Koenraad Elst and NS Rajaram are familiar names to those who follow the debate about the Aryan Immigration Theory. They have argued that there was no Aryan invasion (as they call it) into India. Elst has come up with an apparently clinching argument for his case: the date when Kali yuga begins.
Kali yuga is one of the four yugas in Hindu mythology (and proto-History). According to the Puranas this is the day Krishna died, 18th February 3102 BCE. In Elst's words:
"Hindu tradition makes mention of the conjunction of the “seven planets” (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, sun and moon) and Ketu (southern lunar node, the northern node/Rahu being by definition in the opposite location) near the fixed star Revati (Zeta Piscium) on 18 February 3102 BC. This date, at which Krishna is supposed to have breathed his last, is conventionally the start of the so-called Kali-Yuga, the “age of strife”, the low point in a declining sequence of four ages."
Did a planetary conjunction actually happen on 18th Feb 3102 BCE, or were the sages making it up the way they made up Rama's horoscope and inserted it into the Ramayana? Elst goes on..
"Prof. N.S. Rajaram, a mathematician who has worked for NASA, comments: “fabricating astronomical data going back thousands of years calls for knowledge of Newton’s Law of Gravitation and the ability to solve differential equations. "
Ancient Indians did not know the rudiments of calculus, leave alone how to solve differential equations. However by the medieval period, the Kerala School of Astronomy and Mathematics had developed power series which had reached the threshold of calculus. But I digress. Let's return to Rajaram's argument:
"Failing this advanced knowledge, the data in the ancient records must be based on actual observation. Ergo, the Sanskrit-speaking Vedic seers were present in person to record astronomical observations and preserve them for a full 6,000 years "
There is no need to assume that the original record keepers were speaking Sanskrit. It could well be the case that the record keepers spoke some other language and after the introduction of Sanskrit to India around 1900 BCE by Aryan immigrants, Sanskrit texts were composed in which the planetary records made a few thousand years previously were mentioned.
Now lets turn to the question of who these record keepers were. Since we are talking about astronomical observations involving sophisticated mathematical knowledge, the candidates that immediately come to mind are the people of the Indus Valley Civilization. There is simply no other culture in India capable of making such observations in 3102 BCE and transmitting them down the generations. We can draw two important conclusions from this.
Firstly, the IVC people had a belief in astrology. Thus, Vedic and modern Hindu astrolgical charts had a precursor in IVC religion. Whether the myths surrounding Krishna's death and Kaliyuga also descend from the IVC religion is debatable.
Secondly, the IVC astronomical records could not have been possible without some form of literacy. This can be taken into consideration in the debates about the IVC seals and whether they are a form of writing.
References:
https://www.navaratnarajaram.com/2019/01/09/vedic-chronology-1-astronomical-dating/z
Kali yuga is one of the four yugas in Hindu mythology (and proto-History). According to the Puranas this is the day Krishna died, 18th February 3102 BCE. In Elst's words:
"Hindu tradition makes mention of the conjunction of the “seven planets” (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, Mercury, sun and moon) and Ketu (southern lunar node, the northern node/Rahu being by definition in the opposite location) near the fixed star Revati (Zeta Piscium) on 18 February 3102 BC. This date, at which Krishna is supposed to have breathed his last, is conventionally the start of the so-called Kali-Yuga, the “age of strife”, the low point in a declining sequence of four ages."
Did a planetary conjunction actually happen on 18th Feb 3102 BCE, or were the sages making it up the way they made up Rama's horoscope and inserted it into the Ramayana? Elst goes on..
"Prof. N.S. Rajaram, a mathematician who has worked for NASA, comments: “fabricating astronomical data going back thousands of years calls for knowledge of Newton’s Law of Gravitation and the ability to solve differential equations. "
Ancient Indians did not know the rudiments of calculus, leave alone how to solve differential equations. However by the medieval period, the Kerala School of Astronomy and Mathematics had developed power series which had reached the threshold of calculus. But I digress. Let's return to Rajaram's argument:
"Failing this advanced knowledge, the data in the ancient records must be based on actual observation. Ergo, the Sanskrit-speaking Vedic seers were present in person to record astronomical observations and preserve them for a full 6,000 years "
There is no need to assume that the original record keepers were speaking Sanskrit. It could well be the case that the record keepers spoke some other language and after the introduction of Sanskrit to India around 1900 BCE by Aryan immigrants, Sanskrit texts were composed in which the planetary records made a few thousand years previously were mentioned.
Now lets turn to the question of who these record keepers were. Since we are talking about astronomical observations involving sophisticated mathematical knowledge, the candidates that immediately come to mind are the people of the Indus Valley Civilization. There is simply no other culture in India capable of making such observations in 3102 BCE and transmitting them down the generations. We can draw two important conclusions from this.
Firstly, the IVC people had a belief in astrology. Thus, Vedic and modern Hindu astrolgical charts had a precursor in IVC religion. Whether the myths surrounding Krishna's death and Kaliyuga also descend from the IVC religion is debatable.
Secondly, the IVC astronomical records could not have been possible without some form of literacy. This can be taken into consideration in the debates about the IVC seals and whether they are a form of writing.
References:
https://www.navaratnarajaram.com/2019/01/09/vedic-chronology-1-astronomical-dating/z
