Thursday, February 16, 2023

Inner Core of the earth changing direction after a pause is evidence of to and fro oscillation of the equinox theory of Vedic Thought

This essay can be downloaded from HERE


I am not a scientist or an astronomer or a mathematician, but someone coming from a stream that has worked on precession of the equinoxes for ages unlike any other society in the world. No other society has given the precession rate of different times in the past as the Vedic society by working on what people easily recognize as astrology. The computation of the precession degree is integral to this society from casting horoscopes to determining hundreds of events celebrated or observed in a year and year after year. The calculation of the equinoctial position follows a daily-observation of the sun’s shadow that had continued for thousands of years, with the result that this society had seen not just the equinox in precession mode but also in forward motion!

This has given me the courage of conviction to state what no one dares to say – that the recently reported observation of the solid inner core of the earth slowing down its motion and now starting to rotate in a direction opposite to that of the motion of the spinning earth is due to the earth – along with the entire solar system – moving in a curve in the wavy path of the sun such that by the year 2300 CE, the observer on earth will start seeing the equinox moving in the forward (opposite) direction.

This motion on one direction at a time lasts for 3600 years. In the next 3600 years the direction of motion of the equinox changes to the opposite. The Vedic society had lived long – at least beyond 3600 years to see the change in the direction of the equinox. In contrast, modern science had taken into account the precession value given by Hipparchus who lived only 2000 years ago after the Sun had entered the current precession path.

The sixty times the sixty-year cycle (making up 3600 years) that westerners generally attribute to Sumerians is in fact a creation of the Vedic society which continues to follow the 60-year cycle till this date and has it well entrenched in thousands of inscriptions of over two millennia found in the country. The 3600-year duration is applied in two ways – one, for the entire path of the equinox on one direction and two, from the mid-point of the path in one direction to the mid-point of the path in opposite direction. To understand this, let me state the salient features of this to and fro oscillation theory.

·       The equinox takes 7200 years to complete one round of to-and-fro motion, observed from the earth as linear movement for 54° on either direction.

·       It moves forward (eastward) for 3600 years and backward (westward) for 3600 years (Fig 1).

·       The mid-point of the path falls at 0° sidereal Aries. (All locations are expressed for sidereal positions)

Fig 1: Forward and backward motion of the equinox

The rate of the movement of the equinox is expressed in the ancient astronomy texts as the number of these cycles in a Catur Maha Yuga (4,320,000 years).[i] The average rate is 600 revolutions in a Catur Maha Yuga that is worked out as follows:

1 revolution = 27 x 4 = 108˚

600 revolutions = 108 x 600 = 64,800˚

64,800˚ = 43, 20,000 years

Therefore 1˚ = 66.66 years

This is equal to 54 arc seconds per year.

The changing rates found in the available astronomy texts of India in the last 1000 years are tabulated in Fig 2.

Fig 2: Changing rate of precession

The last row is worked out for the current rate of precession to derive the duration of a revolution. The duration can be seen to hover around 7,200 years per cycle for all the rates of precession. Consequent to the movement of the vernal equinox (VE), the winter solstice (WS) and the summer solstice (SS) also move up to 27˚ on either side of 0˚ Capricorn and 0˚ Cancer respectively (Fig 3). With the current movement of the WS to the west of Capricorn, the Vedic society retained 0˚ Capricorn as the WS. The sun at 0˚ Aries is treated as the VE in South India even today.

Fig. 3: Western-most, middle and eastern-most locations of VE

The limited movement of the equinox on either side of zero sidereal Aries ensures that there is no major shift in the seasons. With a gradual deviation of only 27˚ in 3600 years (mid-point to mid-point), there is either an early or late onset of spring, with subsequent seasons swaying accordingly. Never can there be a complete displacement of a season in this model.   

In tune with the swaying of the equinoxes, the solstices also oscillate, which resembles the sway of the two pans of a Balance. This has prompted the ancestral people to name the base constellation as ‘Tulā’ (balance) in Sanskrit. It is Libra after the Latin word for libration. The equinoctial balance can never be at rest and the solstices can never go beyond a point (Fig 4).


Fig. 4: The horoscopy design of the zodiac used in India with a Balance marked on it

This limited movement shifts the polar orientation only within 54°. It covers the span of Ursa Minor in the north when checked in the Stellarium simulator (Fig 5).


Fig. 5: Polar shift within the span of Ursa Minor

With the earth’s axis oriented towards Polaris at one end at present, a turn-around is imminent as per this to-and-fro concept (Fig 6).

 

Fig 6: The earth’s axis oriented to the span of Ursa Minor

Ursa Minor resembles the constellation named Shishumāra (Gangetic porpoise) in the Vedic texts. (Fig 7) This was meditated upon by the Vedic sages as Vishnu’s abode that is said to lie beyond this. Interestingly, a satellite galaxy called, Ursa Minor Dwarf is found beyond the trapezium of Ursa Minor. This galaxy having a straight evolutionary history is as old as the Universe itself.

 

Fig. 7: Ursa Minor (above); Gangetic porpoise (below) with major stars marked on it

The Vedic texts recognize only three northern pole stars in Shishumāra of which Dhruva is the brightest. Polaris being the brightest, it is presumed to be Dhruva. The other two pole stars named as Indra-Agni and Kashyapa or Prajapati might refer to Urodelus and Kochab of Ursa Minor respectively. In this scheme, Vega (Abhijit) or Canopus (Agastya) can never become the pole stars, as hypothesized by the current precession theory.

At the outset these views can be easily dismissed as ‘pseudo-science’ or just belief systems but its application in the daily life of the Vedic society shows that this must be brought to the notice of the outside world particularly the scientific community for getting valuable leads in understanding our earth and the sun and the presently detected reversal of direction of rotation of the inner core of the earth.

Let me express two issues for establishing that there is substance in this to and fro theory:

1.     The rule in Vedic astronomy / astrology is to deduct the difference in precession between the vernal equinox of a year and zero sidereal Aries. Why should the precessional drift be deducted? If there is going to be continuous precession, it makes no sense to deduct the difference. Moreover, in a continuously precessing cycle, there is no beginning or end point. Why did the ancestral society fix a beginning point at zero sidereal Aries? What is the rationale behind it? That question needs to be answered.

One may say that they were irrational, but it must be noted that they added another clause too. For years coming before zero sidereal Aries, the difference in precessional degree must be added!!  It means they are conveying something. Only if the equinox is making a limited movement on either side of the zero sidereal Aries, can one devise a scheme of clinging on to that zero point as the center and adjust the distances on either side of the movement.

The degree of the movement of the equinox is known as ‘ayanāmśa’ (ayana = movement; amśa = degree or part). Ayanāmśa is deducted for years after the vernal equinox crosses zero sidereal Aries. Ayanāmśa is added for years coming before zero sidereal Aries. This is shown in Fig 8 in comparison with the utility of the zodiac for western astronomy to calculate Right ascension to locate a star.

 Fig 8: Ayanāmśa deduction and addition

Even today, in the year 2023, ayanāmśa is deducted for casting horoscopes or fixing any religious event. Though the knowledge of the first point of sidereal Aries was lost after the closure of traditional astrology schools some 150 years ago, when the colonial educational policy was introduced, attempts were made to find out or fix the first point of Aries and calculate the ayanāmśa.

