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Mathomathis would like to present an article on Vimana Shastras or Vymanika Shastras written by the author by Maharshi Bharadwaaja Propounded by Venerable SUBBARAYA SHASTRY Translated into English and Edited, Printed and Published by G.R. JOSYER SCHOLAR, HISTORIAN, ESSAYIST, SANSKRITIST Printed at CORONATION PRESS, MYSORE-4, INDIA. The following article presented in mathomathis was adopted from the website In the following materials, we would constantly using the word author and readers needs to be aware off that author in the following context would be Josyer. Author describes the book is as follows: Sometime in the period just before World War I, a Brahmana named Pandit Subbaraya Sastry began to dictate previously unknown texts in Sanskrit which purported to contain ancient Indian technological knowledge. He in turn, credited a Vedic sage named Maharshi Bharadwaja, as well as other Rishis who appear in legitimate Hindu texts. One of these ‘channeled’ texts was, on its face, a technical manual for the construction and use of ‘vimanas,’ the flying machines of the Vedic sagas. It is unclear as to whether any part of the present work was actually published in print at that time, even though it is implied in the introduction, so it is unclear whether it was published (in the legal sense) prior to 1923. The Sanskrit manuscript of the VS lay unpublished for over fifty years. In 1973, this text was published in a very limited edition by G.R. Josyer, along with a translation which he had produced over a twenty year period. In 1991, the English portion and the illustrations from the Josyer book were reprinted in the above-mentioned Vimana Aircraft of Ancient India & Atlantis. It as if someone in the early 20th century wrote a 100 page book on ancient aircraft in Biblical Hebrew and attributed it to Moses and other prophets. However, the fact that the book was originally written in Sanskrit, while very impressive, isn’t any indication of authenticity. Sanskrit is to some extent still a living language, used everyday in Vedic ritual. It is plausible that a well-educated high-caste Brahmins from that period would be able to compose a Sanskrit text of this length given enough time. If you are looking for an ancient manuscript on this fascinating topic, you’ll need to keep on looking. The Vymanika Shastra was first committed to writing between 1918 and 1923, and nobody is claiming that it came from some mysterious antique manuscript. The fact is, there are no manuscripts of this text prior to 1918, and nobody is claiming that there are. So on one level, this is not a hoax. You just have to buy into the assumption that ‘channeling’ works. On the other hand, there is no exposition of the theory of aviation (let alone antigravity). In plain terms, the VS never directly explains how vimanas get up in the air. The text is top-heavy with long lists of often bizarre ingredients used to construct various subsystems. This includes items such as monkey skin, eagle bones, sea-foam, and many that are only named in Sanskrit. Often the recipes are a mix of plant, animal and mineral ingredients, and involve mixing these ingredients and cooking them at high temperature in a furnace shaped like an animal, such as a frog. One wonders whether we are talking about metallurgy here, or some kind of alchemy. Most of the systems are described as mechanical devices, powered by steam, electricity or even solar power; a number literally involve smoke and mirrors. Vimanas are widely described in the genuine ancient texts such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata, as well as other later texts such as the dramas of Kalidasa. They are not metaphors or hyperbole, nor do you have to be a god to own or ride one as in other mythologies. [Source: wikipedia] The Sanskrit word vi-māna (विमान) literally means “measuring out, traversing” or “having been measured out”. Monier Monier-Williams defines Vimana as “a car or a chariot of the gods, any self-moving aerial car sometimes serving as a seat or throne, sometimes self-moving and carrying its occupant through the air; other descriptions make the Vimana more like a house or palace, and one kind is said to be seven stories high”, and quotes the Pushpaka Vimana of Ravana as an example. It may denote any car or vehicle, especially a bier or a ship as well as a palace of an emperor, especially with seven stories. In some Indian languages like Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi, vimana or vimanam means “aircraft”, for example in the town name Vimanapura (a suburb of Bangalore) and Vimannagar, a town in Pune. In another context, Vimana is a feature in Hindu temple architecture. [Source: wikipedia] Either the way, in the following article, we would describe vimanas as: “aircrafts”, flying vehicles. The pictures shown below are some of the types of vimanas G. R. JOSYER Hon. Director, International Academy of Sanskrit Research writes the following lines (Note: None of the words have been edited). On 25-8-1952 the Mysore representative of the Press Trust of India, Sri N. N. Sastry, sent up the following report which was published in all the