3 ms·

I don't think anyone should rely on a site like http://www.crystalinks.com/ http://www.crystalinks.com/ for facts. It's filled with pseudoscience, speculations

by kermire 10y ago

I don't think anyone should rely on a site like http://www.crystalinks.com/ http://www.crystalinks.com/ for facts. It's filled with pseudoscience, speculations and myths. An alternative source would be nice.

shripadk 10y ago
> An alternative source would be nice. Sure. Here is a complete book on Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa (one of the earliest books on Hindu astronomy. It's just 74 pages in total): http://www.worldlibrary.in/articles/Vedanga_Jyotisha http://www.worldlibrary.in/articles/Vedanga_Jyotisha Quoting: "The Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa, or Jyotiṣavedāṅga (Devanagari वेदाङ्ग ज्योतिष) is one of earliest known Indian texts on astronomy and astrology (Jyotisha). The extant text is dated to the final centuries BCE, but it may be based on a tradition reaching back to about 700-600 BCE. The text is foundational to Jyotisha, one of the six Vedanga disciplines. It was composed by Lagadha. The Vedanga Jyotisha describes the winter solstice for the period of ca. 1400 BCE. This description has been used to date the Vedanga Jyotisha. According to Michael Witzel, the question is "whether the description as given in the jyotiSa is also the date of the text in which it is transmitted." T. K. S. Sastry[note 1] and R. Kochhar[note 2] suppose that the Vedanga Jyotisha was written in the period that it describes, and therefor propose an early date, between 1370 and 1150 BCE, while David Pingree propose ca. 1180 BCE. The estimation of 1400-1200 BCE has been followed by others, with Subbarayappa adding that the extant form can be possibly from 700-600 BCE." Ganita, the Sanskrit word for Mathematics, existed since the writing of the Vedas. You can read more about it here: http://veda.wikidot.com/ganita http://veda.wikidot.com/ganita Even Sulba Sutra (written 8th century BC) explained Pythagorean Theorem before Pythagoras did (6th century BC): "The diagonal chord of the rectangle makes both the squares that the horizontal and vertical sides make separately." All the Scientific and Astronomical discoveries of Ancient Hindu scientists has been explained beautifully in this book "Science of the Sacred". The Sulba Sutra part is specifically explained in this page of the book: https://books.google.co.in/books?id=mZ0ZAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=The+diagonal+chord+of+the+rectangle+makes+both+the+squares+that+the+horizontal+and+vertical+sides+make+separately.&source=bl&ots=VeD_2FzKlt&sig=6Ql84JYyTnGhio9k18TGpTvvW48&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwijyv-W0o_SAhUFqo8KHduzCgsQ6AEIJjAC#v=onepage&q=The%20diagonal%20chord%20of%20the%20rectangle%20makes%20both%20the%20squares%20that%20the%20horizontal%20and%20vertical%20sides%20make%20separately.&f=false https://books.google.co.in/books?id=mZ0ZAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43&lpg...
neutralid 10y ago
Wikipedia's entry and discussion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Indian_mathematics/Archive_3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Indian_mathematics/Archiv... While there is some level of whitewashing going on, there's a lot of hyperbole of what was discovered during the Vedic period. Not sure why there's even a need to amplify/attenuate the contributions. There are Indian mathematicians today who are making significant contributions. Probably more productive to focus on mathematical developments in general rather than assigning credit to the past. Assigning credit to a culture is problematic. What about the culture enabled the mathematical development? Perhaps one day we'll move past assigning credit and towards purely developing ideas in the spirit of the Upanishads written in anonymity.
- shripadk 10y ago
  > there's a lot of hyperbole of what was discovered during the Vedic period Where is the hyperbole? All I see is whitewashing of what was discovered during the Vedic period. If you need to understand what whitewashing means: Abrahamic texts/scriptures are classified as History but Hindu scriptures are classified as "Mythology". If this is not systematic whitewashing explain to me what is.
  - neutralid 10y ago
    https://www.cnet.com/news/ancient-indian-aircraftspaceship-on-agenda-of-major-science-conference/ https://www.cnet.com/news/ancient-indian-aircraftspaceship-o...
    - shripadk 10y ago
      This is precisely what I call Western whitewashing. You are quoting some random and unscientific paper (Vaimanika Sastra) as part of the Vedic period. That piece of paper (Vaimanika Sastra) was written in 1918 by some unknown (Pandit Subbaraya Shastry) and his paper was put forth by G.R Josyer (another unknown). How can you compare an unscientific paper written in the close of 20th century with Vedic scriptures (Vedas and the Upanishads) written 2000 years ago? EDIT: Again, just to confirm we are on the same page: I'm talking about whitewashing of discoveries during the Vedic period. Not papers written in the 20th century by unknowns.
shripadk 10y ago
Another quote from the same book ("Science of the Sacred") about Shulba Sutras (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shulba_Sutras https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shulba_Sutras): "Although Vedic mathematicians are known primarily for their computational genius in arithmetic and algebra, the basis and inspiration for the whole of Indian mathematics is geometry. Evidence of geometrical drawing instruments from as early as 2,500 B.C.E has been found in the Indus Valley. The beginnings of algebra can be traced to the constructional geometry of the Vedic priests, which are preserved in the Shulba Sutras. Exact measurements, orientations, and different geometrical shapes for the altars and arenas used for the religious functions (yajnas), which occupy an important part of the Vedic religious culture, are described in the Shulba Sutras. Many of these calculations employ the geometrical formula known as the Pythagorean Theorem. This Theorem (c. 540 B.C.E.) equating the square of the hypotenuse of a right angle triangle with the sum of the squares of the other two sides, was utilized in the earliest Shulba Sutras (the Baudhayana) prior to the eighth century B.C.E. Thus, widespread use of this famous mathematical theorem in India, several centuries before its being popularized by Pythagoras, has been documented. The exact wording of the theorem as presented in the Shulba Sutras is: "The diagonal chord of the rectangle makes both the squares that the horizontal and vertical sides make separately". The proof of this fundamentally important theorem is well known from Euclid's time until the present for its excessively tedious and cumbersome nature; yet the Vedas present five different extremely simple proofs for this theorem. One historian, Needham, has stated: "Future research on the history of science and technology in Asia will in fact reveal that the achievements of these peoples contribute far more in all pre-Renaissance periods to the development of world science than has yet been realized.""