Many scholars had worked on it and offered their calculations, which are all hovering around 23˚ as of today. The value given by Mr. Lahiri which is in popular use suggests the ayanāmśa value of 24 degrees-9 minutes as of today.  In other words, the sun is at the 25th degree from zero sidereal Aries. After crossing two to three degrees from now, the earth will start witnessing the equinoctial sun move in the forward direction.

2.     The second issue is the inability to simulate the Super conjunction of 8 planets as per western scientific precession theory. This super conjunction is that of the Sun, the moon (these two are regarded as graha-s, translated as planets), Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, Mercury and Ketu (descending node of the moon which is also considered as a graha in Hindu astronomy). As per Hindu astronomy these planets were in close degrees near the beginning of sidereal Aries when the vernal equinox occurred at that point. This conjunction occurred in the year 3101 BCE in the Gregorian calendar when Kṛṣṇa, who is held as a divinity by Hindus left his mortal coils. A new Era of Time called Kali Yuga started ticking from then onwards which is being followed by all Hindus even now. This Era is well attested in numerous inscriptions found throughout India. The conjunction at that date can be simulated only in the settings of to and fro oscillation. It is reproduced from Jhora software incorporated with Surya (Vedic) Siddhanta and the ayanāmśa calculated on the basis of that.

Date: January 22, 3101 BCE (Gregorian), 4.00 pm, Ujjain, India

Sun -             1 Ar 46' 21.85"

Moon -          0 Ar 19' 41.43"

Mars -            6 Ar 44' 59.48"

Mercury -    28 Pi 42' 36.42"

Jupiter -       27 Pi 52' 42.86"

Venus -        28 Pi 37' 30.14"

Saturn -        28 Pi 09' 01.54"

Rahu -          28 Vi 29' 33.41"

Ketu -           28 Pi 29' 33.41"

Fig 9: Super conjunction at 0˚ Sidereal Aries in 3101 BCE

The X-axis (horizontal) is plotted along the zero degree of sidereal Aries where three years are noted, of which the middle one (3101) is the year when the Super conjunction occurred (heralding an Era called Kali Yuga which continues to be used by the Hindus in India). Above the zero-degree line, the degrees of Aries are noted in increasing order. Below the zero-degree line, the negative numbers denote the degrees of the sign Pisces, based on the distance from the zero degree of Aries. Below -30, Aquarius begins.

The graph shows the congregation close to the zero point of Aries (red arrow). Except Mars and the Moon all the other planetary paths in the previous and succeeding years are as per the simulation, showing the steady march towards the congregation point. Since the moon shifts more than twelve degrees a day, the line is drawn from the data on the preceding and the succeeding days of the congregation. Since Mars was away from the plotted extent of the graph in 3100 and 3102, its location ten days before and after the congregation was taken to plot its path.

This conjunction does not appear for the planetary positions obtained from modern ephemeris. The corresponding date in the Julian calendar was 17th February 3101 BCE. The graph plotted using the data of the Swiss ephemeris incorporated in Jhora software and the corresponding tropical precession degree of the day showed absence of Super conjunction. Only six out of eight planets were closer to each other, not at the beginning of sidereal Aries, but in Pisces (Fig 10)

Date: February 17, 3101 BCE (Julian), 4.00 pm, Ujjain, India

Sun -            20 Pi 45' 44.91"

Moon -         25 Pi 30' 12.50"

Mars -          17 Pi 21' 26.77"

Mercury -       5 Pi 33' 47.45"

Jupiter -          4 Ar 06' 58.23"

Venus -           3 Ar 23' 05.35"

Saturn -        23 Aq 09' 11.14"

Rahu -          13 Li 42' 10.88"

Ketu -           13 Ar 42' 10.88"

Fig 10: Absence of Super conjunction for tropical settings

Major differences can be seen in the above simulation, when compared with the previous graph on Fig 9. The Star dispositors of the planets were different. Four planets including the Sun and the Moon were closer to each other in Pisces. Two were near the zero point of sidereal Aries. The distribution of the planetary paths in Fig 10 shows that the planets were distributed across 40˚ span. In contrast, seven planets were within 2˚ distance on either side of zero-degree sidereal Aries in the Super conjunction simulated in the to and fro model. Only Mars was at the 7th degree of Aries in that model. 

The same date simulated in Stellarium software (Fig 11 for the corresponding date in Julian date with zero year in between CE and BCE) reflects what is shown in Fig 10.

Fig 11: The planetary combination for the corresponding Julian date from Stellarium simulator

The vernal equinox for this year is seen at mid-Taurus, not at the beginning of Aries - a requisite for the begin-date of Kali Yuga that is fulfilled in the Vedic setting of to and fro oscillation. The ecliptic and the equator of J2000 is shown along with those of the year under consideration (3101BCE). The dotted yellow line crossing the ecliptic is super-imposed on Fig 11 to mark the zero point of sidereal Aries. The equinox of the day was far left, in Taurus. The equinox of today is marked to the right of the zero point of sidereal Aries.  The planetary positions are the same as shown in Fig 10. They were spread across Pisces (sidereal) and not seen closer to the zero point of sidereal Aries as seen in Fig 9.

Ayanāmśa, likely cause for the discrepancy

The causes for this discrepancy have to be found out but the simulation becoming successful for Vedic settings of zero ayanāmśa seems to imply that ayanāmśa does play a role in accurately finding out the planetary longitudes.

A random check done by this writer by picking out one eclipse in each century for a 1000-year period from 1800 CE to 800 CE showed that none of them matched completely with the epigraphic data of these eclipses. We cannot ignore the epigraphic data of an eclipse that comes with additional details on the activities done at the time of eclipse because they are the real time records of an eclipse. Two sample cases were written in detail in my book, ‘Mahabharata 3136 BCE’.[ii] Of these two, the lunar eclipse on 16th November 951 CE in Julian calendar (21st November in Gregorian calendar) got over before moon rise in India, but the inscription says that the eclipse was seen in Gadag in Karnataka in South India.

There also exists a research study by Vahia et al., showing nine periods of anomalous eclipses in the 1400-year period between 1800 CE and 400 CE when 17 eclipses, well documented in several inscriptions, find no mention in the NASA data-base.[iii] NASA calculations suggest that these eclipses should not have been visible in India, but there are inscriptions from multiple locations for each of these eclipses.

In a more recent case of solar eclipse on 30th June 1601 which was visible in Kottayam in South India for which there is an inscription giving the calendar elements of the day such as the Kali Era number, year name, the star transited by the moon at the time of the eclipse, the week day, and the solar degree (22nd degree in Gemini in sidereal zodiac) besides the location of Jupiter and Saturn in sidereal signs, the NASA data shows the location of the Sun two degrees earlier than the location given in the inscription. The moon also was in the previous star.

