, emphasizing the prominent ones as reflected in the the books of History of Indian Science.