leading dailies of India, and was taken up by Reuter and other World Press News Services: “Mr. G. R. Josyer, Director of the International Academy of Sanskrit Research in Mysore, in the course of an interview, showed some very ancient manuscripts which the Academy had collected. He claimed that the manuscripts were several thousands of years old, compiled by ancient rishis, Bharadwaja, Narada and others, dealing, not with the mysticism of ancient Hindu philosophy of Atman or Brahman, but with more mundane things vital for the existence of man and progress of nations both in times of peace and war. “Mr. Josyer’s manuscripts dealt in elaborate detail about food processing from various indigenous materials like grass, vegetables and leaves for human consumption, particularly during times of famine. “One manuscript dealt with Aeronautics, construction of various types of aircraft for civil aviation and for warfare. He showed me plans prepared according to directions contained in the manuscript on Aeronautics of three types of aircraft or […]
Mathomathis would like to present an article on Sushruta Samhita | Medical treatment of inflamed ulcers based on the book Sushruta Samhita, volume 4: Cikitsasthana by Kaviraj Kunja Lal Bhishagratna | 1911 | 123,229 words. The article was adopted from the website: https://www.wisdomlib.org/, a detailed explanation is available on the website. Shilajatu, its origin and properties:— A kind of gelatinous substance is secreted from the sides of the mountains when they have become heated by the rays of the sun in the months of Jyaishtha and ashadha. This substance is what is known as the Shilajatu and it cures all distempers of the body. The presence of the six kinds of metal, such as tin, lead, copper, silver, gold and black-iron, in their essential form in the substance (Shilajatu), may be detected by their respective smell and hence it is known to the people by the name of Shad-Yoni (lit.—having six different origins). The taste of this shellac-coloured substance has the same taste (Rasa) and potency (Virya) as the metal to whose essence it owes its origin. It should be understood that as tin, lead and iron, etc., are progressively more and more efficacious, so the different varieties of Shilajatu, originated from the essence of tin, lead, iron, etc., are progressively more efficacious in their application. All kinds of Shilajatu have a bitter and pungent taste with an astringent after-taste (Anu-rasa), are laxative, pungent in their digestionary reaction, heatmaking in their poteney and possessed of absorbing and purifying (Chedana) properties. Of these what looks black and glossy, is heavy and devoid of sandy particles, as well as what smells like the urine of a cow, should be considered as the best. This best kind of Shilajatu should be infused with the decoction of the drugs of the Shala-saradi group after the manner of Bhavana saturation (for ten, twenty or thirty days). Then after cleansing the body (by the application of emetics and purgatives), it should be taken every morning (by the patient in adequate doses), well pasted with Sarodaka. He should further be made to take a meal of boiled rice mixed with the soup of the flesh of animals of the Jangala group after the medicine had been fully digested. A Tula measure of this hill-begotten panacea (Shilajatu), when gradually taken, (in adequade doses) tends to improve the strength and complexion of the body, cures an attack of Madhu-Meha and enables the user to witness a hundred summers on earth, free from disease and decay. Each Tula weight of this medicine, taken successively, adds a century to the duration of human life, while ten Tula measures extend it to a thousand years. The regimen of diet and conduct during the period of its use should be identical with that described in connection with the use of the Bhallataka compounds. Cases of Meha, Kushtha, epilepsy (Apasmara), insanity, elephantiasis, poison- begotten distempers, phthisis, edema, hemorrhoids, Gulma (internal tumours), jaundice and chronic fever, prove readily amenable to the curative efficacy of Shilajatu. Indeed there is no such bodily distemper which does not yield to its highly curative virtues. It acts as a potent solvent in cases of long-standing Sharkara (gravel) in the bladder as well as of stone. Shilajatu should be treated (soaked and dried) with appropriate medicinal drugs by stirring it up with the same. The Makshika Kalpa:— The metal known as Makshika (iron-pyrites), which grows in the river Tapi and which copes with the divine ambrosia in its highly therapeutic properties, may be also used in the same way and under the same sort of preparation. The metal is divided into two classes according to its colour, as Svarna -Makshika (gold-coloured) and Rajata-Makshika (silver-coloured). Of these the first has a sweet taste while the second is acid. Both of them prove efficacious in cases of decrepitude, Kushtha, Meha, jaundice and consumption. A person using Shilajatu and Makshika (in the manner prescribed above) should refrain from taking pigeon-flesh and Kulattha pulse (during his life-time). The following measures should be adopted by an experienced physician in the case of a patient suffering from (Meha and) Kushtha and who has a firm faith in medicines and is desirous of existence (life) and in whose case the curative efficacy of Panca-karma has been baffled. The Tuvaraka Kalpa:— The Tuvaraka plants which grow on the shores of the Western Sea (Arabian Sea) are constantly tossed about by the winds raised by the waves of the sea. The pith or marrow of the seeds (lit.