The data matches with the tithi being Amāvāsyā (No Moon) when the solar eclipse took place, but shows the day to be two days behind. The sun needed to travel two full degrees to reach the 22nd day of Mithuna māsa (mentioned in the inscription), i.e., Gemini and also to reach the star Punarvasu. Jupiter also needs to cover two degrees to be in Virgo as stipulated in the inscription. The speed of the sun and Jupiter being very much different, and both having the same difference of just 2° to reach the position mentioned in the inscription, we realize that the mis-match of these positions was due to the ayanāmśa value! An addition of 2˚ of ayanāmśa brought parity with the data in the inscription. 

The rate of ayanāmśa is not a constant, nor can it be standardized. The current value of J2000 will not be valid in a couple of decades. In support of this let me cite another issue currently faced by the Vedic society. The locations of long-term planets such as Saturn, Jupiter, Rahu and Ketu calculated on the basis of the traditional school known as Vākya which remained non-updated for more than a century with reference to ayanāmśa correction, do not match with the current data of transit of these planets. Particularly, in the case of Saturn the retrogression period in the traditional school widely deviates from the current data of its position. In addition to ayanāmśa factor, there seems to be variance in the speed of the planet (including the earth) and variations in the orbital path of the planets.

With all these issues, the surprising element is the ability to simulate the Super Conjunction at zero-degree sidereal Aries. At the same time, it must be stated that it is not possible to create such near perfect simulation for locations other than zero-degree sidereal Aries (the mid-point of the path) in the to and fro simulation.

The cause may be found with the varying rates of equinoctial movement in other parts of the equinoctial path. The segmentation of the cycle into four parts of equal length in degrees and time, was perhaps to do with the inability to deduce a standard calculation for each degree of the path. This will be the case if the path is not linear but inclined. Before going further into this, let us visualize the model that is best suited to simulate the to and fro motion of the equinox.

How can the equinox change direction?

To answer this, we must know what causes the equinoctial shift? Is it caused by the axial precession of the earth or the precession of the sun along with the entire solar system?

The current theory of science proposes that the earth spins like a top such that its axis draws a precession circle in the sky for a duration of 26,000 years. Every year the axis precesses at the rate of approximately 50 arc seconds by which the equinox is seen to occur 20 minutes earlier. The equinoctial sun (also known as tropical sun) is observed in the backdrop of a distant star. By this theory the Sun at the vernal equinox can be seen shifted by a degree every 72 years (at the current rate of precession). Suppose we calculate the shift since the inception of the Gregorian calendar in 1582 CE, the vernal equinox must have slipped by 6 days. But olden records on equinoctial date and the archaeo-astronomy of ancient structures show that there is no shift of the equinoctial point on the ecliptic. It has always occurred on 20th or 21st March – the difference of one day caused by the adjustment of the leap year.

The observation of equinoctial sun passing through the center of many olden megalithic structures such as the Stonehenge, Angkor Wat and Mnajdra temples of Malta, to name a few, does indicate that the equinoctial sun never shifts from the assigned location of the ecliptic. (Fig 12)

Fig 12: Structures aligned with the equinox

If one or two structures are found aligned to the equinox of today, we can ignore them as coincidences. But there are many structures built in different time periods in the past found exactly aligned to the equinox of today. The only plausible explanation for this phenomenon of perfect alignment is that every point (or degree) on the ecliptic (earth’s orbit) is aligned exactly with the sun such that we are looking at the same point in the sky every year, year after year on any given day. It is for this reason the Abu Simbel receives direct sun rays on specific days of the year. Several olden temples of India receive the equinoctial or solstitial rays exactly on the days of equinox and solstice even today. This conflict between archaeo-astronomy and astronomy throws a new understanding that there is no change in the alignment between the earth and the sun, but the change is with reference to the sun (along with the entire solar system) shifting in the backdrop of outer space.[iv] (Fig 13)

The only logical explanation for the alignment of olden structures to the equinox of today is shown in Fig 13. The earth-Sun alignment remained the same, but only the background changed.[v]

Fig 13: Equinoctial shift caused by the sun’s movement

It also shows that the earth’s axis doesn’t precess like a spinning top. The entire solar system (sun) is precessing at present. Imagine a running path in a circular disc and imagine the disc is also moving independently in its path. The movement of the runner on the disc with respect to the victory post in the disc does not change due to the movement of the disc. The background scenario changes as the runner moves towards his goal-post much like how the zodiacal signs change in a year, but the shift to a new position of the disc is because the disc has moved further. By looking at the disc with respect to a changed background, would the runner think that since because he is running, the background had changed? This is similar to what the current precession theory proposes.

Another example is a moving train. The moving train is the sun and the passenger sitting inside is the earth. The background trees are the stars. The trees seem to move because the train moves, not because the passenger moves. In the same way the sun along with the solar system moves in the backdrop of stars. That movement must be like how a serpent turns its body while moving. Only in a serpentine movement, the equinox can appear to move to and fro.

Fig 14: Serpentine movement

Imagine an ant sitting on a snake. It will witness itself and the snake move hither and there as the snake keeps moving. Similarly, the earth as a constant companion of the sun witnesses the Sun move in one direction for some time and in another direction after that. This kind of wavy path is a common feature of movement with any celestial body. Presently it is found that the sun moves around the Milky way galaxy in a wavy path. The to and fro theory suggests that within this wavy movement, the sun is wobbling across space in a short wave length with the distance of 54˚ between a crest and a trough traversed in 3600 years!

Fig 15: Wavy path of the Sun causes to and fro movement of the equinox

The mechanism behind the equinoctial shift shown in Fig 3 can be understood from the wavy path of the Sun shown in Fig 15. The equinox can be observed to move between 27˚ Aries and 3˚ Pisces (27˚ to the west of zero-degree sidereal Aries). They mark the two limits of the wave. Zero sidereal Aries coinciding with the mid-point of the oscillation was chosen as the beginning of the zodiac.

The wavy path of Sun ensures that an observer on earth would not perceive the movement of the sun at a constant rate of displacement from one year to another, though the Sun is moving at an almost constant rate. While crossing the middle of the path, coinciding with 0˚ sidereal Aries, the Sun seems to be at its average speed of equinoctial shift of 54 arc seconds at the rate of 66.66 years as given in Fig 2. At every degree before and after that, slight change at the rate of displacement is perceived, requiring the ancestral Vedic society to calculate it every year. That they, who have given this ayanāmśa concept, did not give the rate of displacement for other times in the path goes to prove that this society had not gone through many rounds of this to and fro movement to arrive at a formula for calculation for other times.

In my understanding, the awareness of this movement and the observation of the same started only two rounds before, at a time Polaris was the northern pole star in 12,101 BCE. The identification of a pole star with Dhruva,[vi] a real-life character, must have started at that time coinciding with the end of Ice age. The observation had continued and newer revelations were gained by the time of Rama and Agastya when Polaris was once again the pole star. They will be disclosed later in this essay.  With the next cycle starting in the upcoming centuries, the scientific community of the world can keep a constant track of the equinoctial shift for at least 3600 years to evolve a formula to calculate the constantly changing ayanāmśa in the Sun’s path.

Evidence for the Sun having entered the curvature of the path

With the ayanāmśa at the 25th degree now, the Sun is seen at the verge of turning around at one end of the wavy path. In view of the stipulation of the Vedic society to not recognize the slipping of the winter solstice behind 0˚ Capricorn (so that winter solstice is always observed on the day the Sun enter 0˚ Capricorn), it is deduced that the wave limit through which the Sun is going now can be considered to be the trough of the wave.

