ASTRONOMY AND MATHEMATICS IN THE INDIAN CLASSICAL AGE

India – a land of stargazers and storytellers. Being one of the oldest civilizations in the world, our culture has been rich in not one but many disciplines. Astronomy and mathematics are two such fields in which we achieved remarkable prowess, many of them being the first of their kind, but we did not always get the recognition or credit we deserved. More than recognition or credit, this paper focuses on something more important, or rather the most important, and that is – true knowledge. Because although knowledge is divine, it can do a lot of injustice if not served in the right manner with the right facts. There is ample knowledge and narration of our history out there. However, these narrations have been distorted over the course of time due to invasions from outside and different cultures settling and making India their home. Somewhere, amidst all this, our true history got suppressed. This paper discusses the fine achievements and progress of India as a culture in the disciplines of astronomy and mathematics from its origins till the Classical Age (400-1200 CE), a time in which it flourished and reached its peak. It also talks about the injustice done to it due to the distortion of the narration of our history done by the West and transports the reader on a journey through time and in space with the honest purpose of educating the right knowledge and mind-boggling facts about our very own ancient men of science.