—fruits) of these plants should be carefully collected in the rainy season while they ripen and should be subsequenly dried and pounded. The oil should be either pressed out of these seeds in a mill in the manner of preparing sesamum oil, or squeezed out (of a press bag) like that used in the case of Kusumbha flowers. The oil should be boiled over a fire so as to have its inherent watery particles completely evaporated. Then it should be taken down from the fire and kept in a pitcher and then buried for a fortnight in a heap of well dried cowdung. The patient (in the meantime) should be duly anointed, fomented and treated with cleansing remedies (i.e., emetics and purgatives). He should wait a fortnight (after the administration of the aforesaid measures) and wait for a period of four meals (i.e., two days) more; and on the next morning he should drink a portion of the oil in adequate doses (two Tolas) under the auspices of favourable astral combinations in the lighted fortnight of the month. He should be made to recite, at the time of his taking the fourth dose, a Mantra which runs as follows:— “Cleansest and purifiest, O Thou potent essence of seed- marrow, all the essential principles of (my) vital organism. The deity who knows no decay and suffers no change and who weilds a discus, a mace and a conch-shell in his arms, commands thee on that behalf.” The Doshas in both the upper […]
Mathomathis would like to present an article on Cosmo Graphical Mapping by JOSEPH E. SCHWARTZBERG. The following article would start a conversation on a topic called as: Celestial Mappings To speak of celestial mapping as a part of the cosmographical tradition of traditional Hindu culture is perhaps to extend the meaning of “mapping” beyond its customary limits. Nevertheless, attempts have been made, since ancient times, to present orderly graphic portrayals of portions of the heavens in painting, sculpture, and architecture. The relevant literature is extensive. It derives on the one hand from art historians and on the other from historians of astronomy, and author have studied and understood only a small portion of the total corpus and none of it from primary sources in Sanskrit and other Indian languages. Thus, in what follows author can do no more than to provide a brief sketch of a few of the means and forms by which attempts at celestial mapping, broadly conceived, have been carried out and to indicate something of the emergence on Indian soil of certain centers of observational astronomy that sought to arrive at more objective and accurate views of the heavens than those that sufficed for most religious purposes. The development in India of anthropomorphic icons to represent heavenly bodies may be traced back to the time of the Kusanas (first century A.D.) in the case of Surya, the sun-god; to the mid-second century in the case of the planetary deities (grahas), including the sun and moon; and at least to the sixth and seventh centuries, respectively, in the cases of Rahu and Ketu, the deities associated with eclipses. These “planetary deities,” nine in all, were designated by the Sanskrit term navagrahas and were customarily portrayed in a fixed order, beginning with the seven that in turn exercised their lordship over the days of the week (sun, moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn) and ending with Rahu and Ketu. They so appear in innumerable sculptures (especially on the lintels over the portals of temples), in paintings, and in other forms. Although their early manifestations would hardly be described as maps, we do find in later cosmographies, some of which are described below, the maintenance of both the icons and the order established in ancient times. Iconographic portrayals of astronomical phenomena were not confined to the navagrahas. “In some interesting paintings of the schools of Rajasthan and of Deccan we can see personifications of the lunar days (tithi), of the hours of good auspices (muhurta), of the days of the week (dina, vara), of the months (masa), of the years (varsa), of the stars (naksatra), of the signs of the zodiac (rasi), etc. These are based on iconographic texts often reproduced in the same pictures.” Plate 27 provides a characteristic example of the way naksatras (groups of stars near the plane of the ecliptic separating various lunar mansions) have been portrayed in Rajasthan in recent centuries. Not all symbols used to represent astronomical features in painted cosmographies were pictorial. As Tantric Hinduism developed, its use of essentially geometric astronomical (and astrological) charting came to be quite important. This esoteric tradition has given rise to numerous rather varied and often complex astronomical drawings, many of which have recently found their way into semipopular