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Makaranda
Makaranda or Makarandācārya or Makaranda Anandakanda () was an astronomer, calendrist, and Hindu astrologer who lived in Kāśī (Varanasi) and wrote an astronomical work called the Makaranda sāriṇī (मकरन्द सारिणी) which included tables for the calculation of the planetary movements. Makaranda followed the Saurapaksa tradition or school of astronomy (related to the Saura calendar). The tables in the work make use of a sexagesimal system for the units of time. The tables were used widely in Bihar and Bengal and were the basis for at least twenty later commentaries, as noted by David Pingree and Kim Plofker. References External links Incomplete manuscript leaves of Makaranda(University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galaxies – in either observational astronomy, observational (by analyzing the data) or theoretical astronomy. Examples of topics or fields astronomers study include planetary science, Sun, solar astronomy, the Star formation, origin or stellar evolution, evolution of stars, or the galaxy formation and evolution, formation of galaxies. A related but distinct subject is physical cosmology, which studies the Universe as a whole. Types Astronomers typically fall under either of two main types: observational astronomy, observational and theoretical astronomy, theoretical. Observational astronomers make direct observations of Astronomical object, celestial objects and analyze the data. In contrast, theoretical astronomers create and investigate Con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hindus
Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent. It is assumed that the term ''"Hindu"'' traces back to Avestan scripture Vendidad which refers to land of seven rivers as Hapta Hendu which itself is a cognate to Sanskrit term ''Sapta Sindhuḥ''. (The term ''Sapta Sindhuḥ'' is mentioned in Rig Veda and refers to a North western Indian region of seven rivers and to India as a whole.) The Greek cognates of the same terms are "''Indus''" (for the river) and "''India''" (for the land of the river). Likewise the Hebrew cognate ''hōd-dū'' refers to India mentioned in Hebrew BibleEsther 1:1. The term "''Hindu''" also implied a geographic, ethnic or cultural identifier for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astrology
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions of Celestial objects in astrology, celestial objects. Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in Calendrical calculation, calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the Hindu astrology, Hindus, Chinese astrology, Chinese, and the Maya civilization, Maya—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE Mesopotamia, fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Varanasi
Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.* * * * The city has a syncretic tradition of Islamic artisanship that underpins its religious tourism.* * * * * Located in the middle-Ganges valley in the southeastern part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi lies on the left bank of the river. It is to the southeast of India's capital New Delhi and to the southeast of the state capital, Lucknow. It lies downstream of Prayagraj, where the confluence with the Yamuna river is another major Hindu pilgrimage site. Varanasi is one of the world's oldest continually inhabited cities. Kashi, its ancient name, was associated with a kingdom of the same name of 2,500 years ago. The Lion capital of Ashoka at nearby Sarnath has been interpreted to be a commemoration of the Buddha's first sermon there in the fifth century BCE. In the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Planetary Transit
In astronomy, a transit (or astronomical transit) is the passage of a celestial body directly between a larger body and the observer. As viewed from a particular vantage point, the transiting body appears to move across the face of the larger body, covering a small portion of it. The word "transit" refers to cases where the nearer object appears smaller than the more distant object. Cases where the nearer object appears larger and completely hides the more distant object are known as ''occultations''. However, the probability of seeing a transiting planet is low because it is dependent on the alignment of the three objects in a nearly perfectly straight line. Many parameters of a planet and its parent star can be determined based on the transit. In the Solar System One type of transit involves the motion of a planet between a terrestrial observer and the Sun. This can happen only with inferior planets, namely Mercury and Venus (see transit of Mercury and transit of Ve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saura Calendar
Saura is a term which refers to the solar days and months in Vedas, Vedic era and medieval Indian calendars, to differentiate them from lunar system in the lunisolar calendars. Etymology ''Saura'' is a term found in Indian religions, and it connotes "sun" (Surya) or anything "solar"-related.Monier Monier-Williamsसौर, saura Sanskrit-English Dictionary and Etymology, Oxford University Press, page 1254 The earliest mention of the term ''Saura'' is in Vedic and Upanishadic texts of Hinduism. For example, it appears in chapter 7.2 of the ''Sankhayana Aranyaka'' embedded in the ''Rigveda'', and in the ''Maitri Upanishad'', in both it contextually means ''Surya''. In the ''Mahabharata'' and the ''Puranas'', the term is used to refer to the Saura (Hinduism), Sauras, worshippers of the sun deity. In esoteric Buddhism, the term appears in the context of yogi and deity, with alternate spelling of ''savara''. Overview The solar day and months in the Vedas, Vedic era calendars and i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
