astronomy

[Michael Witzel]

At 4:53 -0800 12/17/99, N. Ganesan wrote:
>  Early Tamil texts routinely talk of Karttikai as the first nakshatram ...
>  This information back-calculates to 2240 B.C. ...
>  if the Vedic texts are pushed back deep into the past, soo too is
>  Tamil chronology using similar arguments.

>Dr. K. Elst wrote:
> all astro-chronological
>information in Vedic literature, ... points consistently to a higher
>chronology....
> Vedanga Jyotisha ... indicates a date of ca. 3337 years ago.

There will be a paper on these topics, with sky maps, by Prof. N. Achar in
EJVS
(address below)  just before Christmas.
Until then, I hold my fire.

NB the discussion is more than a hundred years old, and scholars then
pointed out that the 'moon house' system is found with the ancient Arabs
(manzil) and Chinese (sieu, old 19th c. spelling)  as well.

MW.

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Michael Witzel                          Elect. Journ. of Vedic Studies
Harvard University                  www1.shore.net/~india/ejvs
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