heliocentrism--predating Copernicus

[Venkatraman Iyer]

At 04:25 AM 11/28/2000 +0000, Satya Upadhya wrote:
>The only clear and unambiguous exposition of the sun being the centre
>of the universe, in Indian writings, is to be found in the writings
>of Aryabhata I (circa 5th century A.D.)afaik.  Check out his "Aryabhatiya"
>if you wish to read the original material.

There are myths  generated now for heliocentric theory
in India around 8th century BC!!
<<
The heliocentric theory of gravitation has also been mentioned in
text like the Garga Samahita, dated around the 8th century BC. In one
of  these texts (I don't remember which) there is a couplet which
says "Sarva Dishanaam - Suryaha, Suryaha, Suryaha!" (There are suns
to be seen on all sides and that when one sun sets, a thousand suns
take its place. This goes to indicate that in ancient times it was
perceived that the stars are also suns (and the sun is a star).
- Sudheer Birodkar
>>
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However:

The Aryabhatiya of Aryabhata (b. 473) contains the well-known
statement about the earth rotating; followed (annoyingly) by a
statement about the earth being central and the stars rotating.
Anyhow, this was certainly controversial in the jyotisa tradition,
and later writers such as Varahamihira criticised Aryabhata roundly
for deviating from the true opinion of the Puranas and other such
texts.

See Pingree, Jyotihsastra: astral and mathematical literaure,
Wiesbaden 1981, for an orientation in this literature.

--
Dominik Wujastyk
Founder, INDOLOGY list.
------

Around 1500 AD, the heliocentric theory might have
been used in South India.

The reference is: Current Science (Indian Academy of Sciences),
Vol. 66, No 10, 25 May 1994.

Title:- 'Modification of the earlier Indian planetary theory by the
Kerala astronomers (c. 1500 AD) and the implied heliocentric picture
of planetary motion'

Authors:- Ramasubramanian K., Srinivas M.D., Sriram M.S.

Address:- Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Madras,
Guindy Campus, Madras 600 025, India.
                              - Girish Beeharry
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