art books. Author, have not found it possible to study the original sources, which are never cited in the works he has seen. Nor author have been able to translate the abundant text or interpret the mathematical formulas that characteristically accompany the published drawings. Author have referred above to a pair of huge cosmographic paintings in Minaksi temple in the south Indian city of Madurai, both recent (1963 and 1966) replacements for accidentally destroyed works that were originally executed in 1568. One of this pair, entitled Bhugolam (the earth) has already been described. The other (Figure 1), several meters to the left of it and of the same size (about 4.25 X 4.25 m), is designated Khagolam (the celestial dome). Although there is a bit of hindrance for explaining the details of the painting with confidence, He suggests that, much of it could correspond fairly well to the following summation, by Pingree, of a portion of the cosmological sections of various Puranas. [About Figure 1: This oil painting on canvas is in the waiting hall of Minaksi temple, Madurai, Tamil Nadu. It is a repainting (1966) of an original dated 1568. This diagram is believed to represent, among other things, the twelve zodiacal months; the paths of the sun, moon, and five known planets; and presumably the ties of the celestial deities Rahu and Ketu to other heavenly bodies. Size of the original: approx. 4 X 4.5 m. Photograph by Joseph E. Schwartzberg.] Above the earth’s surface and parallel to its base are a series of wheels the centers of which lie on the vertical axis of Meru, at the tip of which is located the North Polestar, Dhruva. The wheels, bearing the celestial bodies, are rotated by Brahma by means of bonds made of wind. The order of the celestial bodies varies; the earliest seems to be sun, moon, naksatras, and Saptarishis (Ursa Major). Some Puranas place the grahas (planets) between the moon and the naksatras; in others, interpolated verses add Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn (in that order) between the naksatras and the Saptarishis. Which of the many concentric circles shown in figure 1 represent the orbits (wheels) noted in the previous description is uncertain. But it seems safe to assume that the male and female figures seated in the center of the painting represent the sun and the moon, respectively, and that the wheels for the planets occupy the relatively light space between the more central and more peripheral groups of concentric rings. Radiating outward from the center of the diagram are twelve spokes that may be described as like hour divisions of a clock. Presumably these are the divisions between the twelve zodiacal months. The spokes vary in color. Those at […]
Mathomathis will discuss about, one of the interesting topic from Sushruta Samhita, called : “Fracture Management in Traditional Indian Medicine”, by the authors Dr. Hemant D. Toshikhane, M.S.(Ayu) and Dr. H.J. Sangeeta, M.D. (Ayu). In traditional Ayurveda practice, the fracture of bones and their treatment was first mentioned in SUSHRUTA SAMHITA – chikitsa sthana from the view of surgical management. Among the different types of fractures, ancient Indian surgeons gave importance to the fractures of thigh, spines, shafts of long bones, and the pelvic region. The principles laid down by Sushruta are so relevant that they are even practiced by toady’s orthopedic surgeons. Those four basic principles are: Among the management of fractures is the Kushabandha (wooden splint) which is practiced as an application of POP cast or slab (or squint bandage, as are used at present). In same way, the chakrayoga that is explained in Astanga Hridaya is in vogue in the form of the traction method. Here a comparison of ancient techniques is made with the modified techniques practiced in the present era. In traditional Indian medicine there is a explanation of about 6 types of dislocations, and 12 types of fractures. The types of dislocations are: Utpista – Fracture dislocation; Vislista – Dislocations of joints due to ligamental tears; Vivartita – Anterior-posterior dislocation of the head of the humerus; Avakshipta – Downward displacement of the head of the humerus; Atikshipta – Marked displacement of any articulation surface; Tiryakshipta – Oblique dislocation in one of the articulating bones. The types of Fractures are: Karkataka – Depressed fracture. Ashwakarana – Complete oblique fracture. Churnitam – Comminuted fracture Pichhitam – Fracture by compression. Asthichallita – Sub periosteal avulsion. Kandabhagna- Complete spiral fracture. Majjanugatam- Impacted fracture. Atipatitam – Complete compound fracture. Vakra – Green stick fracture. Chinnam – Incomplete fracture. Patitam – Comminuted fracture flat bones. Sputita – Fissured fracture. Traditional Indian medicine has mentioned different medicines, formulations, rejuvenators, and dietary restrictions for the rapid and complete healing of fractures. The few orthopaedic techniques are mentioned below: KUSHA BANDHANA (Application of P.O.P.cast or splint) : Kusha bandhana is a technique that ancient Indian surgeons practiced for fracture immobilization. In this technique they have applied the barks