Yavanajātaka
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Yavanajātaka
The Yavanajātaka (Sanskrit: ''yavana'' 'Greek' + ''jātaka'' ' nativity' = 'nativity according to the Greeks'), written by Sphujidhvaja, is an ancient text in Indian astrology. According to David Pingree, it is a later versification of an earlier translation into Sanskrit of a Greek text, thought to have been written around 120 CE in Alexandria, on horoscopy. Based on Pingree's interpretation and emendations, the original translation, made in 149–150 CE by "Yavanesvara" ("Lord of the Greeks") under the rule of the Western Kshatrapa king Rudrakarman I, is lost; only a substantial portion of the versification 120 years later by Sphujidhvaja under Rudrasena II has survived. However, according to the recent research by Mak based on a newly discovered manuscript and other documents, Pingree's date interpretation as well as a number of crucial readings such as zero and other bhūtasaṃkhyā were based on his own emendation, not supported by what was written on the manuscripts. Furt ...
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Paulisa Siddhanta
The Pauliṣa Siddhānta (literally, "The scientific-treatise of Pauliṣa Muni") refers to multiple Indian astronomical treatises, at least one of which is based on a Western source. "'' Siddhānta''" literally means "doctrine" or "tradition". It is often mistakenly thought to be a single work and attributed to Paul of Alexandria (c. 378 CE). However, this notion has been rejected by other scholars in the field, notably by David Pingree who stated that "...the identification of Paulus Alexandrinus with the author of the ''Pauliṣa Siddhānta'' is totally false". Similarly, K. V. Sarma writes that it is from a Greek source, known only as Pauliṣa. Alberuni wrote that the Siddhanta is based on the teaching of a Greek named Paulus. The earlier Pauliṣa-siddhānta dates from the third or fourth century, and the later Pauliṣa-siddhānta from the eighth century. Similar to the Yavanajātaka ("The Sayings of the Greeks"), the Pauliṣa Siddhānta is an example of Hellenistic ...
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David Pingree
David Edwin Pingree (January 2, 1933 – November 11, 2005) was an American historian of mathematics in the ancient world. He was a University Professor and Professor of History of Mathematics and Classics at Brown University. Life Pingree graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1950. He studied at Harvard University, where he earned his doctorate in 1960 with a dissertation on the supposed transmission of Hellenistic astrology to India. His dissertation was supervised by Daniel Henry Holmes Ingalls, Sr. and Otto Eduard Neugebauer. After completing his PhD, Pingree remained at Harvard for three more years as a member of its Society of Fellows before moving to the University of Chicago to accept the position of Research Associate at the Oriental Institute. He joined the History of Mathematics Department at Brown University in 1971, eventually holding the chair until his death. As successor to Otto Neugebauer in Brown's History of Mathematics Departme ...
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Yavana
The word Yona in Pali and the Prakrits, and the analogue Yavana in Sanskrit, were used in Ancient India to designate Greek speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians" (), who were probably the first Greeks to be known in India. Both terms appear in ancient Sanskrit literature. ''Yavana'' appears, for instance, in the ''Mahabharata'', while ''Yona'' appears in texts such as the Sri Lankan chronicle '' Mahavamsa''. The Yona are mentioned in the Ashoka inscriptions, along with the Kambojas, as two societies where there are only nobles and slaves. Examples of direct association of these terms with the Greeks include: * The mention of the "Yauna" in the Persepolis Administrative Archives (550–333 BC). * The mention of the "Yona king Aṃtiyoka" in the Edicts of Ashoka (280 BCE) * The mention of the "Yona king Aṃtalikitasa" in the Heliodorus pillar in Vidisha (110 BCE) * King Milinda and his bodyguard of "500 Yonas" in the Milinda Pa ...
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Tatpuruṣa
Sanskrit inherits from its parent, the Proto-Indo-European language, the capability of forming compound nouns, also widely seen in kindred languages, especially German, Greek, and English. However, Sanskrit, especially in the later stages of the language, significantly expands on this both in terms of the number of elements making up a single compound and the volume of compound usage in the literature, a development which is unique within Indo-European to Sanskrit and closely related languages. Further, this development in the later language is an entirely artificial, literary construct and does not reflect the spoken language.Burrow, p. 209. Background In Sanskrit, as in Proto-Indo-European, a compound is formed by taking the stem-form of the first element (i.e. removing its inflexion) and combining the two elements with a single accented syllable. In the later language, this process can be repeated recursively—in theory, ad infinitum, with the freshly made compound becomin ...
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Vedanga Jyotisha
''Vedanga Jyotisha'' (), or ''Jyotishavedanga'' (), is one of earliest known Indian texts on 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. Its author is traditionally named as Lagadha. Textual history The dating of the ''Vedanga Jyotisha'' is relevant for the dating of the Vedic texts. 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 Jyotisha is also the date of the text in which it is transmitted. It is written in two recensions – Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' (, , from wikt:ऋच्, ऋच्, "praise" and wikt:वेद, वेद, "knowledge") is an ancient Indian Miscellany, collec ...
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Indian Literature
Indian literature refers to the literature produced on the Indian subcontinent until 1947 and in the Republic of India thereafter. The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India has 22 officially recognised languages. Sahitya Akademi, India's highest literary body, also has 24 recognised literary languages. The earliest works of Indian literature were orally transmitted. Sanskrit literature begins with the oral literature of the Rig Veda, a collection of literature dating to the period 1500–1200 BCE. The Sanskrit epics ''Ramayana'' and '' Mahabharata'' were subsequently codified and appeared towards the end of the 2nd millennium BCE. Classical Sanskrit literature developed rapidly during the first few centuries of the first millennium BCE, as did the Pāli Canon and Tamil Sangam literature. Ancient Meitei appeared in the 1st century CE with sacred musical compositions like the Ougri,———— and heroic narratives like the Numit Kappa.———— In th ...
