Aryabhata

[yanom at JPNKSUVX.EARN]

J.B. Sharma writes:
>In reference to the discussion on stargazing, I was intrigued by the
>reference to Aryabhata's heliocentric cosmology. Does anyone on the
>list know how he arrived at this point of view, i.e thru
>observational data or did he just intuit this fact ?
 
What is to be noted first is that Aryabhat's view is not
'heliocentric' but he just maintained that the earth rotates
on its axis.  There is no clue in Aryabhata's Aryabhtiya about  how he
got this idea.   But we suspect that the idea was transmitted from
Greek astronomy where similar idea was offered by Aristarchos.
It is interesting to note that the Indian way of objecting this
idea is very similar to that given by Ptolemy.
I have written a paper on this topic:
YANO, Michio "Aryabhata's possible Rebuttal to Objections to
his Theory of Rotation of the Earth",
Historia Scientiarum 19 (1980), pp.101-5.
 
Michio YANO, Professor of Sanskrit, Kyoto Sangyo Univesity.
yanom at kyoto-su.ac.jp