by kermire 10y ago

shripadk 10y ago

> An alternative source would be nice. Sure. Here is a complete book on Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa (one of the earliest books on Hindu astronomy. It's just 74 pages in total): http://www.worldlibrary.in/articles/Vedanga_Jyotisha http://www.worldlibrary.in/articles/Vedanga_Jyotisha Quoting: "The Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa, or Jyotiṣavedāṅga (Devanagari वेदाङ्ग ज्योतिष) is one of earliest known Indian texts on astronomy and astrology (Jyotisha). The extant text is dated to the final centuries BCE, but it may be based on a tradition reaching back to about 700-600 BCE. The text is foundational to Jyotisha, one of the six Vedanga disciplines. It was composed by Lagadha. The Vedanga Jyotisha describes the winter solstice for the period of ca. 1400 BCE. This description has been used to date the Vedanga Jyotisha. According to Michael Witzel, the question is "whether the description as given in the jyotiSa is also the date of the text in which it is transmitted." T. K. S. Sastry[note 1] and R. Kochhar[note 2] suppose that the Vedanga Jyotisha was written in the period that it describes, and therefor propose an early date, between 1370 and 1150 BCE, while David Pingree propose ca. 1180 BCE. The estimation of 1400-1200 BCE has been followed by others, with Subbarayappa adding that the extant form can be possibly from 700-600 BCE." Ganita, the Sanskrit word for Mathematics, existed since the writing of the Vedas. You can read more about it here: http://veda.wikidot.com/ganita http://veda.wikidot.com/ganita Even Sulba Sutra (written 8th century BC) explained Pythagorean Theorem before Pythagoras did (6th century BC): "The diagonal chord of the rectangle makes both the squares that the horizontal and vertical sides make separately." All the Scientific and Astronomical discoveries of Ancient Hindu scientists has been explained beautifully in this book "Science of the Sacred". The Sulba Sutra part is specifically explained in this page of the book: https://books.google.co.in/books?id=mZ0ZAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=The+diagonal+chord+of+the+rectangle+makes+both+the+squares+that+the+horizontal+and+vertical+sides+make+separately.&source=bl&ots=VeD_2FzKlt&sig=6Ql84JYyTnGhio9k18TGpTvvW48&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwijyv-W0o_SAhUFqo8KHduzCgsQ6AEIJjAC#v=onepage&q=The%20diagonal%20chord%20of%20the%20rectangle%20makes%20both%20the%20squares%20that%20the%20horizontal%20and%20vertical%20sides%20make%20separately.&f=false https://books.google.co.in/books?id=mZ0ZAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43&lpg...