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Helaine Selin
Helaine Selin (born 1946) is an American librarian, historian of science, author and book editor. Career Selin attended Binghamton University, where she earned her bachelor's degree. She received her MLS from SUNY Albany. She was a Peace Corps volunteer from the fall of 1967 through the summer of 1969 as a teacher of English and African History in Karonga, Malawi. She retired in 2012 from being the science librarian at Hampshire College. Selin is known for being the editor of ''Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures'' (1997, 2008 and third edition 2016) which is one of the first books which allows readers to "compare a variety of traditional systems of mathematics and cosmologies." ''Mathematics Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Mathematics'' (2000), is considered by '' Mathematical Intelligencer'' as a companion to the ''Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures''. The ...
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Encyclopaedia Of The History Of Science, Technology, And Medicine In Non-Western Cultures
''Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures'' is an encyclopedia edited by Helaine Selin and published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1997, with a second edition in 2008, and third edition in 2016. Summary From the Preface: :The purpose of the ''Encyclopaedia'' is to bring together knowledge of many disparate fields in one place to legitimize the study of other cultures' science... The Western academic divisions of science, technology and medicine have been united in the ''Encyclopaedia'' because in ancient cultures these disciplines were connected. The first edition (1997) has 600 articles by a range of experts. The arrangement is alphabetical from "Abacus" to "Zu Chongzi". It includes an index from page 1079 to page 1117. K. V. Sarma contributed 35 articles, Greg De Young 13, Boris A. Rosenfeld 12, and Emilia Calvo and Ho Peng Yoke 11 each. Fabrizio Pregadio contributed 10 articles, Julio Samo wrote 9, and Richard Bertschinger, ...
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The Shape Of Ancient Thought
''The Shape of Ancient Thought: Comparative Studies in Greek and Indian Philosophies'' is a book by the American writer Thomas McEvilley, published in 2001 by Allworth Press. Summary Thomas McEvilley traces exchanges between ancient Greek philosophy and ancient Indian philosophy, created through trade, empires and migration. Due to the mutual debts he identifies, often in the form of parallels or documented contacts with Persia, McEvilley argues that the Western world should be considered a product of both Western and Eastern thought. Reception In ''Philosophy East and West'', Will S. Rasmussen described ''The Shape of Ancient Thought'' as McEvilley's magnum opus, which consists of "an encyclopedic array of texts" and clear arguments for the strong mutual influence between Greece and India. He wrote that McEvilley used "admirable sensitivity" when he rejected dichotomies between the rational and mystical, and covered the often politicized scholarship about the subject. Emily Kea ...
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Indo-Greek Kingdom
The Indo-Greek Kingdom, also known as the Yavana Kingdom, was a Hellenistic period, Hellenistic-era Ancient Greece, Greek kingdom covering various parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India. The term "Indo-Greek Kingdom" loosely describes a number of various Hellenistic states, ruling from regional capitals like Taxila, Sagala, Pushkalavati, and Bagram. Other centers are only hinted at; e.g. Ptolemy's ''Geographia (Ptolemy), Geographia'' and the nomenclature of later kings suggest that a certain Theophilos (king), Theophilus in the south of the Indo-Greek sphere of influence may also have had a royal seat there at one time. The kingdom was founded when the Graeco-Bactrian king Demetrius I of Bactria invaded India from Bactria in about 200 BC. The Greeks to the east of the Seleucid Empire were eventually divided to the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, Graeco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Indo-Greek Kingdoms in the North Western Indian Subcontinent. During the two cent ...
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Horoscope
A horoscope (or other commonly used names for the horoscope in English include natal chart, astrological chart, astro-chart, celestial map, sky-map, star-chart, cosmogram, vitasphere, radical chart, radix, chart wheel or simply chart) is an astrological chart or diagram representing the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, astrological aspects and angles at the time of an event, such as the moment of a person's birth. The word horoscope is derived from the Greek words ''ōra'' and ''scopos'' meaning "time" and "observer" (''horoskopos'', pl. ''horoskopoi'', or "marker(s) of the hour"). It is claimed by proponents of astrology that a horoscope can be used as a method of divination regarding events relating to the point in time it represents, and it forms the basis of the horoscopic traditions of astrology, although practices surrounding astrology have been recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century. Horoscope columns are often featured in print and online newspapers. ...
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Saka Era
The Shaka era (IAST: Śaka, Śāka) is a historical Hindu calendar era (year numbering), the epoch (its year zero) of which corresponds to Julian year 78. The era has been widely used in different regions of the Indian subcontinent as well as in Southeast Asia. According to the Government of India, it is referred as the Shalivahana Era (IAST: Śālivāhana). History The origin of the Shaka era is highly controversial. There are two Shaka era systems in scholarly use, one is called ''Old Shaka Era'', whose epoch is uncertain, probably sometime in the 1st millennium BCE because ancient Buddhist and Jaina inscriptions and texts use it, but this is a subject of dispute among scholars. The other is called ''Saka Era of 78 CE'', or simply ''Saka Era'', a system that is common in epigraphic evidence from southern India. A parallel northern India system is the ''Vikrama Era'', which is used by the Vikrami calendar linked to Vikramaditya. The beginning of the Shaka era is now widel ...
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