What can be expected to happen on the earth if the earth turns around the curve along with the Sun? Have we started getting any signs of the turning around?

Evidence 1: The change of direction of rotation of the inner core

The recently reported information on the inner core of the earth having paused for some time and starting the rotation in an opposite direction to the direction of the spinning earth raises a feasibility of a correlation with the earth having entered a curved path now.  

To understand this, imagine a car that is moving around a corner. When the car turns on one side, the inmates of the car will be pushed to the other side due to centrifugal force. The same principle can cause the inner core of the earth move in the opposite direction of the rotation of the earth.

To understand the mechanism, let us look at the composition of the earth. It has an outer crust upon which we live. The next inner layer is filled with mantle. Beneath that there is a region of outer core filled with molten material (liquid). Within that, a solid inner core of the size of Pluto remains suspended in the liquid outer core.

Fig 16: Inner layers of the earth

As the earth keeps rotating on one side (always in anti-clockwise direction that makes the sun rise in the east), the liquid in the outer core also rotates in the same direction (anti-clockwise). This causes the free rotating inner core to rotate in anti-clockwise direction (the direction of the earth’s rotation).

Once the earth starts turning around, the liquid in the outer core inside the earth will be pushed to the opposite direction. Due to the change of direction of the liquid, the freely rotating inner core will be dragged initially by which it loses the regular speed of rotation. Slowly it will come to a halt and then will begin the rotation along with the motion of direction of the outer core (which has started rotating in clockwise direction) which is the opposite of the direction of rotation of the earth.

In their paper, Mr. Yi Yang and Mr.  Xiaodong Song, the scientists of Peking University, observed that the ‘differential inner-core rotation has recently paused’ but a ‘gradual turning-back of the inner core relative to the mantle’ is observed which seems to follow a seven-decade period of oscillation.[vii]

Fig 17: The changed rotational direction of the inner core

It is difficult to rationalize this phenomenon with our current knowledge of science. If the earth is going in a linear path (the rotation around the Sun is only a visualization in a static model), this cannot happen, but it is quite possible in a curved path as proposed by the Vedic theory of to and fro oscillation of the equinox.

Fig 18: Probable theories for the change of rotational direction

There are some who propose a periodical oscillation of the rotational direction of the inner core ranging from 6 years to 70 years.[viii] But purely from a common-sense perception, it can be said that there is a directional deviation in the earth’s path – a kind of wobbling caused by the pull from two different directions – from the Sun holding the earth by centripetal force and the centrifugal force causing the earth to be dragged outward. As the earth (the solar system) adjusts itself to maintain the curved path, there is bound to be scope for fluctuations in the rotational direction of the inner core which is observed only in the last few decades for which data is available.

Evidence 2: Change of direction will impact the atmosphere including the ozone layer

Just as how the liquid inside the earth will respond to the direction of the motion of the earth, the thick band of air surrounding the earth will also behave differently when the rotating earth changes direction by moving around a curve.

As a lay person, I imagine the wind-force felt by me when a speeding car overtakes the car I am travelling. The wind-force will be greater when a speeding car whizzes past me from an opposite direction. Thinking of the earth swirling around a corner in its path (along with the entire solar system), it appears that the atmosphere circulating on the surface of the earth will encounter a reverse force, that is opposite to the direction of the movement of the earth. As a result, anomalies in wind circulation patterns can be detected in the period of movement of the earth negotiating a curve.

Additionally, there is also a probability of the turning path tilting a little from the original angle. This is applicable to the entire plane of the solar system and not to the individual planets which are all in equilibrium with each other and the sun. This is like a Merry-go-Round ride having cups of seats fixed to the central axis. The cups (imagine planets in their places) will revolve with a slight tilt / bend but their distance from each other and alignment with the central axis (Sun) will not change.

To cite another example, we can visualize the way an air plane bends its body while it is turning.

Fig 19: A plane around a curve (Pic from a web source)

The blue and red arrow lines in Fig 19 show the direction of the competing centrifugal and centripetal forces respectively. The resultant forward motion is shown by the green arrow mark. The plane itself makes a tilt as it negotiates the curve. Once it has entered the straight path, it regains the normal position.

This rationale when applied to the earth turning around a curve (along with the solar system), will cause the earth to be tilted (not detected by us). Though it is beyond my scope to speculate how this would change the angle of solar radiation reaching the earth, the reported reduction in ozone depletion raises a question whether the earth is experiencing a change in the angle of tilt in its overall path along with the Sun.

One way to check this is to probe the causes for ozone healing when it is accompanied with strong polar vortex. Though the ban on ozone-depleting chemicals helps in reducing the ozone loss, it is also said the strength of the polar vortex and warmer stratospheric temperatures reduce the depletion rate.

Originally, the models showed no reduction in ozone depletion until 2100, the year the model run ended.[ix] However, of late a reduction in depletion is detected attributable to warmer stratospheric temperatures. “It’s important to recognize that what we’re seeing this year is due to warmer stratospheric temperatures,” said Paul Newman, chief scientist for Earth sciences at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in a statement. “It’s not a sign that atmospheric ozone is suddenly on a fast track to recovery.” [x]

In the event of a turn-around of the sun causing a tilt to the solar plane, a lay person like me is led to wonder whether the temperature hike in the stratosphere in recent years was due to any changed dynamics caused by the tilt. Across the solar system there are bound to appear newer phenomena in terms of disturbance to polar vortex of other planets, aurora sightings in other planets, tremors in other planets (like the first Mars-quake recently detected) which might be connected with the tilting solar system. Any unusual event such as the detached plasma material of the Sun swirling around to reach the polar vortex of the Sun gives a different perspective when seen in the prospect of the curving path of the Sun.[xi] (Fig 20)

Earlier in the year 2020, the earth rotated faster than normal on a record number of 28 days since the data collection started in 1960. It was thought to have been caused by ‘variations in atmospheric pressure, winds, ocean currents and the movement of the core’. [xii] The revelation offered by the to and fro oscillation theory shows disturbance to all these factors that have a bearing on the earth’s speed, atmospheric currents and global climate.

Fig 20: Broken material from northern prominence of the Sun circulating in Polar vortex 

The extreme weather conditions witnessed since 2000 in the form of heat waves, extreme winters, calamitous rains and unprecedented floods around the world are all attributable to the disturbance in the wind pattern circulating around the world and particularly at the poles. There also exists the probability of shifting rain patterns and monsoon winds causing record drought conditions in different parts of the world.

Notably such climatic factors caused the decline of the Harappan civilization.[xiii] That period coincided with the change of the equinoctial direction the last time, from forward to precession mode. By 1300 BCE the precession movement had started as per the to and fro theory. The drought conditions started 500 years before that when the Harappan regions started experiencing shift in rain patterns that ultimately caused total collapse of that civilization by 1300 BCE.

In the current times, the climatic anomalies started from the 17th century with the onset of Little Ice Age. They will continue for at least 500 years until the sun resumes a forward path. As per the to and fro theory, three more centuries of extreme climatic conditions are due before the equinox is seen to move forward.