certain plants like bamboo, banyan, and pipal which were referenced regarding external applications of pastes of bamboo pith, latex of banyan, and pipal like trees. This procedure was practiced based on the season, time, constitution, and strength, of an individual. While manipulating the broken bones, Unnamana (elevation of depressed fragment) and Vinamana (Depression of elevated fragment) were followed by traction and retention. In the winter season, the bandage should be changed once per week. In the rainy season, the bandage is to be changed once per five days. In the summer, the bandage has to be changed once per three days. The bandage should be in the form of SAMABANDHA (neither too tight nor too loose). ASTHIPOORANA (Bone Grafting): As per the classic version, in compound fractures, multiple fractures, and irregular fractures where the fractured part is totally separated or missed in those conditions, one has to fill the missing part by Sudha varga dravyas (materials possessing mineral calcium). The paste prepared from the combination of Sudhavarga dravya, decoction of Rubia cordifolia, and latex of the banyan tree was used as a graft material. After the filing up the area, medicated oils are applied for proper acceptance and healing of the bone. CHAKRAYOGA (Skeletal Traction): In long bone fractures, the fractures of the shaft, hairline fractures, oblique fractures, and in compound open fractures, there is the reference of using of Chakrayoga. As per the reference, in dislocation of joints, skin traction was practiced. KAPATASHAYANA (Fracture Bed) VIDHI: This method of immobilization is used in the fracture or dislocation of the thigh, hips, ankle, shoulder, spine, spinal column, bones of thorax, and axillary regions. In this method, the patient was laid on a multi holed bed where the affected part is immobilized using five wooden pegs. The method of preparing and fixing of an artificial limb is also mentioned in the ancient traditional medicine of India. These are used in practice by changing the type of and quality of a material in a sophisticated manner. In ancient days artificial limbs were prepared with bark of bamboo, by the mixture of wax, mud, thin bamboo bark, and grass. In modern times, however, artificial limbs are prepared with solid and smooth woods like teak, rosewood, and with adhesive cement. In ancient days deformities like scoliosis or kyphosis in spinal column, a jacket or a belt that is made up of leather material was used to fix the problem. In the modern era the same type and structured belt is also used but it is made up of leather-chromium-ion jacket. Now, let us focus on, yet another topic of | The medical treatments of fractures and dislocations. (The following article is available more under https://www.wisdomlib.org/) A fracture or dislocation (Bhagna) occurring in a person of a Vatika temperament, or of intemperate habits, or in one who is sparing in his diet, or is affected with such supervening disorders (as fever, tympanites, suppression of the stool and urine, etc.) is hard to cure. A fracture-patient must forego the use of salt, acid, pungent and alkaline substances and must live a life of strictest continence, avoid exposure to the sun and forego physical exercises and parchifying (devoid of oleaginous) articles of food. A diet consisting of boiled rice, meat-soup, milk, clarified butter, soup of Satina pulse and all other nutritive and constructive food and drink, should be discriminately given to a fracture-patient. The barks of Udumbara, Madhuka, Ashvattka, Palasha, Kakubha, Bamboo, Vata or Sala trees should be used as splints (Kusha). Manjishtha, Madhuka, red sandal wood and Sali- rice mixed with Shata-Dhauta clarified butter (i.e., clarified butter washed one hundred times in succession) should be used for plastering the fracture. Bandage:— Fractures should be (dressed and) bandaged once a week in cold weather, on every fifth day in temperate weather (i.e., […]
Mathomathis would like to publish an article on Cosmos Graphical Mapping presented by Author: JOSEPH E. SCHWARTZBERG. Author in one of his text starts with a category of Underlying Cosmological Conceptions as follows: Commenting on the relative unpopularity of cosmological investigations among modern Indologists, R. F. Gombrich has opined that “the most discouraging feature of traditional Indian cosmology is not its fantastic and uncritical character, but its complexity.” He explains that complexity as follows: Just as the Indian system of social organisation, caste, has grown throughout history by aggregation and inclusion, not abolishing the practices and customs of newly assimilated peoples but assigning them a low place in the social hierarchy, so Indian cosmology which remained largely a branch of Indian mythology- rarely abandoned a theory or idea, but allowed it to remain alongside the new ideas, even if it was inconsistent with them…. Nevertheless, there are certain Hindu texts, the Puranas, composed since the beginning of our era, which concern themselves with [among other things]… the universe in space and time, that is cosmology; and the Puranas do make attempts to reconcile various versions and to present