neutralid 10y ago

Wikipedia's entry and discussion: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Indian_mathematics/Archive_3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Indian_mathematics/Archiv... While there is some level of whitewashing going on, there's a lot of hyperbole of what was discovered during the Vedic period. Not sure why there's even a need to amplify/attenuate the contributions. There are Indian mathematicians today who are making significant contributions. Probably more productive to focus on mathematical developments in general rather than assigning credit to the past. Assigning credit to a culture is problematic. What about the culture enabled the mathematical development? Perhaps one day we'll move past assigning credit and towards purely developing ideas in the spirit of the Upanishads written in anonymity.

shripadk 10y ago
> there's a lot of hyperbole of what was discovered during the Vedic period Where is the hyperbole? All I see is whitewashing of what was discovered during the Vedic period. If you need to understand what whitewashing means: Abrahamic texts/scriptures are classified as History but Hindu scriptures are classified as "Mythology". If this is not systematic whitewashing explain to me what is.
- neutralid 10y ago
  https://www.cnet.com/news/ancient-indian-aircraftspaceship-on-agenda-of-major-science-conference/ https://www.cnet.com/news/ancient-indian-aircraftspaceship-o...
  - shripadk 10y ago
    This is precisely what I call Western whitewashing. You are quoting some random and unscientific paper (Vaimanika Sastra) as part of the Vedic period. That piece of paper (Vaimanika Sastra) was written in 1918 by some unknown (Pandit Subbaraya Shastry) and his paper was put forth by G.R Josyer (another unknown). How can you compare an unscientific paper written in the close of 20th century with Vedic scriptures (Vedas and the Upanishads) written 2000 years ago? EDIT: Again, just to confirm we are on the same page: I'm talking about whitewashing of discoveries during the Vedic period. Not papers written in the 20th century by unknowns.

shripadk 10y ago

Another quote from the same book ("Science of the Sacred") about Shulba Sutras (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shulba_Sutras https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shulba_Sutras): "Although Vedic mathematicians are known primarily for their computational genius in arithmetic and algebra, the basis and inspiration for the whole of Indian mathematics is geometry. Evidence of geometrical drawing instruments from as early as 2,500 B.C.E has been found in the Indus Valley. The beginnings of algebra can be traced to the constructional geometry of the Vedic priests, which are preserved in the Shulba Sutras. Exact measurements, orientations, and different geometrical shapes for the altars and arenas used for the religious functions (yajnas), which occupy an important part of the Vedic religious culture, are described in the Shulba Sutras. Many of these calculations employ the geometrical formula known as the Pythagorean Theorem. This Theorem (c. 540 B.C.E.) equating the square of the hypotenuse of a right angle triangle with the sum of the squares of the other two sides, was utilized in the earliest Shulba Sutras (the Baudhayana) prior to the eighth century B.C.E. Thus, widespread use of this famous mathematical theorem in India, several centuries before its being popularized by Pythagoras, has been documented. The exact wording of the theorem as presented in the Shulba Sutras is: "The diagonal chord of the rectangle makes both the squares that the horizontal and vertical sides make separately". The proof of this fundamentally important theorem is well known from Euclid's time until the present for its excessively tedious and cumbersome nature; yet the Vedas present five different extremely simple proofs for this theorem. One historian, Needham, has stated: "Future research on the history of science and technology in Asia will in fact reveal that the achievements of these peoples contribute far more in all pre-Renaissance periods to the development of world science than has yet been realized.""