Evidence 3: Change of direction of the earth’s axis

It was earlier shown how the archaeo-astronomy of the olden megalithic structures disprove the idea of precession of the earth’s axis. The axis is fixed towards a particular direction, but it will be seen to turn towards the opposite direction if the earth is turning around. Recently it was reported that the axis has changed the direction from west to east. “Around the year 2000, Earth's spin axis took an abrupt turn toward the east and is now drifting almost twice as fast as before, at a rate of almost 7 inches (17 centimeters) a year. "It's no longer moving toward Hudson Bay, but instead toward the British Isles," said Adhikari. "That's a massive swing." Adhikari and Ivins set out to explain this unexpected change,” reports a NASA study.[xiv]

The study also reported three causes for the change in direction, namely, isostatic rebound of land forms formerly under ice sheets, melting of the ice sheets and mantle convection. None thought about the probability of the earth turning its direction. In the normal course, that is how one would explain, but our conditioned thinking to continuous precession seems to have closed our mind to think unconventionally about a conventional way of movement of bodies.

For example, think of a car moving around a curve. Its front wheels, until then parallel to the body of the car will turn towards the direction of turn. This is followed by the entire car turning around. Once it reaches the straight path, the wheels will gain their original orientation. Imagine the axis of the earth as the wheel. It will be seen turning to the side of the curve if the earth in moving in a curve.

Fig 21: Wheels of a car turning to the direction of the curve

The change of direction of the axis can be explained in another way too. The earth behaves like a gyroscope in zero gravity which cannot change its orientation. Watch the video of European Space Agency on the spin of a gyroscope whose orientation changes only when the plane of rotation changes. The probability of a change (by a tilt) in the rotating plane of the earth (including the entire solar system) was already highlighted in Evidence 2.

Steady and altered orientation of gyroscope in zero gravity - a demonstration

The earth spinning in zero gravity, will have its axis pointing out to a fixed direction as it was since its birth. When the plane of rotation of the earth tilts, the direction of orientation of the earth’s axis can be seen to drift on one side. The earthlings can’t feel the tilt. No satellite on space can detect the tilt because the entire set-up is tilting. Only by the change of direction of axis which is supposed to remain oriented to a fixed direction like a gyroscope, can we deduce that the earth is slowly tilting as it is made to travel in a curve.

A remarkable feature on all the three issues we discussed so far is that the events were triggered only from the year 2000 CE onwards. The abrupt turn of the axis of the earth started only in 2000 CE. The reversal of the direction of the inner core of the earth started only after 2009. The ozone healing process accompanied with strong polar vortex (indicating air circulation dynamics) started only after 2000 CE. In the year 2000 CE, there was a rare congregation of six planets closer to the zero-degree sideral Aries too!!

Date: April 14, 2000 CE (Gregorian), 12 AM., Ujjain, India.

Sun -             0 Ar 17' 31.34"

Moon -       28 Cn 50' 04.54"

Mars -         21 Ar 56' 45.34"

Mercury -      7 Pi 19' 28.52"

Jupiter -      18 Ar 16' 22.34"

Venus -       14 Pi 47' 57.95"

Saturn -        23 Ar 10' 49.62"

Rahu -            5 Cn 43' 50.27"

Ketu -             5 Cp 43' 50.27"

Fig 22 shows the location of six planets with the exception of the Moon and the node, hovering closer to the beginning of sidereal Aries, when the Sun entered sidereal Aries – the mid-point of the to and fro oscillation. (The horizontal 0 axis shows numbers 1 to 8 in the order of serial numbers for the planets in the data-set)

Fig 22: Six planets near the beginning of sidereal Aries on 14th April, 2000 CE

The corresponding date in Julian Day is simulated in Stellarium simulator.

Fig 23: Six planets near Tropical Aries, away from sidereal first point of the zodiac

The equinox of the day is shown in Fig 23. That marks the beginning of Tropical Aries which is away from the beginning of sidereal Aries which is 23 degrees to its left in Fig 11. In the terms of Vedic astronomy, the congregation occurred near the beginning of sidereal Aries.

Evidence 4: Change in the rate of displacement of solstices moving towards each other

The Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn mark the two limits on the earth within which the Sun is seen to move. The Sun cannot be seen overhead to the north and south of these two respectively. These two limits are not found to be fixed, but seen to move towards each other.

Fig 24: The two Tropical limits (solstices) moving towards each other

The reason for this movement is attributed to the axial tilt of the earth changing its inclination or obliquity which is said to be varying between 22.1 and 24.5 degrees. Today it is 23°26′10.6″ and decreasing. Let us visualize how this movement appears if it is caused by the earth’s axis tilting.

Fig 25 shows the earth in three positions. The axis of the earth cuts the equator (E) at right angles, making the equator and the axis always separated by 90˚ (A in Fig 25). If the axis tilts by, say, 23˚, the equator also tilts by 23˚as they always remain perpendicular to each other.  In Fig 25-B this angle is marked as O. The corresponding position of the Tropic of Cancer (S.S / Summer Solstice) and the Tropic of Capricorn (W.S / Winter Solstice) are shown in B.

Fig 25: Movement of the tropical limits in response to the changing tilt

Since the tilting angle is decreasing now, the direction of the change of the axial tilt is shown accordingly in Fig C along with the corresponding shift in S.S, W.S and E (Equator). All of them must move northward. But what do we find now? The S.S and W.S are moving towards each other! (Fig 24)

If the axis is tilting, the two will move towards the same direction in tune with the direction of the shifting angle of tilt – and not towards each other. It defies logic.

Moreover, the change in obliquity caused by the ever-changing angle of the tilt of the earth’s axis will not cause the equinox to occur on the same point of the ecliptic, which is what the current scientific theory of precession says. But the fixed alignment of the ancient monuments such as Stonehenge and Angkor Wat show that the equinox never changes its location on the ecliptic.

Solstitial limits (of the Tropics) offer other surprises too. The rate of movement of the two limits keeps changing over time. This is known from the olden markers or monuments built on the location of the Tropical limits in the past. Mexico alone is dotted with such monuments built over 100 years. The earliest I could spot (on google search) was made in the year 1891. (Fig 26). The website that gave the information that it was 5 km north of the current limit of the Tropic of Cancer is not seen now. That distance shows that the Tropics had moved at the rate of 38.75 meter per year, when we take 2020 as the base year.

Fig 26: Monument in Mexico at the location of Tropic of Cancer in 1891

At present the Tropical limits are moving at the rate of 15 meters per year. At this rate, this monument (Fig 26) must have been cited at 2 km north of Tropic of Cancer, not at 5 km. The current data of 15 meters per year is obtained from 2005 onwards. Markers are erected at the Tropical limit every year in the Mexican Highway (Fig 27).

Fig 27: The shift of the Tropic of Cancer

What is inferred is that the speed of the solstitial movement has come down. A further hunt for data for other years in the past led me to two links, one on a monument built in the year 1908 which stated that the Tropic of Cancer has shifted 1 km south of that monument now (Fig 28).[xv] 

Fig 28: Monument at Tropic of Cancer in 1908 in Mexico

Another link from a news magazine of India, Times of India, dated June 29, 2005, gave an input about a monument at Jia-Yi in Taiwan built in the same year 1908 shifted by 1.27 km in about 100 years.[xvi] This was stated in 2005, three years short of 100 years.

