KNOWLEDGE FROM COSMOS

  Hindu Calendar- Era ब्रहस्पती चक्र or Jovian Cycles The cycle of Jupiter is considered as one of the most ancient chronological systems, not only in India, but in Tibet, China, and Myanmar But why did Jupiter cycles come into prominence? I think, just as we count short periods From sunrise to sunrise – One day From lunation to lunation of Moon- One Month From season to season – One Year. A twelfth part is one month Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun is 12 years. A twelfth part is one Solar year or a Jovian month. Jupiter takes about 12 years to complete a round of the zodiac. (Actually, it takes 4332.59 days or 11.862 years) This method was easy to monitor, time longer than one year, as one could observe Jupiter returning to its original position at the end of 12 years. Observing a 60-year cycle was not practical and was hence calculated as per siddhantas and Karana works. Jupiter has two cycles, the 12-year and 60-year cycles, which were/are being followed. The 60-year cycle origina...

Cosmology and Era Chronology and Geography are the eyes of history, and an attempt to understand or know it without their aid becomes meaning less and confused. At the same time, chronology without history is equally dry and insipid. Recording the succession of time and events becomes meaningful for the future to understand the past. For accurate date and time recording, we require a continuously running time accounting system besides the month and the day. Presently, we use the Christian Era (CE) for continuous accounting. We find dated records of kings in Babylon from about 1700 B.C. (Kassite kings). They used regnal years. In fact, most eras are regnal, including those used in India. Hindus view this continuous timeline in a slightly different form. The baseline of the Hindu faith is that time is not linear, as is generally understood, but cyclical. Therefore, we do not find any numbered years, especially during the Vedic period. T he years had names and were repeated on c...