a systematized picture-though no two attempts give quite the same result. Systematization proceeds, as I have just suggested, by aggregation and encapsulation; for instance, different cosmogonies are generally accommodated by making them occur successively, rather than by, say, interpreting one story as an allegorical alternative to another. It is this… which largely accounts for the notorious fact that the dimensions of both space and time in the classical Indian cosmologies are so unconscionably large; two systems are reconciled by putting the one inside the other, and making it a cosmo-graphical or temporal part of a much larger whole In light of these remarks it is hardly surprising that in the lengthy article on cosmogony and cosmology in the Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, the sections on the Buddhist and Indian views are far longer than for any other religious tradition or world region; the former the longer of the two-is in fact allotted three times the space given to the section on the views associated with Christianity. Of Kirfel’s book, Die Kosmographie der Inder, Gombrich observes, not quite accurately, that it comprises “over 400 large pages with hardly anything more than bare quotations and tables.” Nevertheless, for our purposes the Kirfel text, despite being directed primarily to an audience of Indologists, possesses the great merit of containing what is perhaps the most representative sample of actual photographs of Indian cosmographic productions of any hitherto published work. Among other works treating the several traditions within Indian cosmology at some length, Bastian’s Ideale Welten analyzes at greatest length the specific cosmographic views presented, rather than the conceptual schema underlying them, though not, obviously, from the perspective of a historian of cartography. Sircar’s approach: is not so dissimilar to Kirfel’s and, on cursory inspection, appears to be much in the nature of a catalog; but he strives less for completeness and more for critical analysis and comprehensibility. Moreover, to an extent unmatched by other authors cited in this essay, he considers the real-world referents of the many places named in the cosmographies. Within the present context, it will not be possible to consider, even in a cursory fashion, many of the numerous cosmographical conceptions that have enjoyed currency within the Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain traditions. But within each of these traditions I do offer some generalizations on the purposes of the cosmographies; the media employed; their scale, orientation and directionality, use of color, and symbolization; and their degree of conformity to the real world. Finally, I shall consider the pervasiveness of cosmographic imagery in a variety of noncartographic contexts. The inconsistencies in Indian cosmography-Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain-to which Gombrich draws our attention are evident even in the earliest of texts. Sircar notes that in the Rig Veda, composed over several centuries between 1500 and 1000 B.C., there are at least five different words to refer to the earth and that the universe therein was conceived “as consisting of either two or three units, i.e., of either the earth and the sky (heaven), or the earth, the air (atmosphere) and the sky.” Furthermore, “each of these constituents was regarded as having three parts or layers, so that there were either six units of three earths and three heavens or nine units of three earths, three atmospheres and three skies.” To these the later Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda (believed to have been composed between 900 and 500 B.C.) added a hemispheric “world of light, i.e. the vault of the sky,” which was in due course matched by an antipodal nether vault. Thus the world was seen as a disk-a form frequently used in later cosmographies-suspended between “two great bowls turned towards each other,” and that view led in time to the long-enduring conception of the universe as a “cosmic egg” commonly designated Brahmanda (egg of Brahma). A similar early conception is that of the Chandogya Upanishad (date uncertain, but probably composed about the time of the later Vedas), which speaks of the cosmic golden womb (or fetus) (hiranyagarbha) splitting apart to form the heaven and the earth. On the size of the universe the Vedas themselves are silent, but the Aitareya Brahmana informs us that “the distance between the earth and the sky is … 1000 days’ journey for a horse,” while the Panchavimsa Brahmana puts it, more modestly, at “the altitude coverable by 1000 cows standing one upon another.” Whether the conceptions presented to this point were of purely Indian origin or were borrowed from Babylonia is debatable. Kirfel thinks the Babylonian influence is significant, whereas Gombrich finds little support for that proposition. This, however, is an argument we need not enter, since the concern here is not so much with cosmology per se as with cosmography; and of visible representations of the very early Vedic/Indian views we have no surviving example. But at least from the middle of the first millennium B.C., by […]