Fig 29: Monument at Tropic of Cancer in 1908 in Taiwan

The monuments built on the Tropic of Cancer in the same year, anywhere on the earth will be at equal distance from the equator because the Tropic of Cancer (or Capricorn) is parallel to the equator. When we compare their location with the present date, the shift will be uniform. It cannot be 1 km at one place and 1.27 km at another place. Moreover we are not sure how many years were over when these observations were made – though in the case of Taiwan, the date of the news report shows that it was less than 100 years. But by that year, the enumeration of the distance has started in Mexico (Fig 27) which shows that the yearly shift was 15 meters. It is less for both Fig 28 and Fig 29 which I am rejecting due to lack of data and exactness.

Taking up 1891 monument and the current rate, the shift has reduced from 38.75 meters per year to 15 meters per year. Why is it reducing? Was it moving at all times in the past? If so, why are we not seeing such monuments in architecturally rich Mexican country? Why do such monuments appear only in the last 100 to 150 years in Mexico?

More importantly, the question remains why the Tropical limits are moving towards each other? By looking at things around us, I can think of an illustration which is shown in Fig 30.

Fig 30: The edges come towards each other when closer to the light source

Fig 29 shows two scenarios, A and B each with similar light source but the surfaces receiving the light rays are at different distances. The limits of the light rays are marked as SS and WS in Fig A, to represent Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice respectively. E denotes Equator. 

Figure B shows the same scenario, but with the surface closer to the light source than in Figure A. In that scenario, SS of Fig A shifts to SS-1 and WS of Fig A shifts to WS-1. In other words, SS and WS move towards each other when the distance between the surface they represent and the light source reduces.

This analogy when applied to the movement of the two Tropical limits towards each other, presumes that the light source (the Sun) must be inching closer, but there is no evidence for it so far. The distance between the earth and the Sun is within the observed or calculated range. The tilting solar plane and the turn-around in the curve are the probable sources for a change in the angle of light falling on the earth. This is only a crude conjecture from me, but I have something to say about this movement based on two allegorical stories recorded in Indic sources.

Nahusha’s Fall

There is a story of the Fall of Nahusha, a king who lived before Rama’s period.[xvii] After he reached heaven, he captured the throne of Indra, the God of celestials and caused the Sapta rishis (Ursa Major) carry him in a palanquin. Sage Agastya (Canopus) was also made to carry his chair. In due course, the sages could not move faster which infuriated Nahusha. He kicked the sage Agastya by which he was cursed and he fell down on the earth as a python!

Fig 31: Fall of Nahusha (Pic credit: Wikipedia)

After him, his son, Yayāti also travelled in the heavens but fell down. The places where they fell became pilgrim centres as per Mahābhārata. The place of Yayāti’s fall is part of ‘Jambu Mārga’ the solstitial belt across India – the belt of Tropic of Cancer! (Fig 32) Narmada River formed the lower or the southern limit of this belt while the northern limit is not known. But it should have been a small stretch of land from North to South as per the description of the Mahābhārata.[xviii] 

Fig 32: “Jambu Mārga” - the belt of Tropic of Cancer in India

The story seems to indicate certain events in Nature related to the sky and the earth. By bringing in the Sapta rishis (Ursa Major) as bearers of the palanquin, some movement is indicated. By having stated that Nahusha kicked Sage Agastya urging him to move faster, we deduce that Agastya was in the front. This arrangement seems to imply that the movement was from North (indicated by Sapta rishis) towards South, where Agastya, the star Canopus is seen. That movement started getting slower. The fall of Nahusha seems to indicate the prospect of a complete standstill. His son who attempted to move in the sky in the same way also fell down, thereby indicating once again that the movement stopped.

Agastya stopping the movement of the Vindhya Hills

There is yet another story seeming to convey the movement of the Tropic of Cancer coming to a standstill. It involves the same sage, Agastya. As per that story told by Rāma in Vālmīki Rāmāyana, Vindhya, the mountain range located in the middle of India started growing high and hindered the Sun. Agastya stopped its further growth.[xix]  Agastya ordained that it must not grow further till he returned from South.

This story is allegorical of the movement of the Tropic of Cancer southward (as it is now). Figure 33 shows an illustration of a hill (assume it to be the Vindhya range) across which the Tropic of Cancer is passing.

Fig 33: Shift of Tropic of Cancer obstructs the Sun’s limit

The shift is shown from North (N) to South (S). Once the Tropical limit started shifting southward from A to B, it appeared as though the mountain was growing high. The Southward shift restricted the tropical limits of direct Sun. The Sun which was supposed to go up to A was stopped to go until then when the Tropic of Cancer shifted to B. This was expressed as the Vindhya Mountain obstructing the path of the Sun. Agastya stopped the Vindhya Mountain from obstructing further. This could mean that there was no longer any shift in the Tropic of Cancer further southward.

Even the very etymological meaning of Agastya is one who stopped the mountain. This story signals the movement of Tropic of Cancer coming to a halt during his period. Both Rāma and Agastya were contemporaries. They lived in the last round of the equinoctial cycle when Polaris (Dhruva star) was the Pole star. Vālmīki Rāmāyana has a reference to Dhruva (Polaris) as the pole star while Rāma was around.[xx]

Fig 34: Vindhya range and the Tropic of Cancer in present times

Nahusha’s fall and Agastya subduing the Vindhya range are two sides of the equinoctial event. The last time the Tropic of Cancer was slowing down, the sages created a story of the fall of Nahusha. When it stopped moving, Agastya’s story was made that it was he who stopped the mountain to grow.

Now we are at the moment of a slowdown of the Tropic of Cancer to 15 meters a year. The current speed will slow down to 14 meters per year and reduce further. That will be the test of proof for the theory of “Nahusha’s Fall”. Nahusha means python and he fell down as a python as per the story. The reference to the python seems to be part of the equinoctial story that found its way into iconography.

An engraving (Fig 35) from an unknown past is preserved in a glass-case in Kūdalaɻagar temple in Madurai. The chariot of the Sun with the zodiac around is shown in the middle. Two pythons, one on each side, are obstructing the movement of the sun. By the direction of the galloping horses, it is seen that the sun is moving towards the south as it is now. Stopped by the python, it will turn northward. Once it reaches the limit on that direction, the python again causes the chariot to turn around.

Fig 34: Sun God in his chariot flanked with pythons on his two sides

Why should the chariot turn around?

The slowing down and the eventual stoppage reminds one of how a superior planet (a planet beyond the orbit of the earth) is seen when it begins retrogression or comes out of retrogression. When seen from the earth, retrogression and reversal of retrogression of a superior planet make the planet appear to go from forward to backward and from backward to forward direction respectively. Before changing the direction, the planet will pass a stage of no-motion when it will be seen static from the earth. This is shown in Fig 36 for the path of Mars.

Fig 36: Process of retrogression of a superior planet 

Before it changes direction by retrogression, the planet (Mars) will be seen from the earth as slowing down and stopping for a while. That point is shown by an arrow. After a brief motionless period, it would start again but in the opposite direction.

The same will be witnessed with the equinoctial sun and the solstitial limits slowing down and not moving at all for some time because of the change of direction. When this is going on, the earth will be actually moving around the curve along with the Sun. Since the earth travels along with the Sun, the observer from the earth will only see a static Sun (in equinoctial terms) for sometime before it is seen to move in the opposite direction.

The earth will be like the ant on the serpent (Fig 14) sitting at the exact point of curvature of the serpent’s body from where the ant cannot perceive the movement of the serpent forward or backward and only in stagnation mode. That is similar to the location shown by the arrow mark in the above Fig 36.

Once the Sun starts moving towards the forward path, the equinox and the solstitial limits will start moving. The equinox will be seen to move forward. The solstices will be seen to move away from each other – contrary to how they are moving now. The Tropic of Cancer which is seen to move towards South now with reduced speed, will stop moving for some time and then resume movement in the opposite direction – i.e., from South to North (Fig 37).

Fig 37: The movement of the solstices away from each other

These events seem to follow a 3600-year cycle in tandem with the to and fro theory.  The last time (c.1300 BCE) it caused the decline of the Harappan civilization and the loss of River Saraswati due to tectonic displacement. Such disturbances must have occurred at different places globally. In the previous before last (c.4900 BCE), the 1st Tamil Sangam regions in the India Ocean were lost to the seas. Perhaps the Sunda shelf erupted with volcanism. Mascarene plateau also went under water signaling subsidence in that part of the earth.

Now crossing the same point in sky as was in Nahusha’s time, we have started witnessing the inner core changing direction, the earth’s axis changing direction and the solstitial limits slowing down. The churning of the magma (symbolically known as the Churning of the Milky Ocean) seems to have started as the earth turns around with the sun in its path. Not only the liquid of the Outer core, the mantle under the crust is also disturbed, causing the ‘sloshing of the magma’ which will result in a series of volcanic eruptions, tectonic movements, subductions and submergences.[xxi]  

Ultimately, the stagnation of the solstitial movement within a century or two can be expected as “down-to-earth” evidence for the to and fro oscillation theory of equinoxes of the Vedic sages. The Vedic sages did not use telescopes or gadgets to propose this theory. They just watched the earth, the shadow on the earth and the movement of sunlight on the earth to have offered this theory and its application in day-to-day life. We have yet to catch up with them…

 

*****

Update on 10th July, 2023

The entire disk of the solar system is tilted by 6 degrees, it is reported in Physics-Astronomy.com 

The cause is thought to be the un-discovered 9th planet of the solar system. Its time we deviate from the beaten track and do out-of the box thinking. Whatever happens to the solar system can be traced to the way the sun behaves and not with a planet within a solar system.

This tilt is something I expected in the model of the winding path of the Sun. I have shown in the article how the tilt is possible in the current times as the sun is moving around a curve. 

https://www.physics-astronomy.com/solar-system-titled-planet-9/

Our Solar System Is Tilted And A Mysterious ‘Hidden’ Planet 9 Is To Be Blamed

By

Editor

December 1, 2022

The mysterious tilt of our Solar System may be explained by the gravitational influence of the elusive Planet 9, reshaping our understanding of the cosmos.

The Enigma of the Tilted Solar System

For more than a century and a half, astronomers have known that the Solar System is tilted. The sun rotates on an axis that isn’t quite perpendicular to the orbits of Earth and the other major planets. This peculiar tilt has been a subject of intrigue and speculation among scientists for decades. The planets, including Earth, orbit the sun in a relatively flat plane, but the sun’s axis of rotation is about 6 degrees off from perpendicular to that plane.

The Hypothesis of Planet 9

In recent years, a new hypothesis has emerged that may explain this mysterious tilt. A group of planetary scientists at Caltech in Pasadena, California, proposed the existence of a hypothetical Planet 9, a massive and as-yet-unseen planet at the outer edges of the Solar System. This Planet 9 is thought to be about 10 times bigger than Earth and about 500 times farther from the sun. Its orbit is believed to be inclined at an angle of about 30 degrees from the other planets’ orbital plane.

Solar System Titled Planet 9

The Influence of Planet 9

This cockeyed orbit of Planet 9 means that its gravitational forces have been tugging on the other planets in a way that has gradually caused their orbital plane to shift. “Because Planet Nine is so massive and has an orbit tilted compared to the other planets, the solar system has no choice but to slowly twist out of alignment,” says Elizabeth Bailey, a graduate student at Caltech. This influence of Planet 9 could be the reason for the observed tilt in our Solar System.

The Tilted Solar System: A New Perspective

Interestingly, the sun’s tilt doesn’t mean that the sun itself is off-kilter. Instead, it’s the planetary orbits that are being tilted by Planet Nine. “So Planet Nine has tilted the entire disk of the solar system by 6 degrees and because we live on that disk…to us it looks like the sun is tilted, but it’s actually the other way around,” explains Konstantin Batygin, an assistant professor of planetary science at Caltech.

The Mystery of Planet 9’s Orbit

While the Planet 9 hypothesis provides a plausible explanation for the sun’s apparent tilt, it also raises new questions. For instance, what explains Planet Nine’s bizarre orbit? Some scientists suggest that early in the solar system’s history, gravitational forces from a star not far from the sun pulled Planet Nine from the orbital plane that until then it had shared with the other planets.

The Search for Planet 9

Despite the compelling arguments for its existence, Planet 9 remains a hypothesis. It has not been directly observed, and its existence is inferred based on its gravitational effects. However, several groups of astronomers are currently searching for Planet Nine using some of the world’s biggest telescopes. The discovery of Planet 9 would not only confirm its existence but also provide a testable explanation for the otherwise mysterious spin-orbit misalignment of the Solar System.

Planet 9: A Key to Understanding Our Tilted Solar System

The existence of Planet 9 offers a fascinating possibility to explain the tilt of our Solar System. If confirmed, it would provide a significant piece of the puzzle in our understanding of the Solar System’s formation and evolution. As we continue to explore the outer reaches of our Solar System and beyond, the search for Planet 9 and the understanding of our tilted Solar System represents one of the most exciting frontiers in astronomy. The quest for Planet 9 is not just about finding a new planet; it’s about deepening our understanding of our Solar System and our place within it.

The Impact of Planet 9 on the Solar System

The gravitational influence of Planet 9 is not limited to causing the tilt of the Solar System. Its presence could also explain some of the erratic movements of icy worlds in the outer Solar System. The gravitational effects of this hypothetical planet could be responsible for the unusual orbits of some trans-Neptunian objects. These distant objects in the outer Solar System have orbits that are strangely aligned, a phenomenon that is difficult to explain without the presence of a massive, distant influencer like Planet 9.

The Origin of Planet 9

One of the intriguing aspects of Planet 9 is its potential origin. Some researchers propose that Planet 9 could be an exoplanet, a planet that formed around a different star and was later captured by our Sun. This theory suggests that early in the history of our Solar System, the Sun may have stolen Planet 9 from its original star during a close encounter. This could explain the planet’s large size, its distant and eccentric orbit, and its significant inclination compared to the plane of the Solar System.

The Challenges in the Search for Planet 9

The search for Planet 9 is fraught with challenges. Its predicted location is incredibly distant, far beyond the orbit of Neptune, the furthest known planet in our Solar System. At such distances, a planet, even one as large as Planet 9, would appear incredibly faint and would move very slowly across the sky, making it difficult to detect with current telescopes. Despite these challenges, astronomers are optimistic, employing advanced observation techniques and leveraging the power of the world’s most sophisticated telescopes in the search for this elusive planet.

The Implications of Discovering Planet 9

The discovery of Planet 9 would have profound implications for our understanding of our Solar System. It would not only solve the mystery of the Solar System’s tilt but also provide insights into the dynamics and evolution of the outer Solar System. Furthermore, if Planet 9 turns out to be a captured exoplanet, it would provide a unique opportunity to study an exoplanet up close, potentially offering valuable insights into planetary formation and evolution processes in other star systems.

Conclusion: The Enigma of the Tilted Solar System and the Quest for Planet 9

The enigma of our tilted Solar System and the quest for Planet 9 exemplify the spirit of scientific exploration and discovery. As we continue to probe the outer reaches of our Solar System, we are not just mapping distant worlds and looking for new planets. We are also seeking to answer fundamental questions about the nature of our Solar System and its place in the cosmos. Whether or not Planet 9 exists, the search for it is already enhancing our understanding of the universe and our place within it.

 ***

Update on 23rd April, 2024.

Antarctica is warming up such that it's melt water is going to raise the global sea level by 3.4 m and dip the temperature in Europe by 9°F in a decade.

Read Here

Update on 26th May, 2024

Between May 10th and 12th of 2024, vibrant Aurora Borealis was witnessed till 26 degrees North and South abnormally. Normally they appear for around 3 to 6 degrees near the poles. During excess solar winds in solar maxima period they were visible till 36  degrees, But this time they were visible in far lower latitudes that it was even visible in Ladakh in India. NASA declared that this was the highest in the past 500 years without giving any reference for this statement. (Read here )

Pitch angle is the mechanism of how far the Aurora is seen. This is the angle between the direction of motion of the solar wind and the local magnetic field around the earth. This angle of the solar wind should have been more or tilted to interact with a huge part of the magnetosphere enveloping the earth. 

This is can be the result of a tilting sun in the process of sending out its flames. Imagine a candle moving in a linear path and in a circular path. In the linear path, the flame would not shake much, but if the candle is turned around, its flame will  stretch on towards one side. That has happened with the sun now. As it is in the process of turning now, the solar winds and flames created by the maxima phase are unleashed on one side severely. That is how they could reach through larger part of the magnetosphere. 

This has also pushed the magnetic pole towards eastward in Siberia at the rate of 55 km in a year compared to 16 km per year in the past. The eastward movement also is in concurrence with the turn towards east. NASA expects a flipflop of the poles, but I don't think so because this seems to be the result of turning around and once the forward path is reached, everything will stabilize. (NASA article here .



Update on 27th May 2024.

Climate change is happening around the world affecting certain places with what is called Flash Drought. A recent study published in Physics.org shows that certain parts of the world are affected with Flash Drought based on 40 years of observation of rainfall pattern, lack of rainfall and deforestation.

The dark brown regions are the most affected regions by drought. One can see that NW India, Pakistan, Southern Africa and most of South America are deeply affected. North India is affected to some extent. This phenomenon is likely to have been caused by the change in wind pattern and ocean currents due to the earth's axis turning east and the earth along with the solar system making a U-turn now before stabilizing into a forward (eastward) path. The last time the turning happened in 1500 to 1300 BCE when the equinox turned backward (westward), similar climatic changes occurred. NW India suffered drought and the river Saraswati subducted. Egypt which was until then drained by rivers became a desert. This time Egypt and parts of Middle East seem to be getting rains. The details of this study can be read here: https://phys.org/news/2024-05-climate-droughts-worldwide-tracks-critical.html
 


[i] The basic unit of the Catur Maha Yuga is 432,000 years. This is calculated on the basis of the number of revolutions of the nine ‘graha-s’, roughly translated as planets that include Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Rahu and Ketu – the last two being the ascending and descending nodes of the moon. The revolutionary periods of these planets are calculated from geo-centric observation that include the retrogression periods of these planets. The LCM of all the revolutions, if they started together at 0° Aries gives the period 432,000 years. This is the duration of the current Era known as Kali Yuga that started on 3101 BCE when all the planets except Rahu congregated at 0° Aries. A Catur Maha Yuga contains 10 such congregations, covering 4,320,000 years.

[ii]  Saranathan. Jayasree, Nov 2021, “Mahabharata 3136 BCE: Validation of the Traditional Date”  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LS1WZ4X 

[iii] Vahia et al., “Ancient eclipses and long-term drifts in the Earth - Moon system” Current Science. 105. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/253646240_Ancient_eclipses_and_long-term_drifts_in_the_Earth_-_Moon_system 

[iv] Saranathan. Jayasree, March 21, 2022, “ Conflict between Archaeo-astronomy and Astronomy reveals new understanding of the Equinoxes”

https://www.academia.edu/76514406/Conflict_between_Archaeo_astronomy_and_Astronomy_reveals_new_understanding_of_the_Equinoxes

[v] Saranathan. Jayasree, “No axial precession of the earth proven by archeoastronomy of ancient monuments” https://www.academia.edu/44178992/No_axial_precession_of_the_earth_proven_by_Archaeoastronomy_of_ancient_monuments

[vii] Yang, Y., Song, X. Author Correction: Multidecadal variation of the Earth’s inner-core rotation. Nat. Geosci. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01136-z

[xx] Vālmīki Rāmāyana – 6-4-49

[xxi] Namiki et al, “Sloshing of a bubbly magma reservoir as a mechanism of

triggered eruptions” http://www.volcanotectonics.de/reprints/Namiki_sloshing_JVGR_2016.pdf





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Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Sun worship originated in Gunung Padang Megalithic Structure by Magā Brahmins? (Part 4 of Gunung Padang series)

Part 1: ‘Gunung Padang’ megalithic structure an observation platform for Mt. Pushpitaka described in Vālmīki Rāmāyana

Part 2: Was the week-day concept conceived in Gunung Padang Structure (GPS) located on Mt. Suryavān?

Part 3: Shāka Dwīpa was a pre-historic location in SE Asia where the early Tamils thrived and the archaic Vedic society emerged

 

The Gunung Padang Megalithic Structure built on a small extinct volcano which is likely to be Mt. Suryavān (The Mount of the Sun) described in an ancient Hindu text of  Vālmīki Rāmāyana, offers the best location for the origin of Sun-worship. In Part 3 of this series, the description of this region as being part of Shāka Dwīpa was given. Four classes of people namely Magā,  Maśakā,  Mānasā and Mandagā were living in the vast region of Shāka Dwīpa. Of them, the Magā, the Brahmins were credited with having evolved Sun worship known as ‘Saura’ in Hindu texts.

Sun worship started by the Magā Brahmins of Shāka Dwīpa

The beginnings of the Magā Brahmins are given in story form in the Bhaviṣya Purāna. The story is much like how the sages used to give the secrets of the past in weird ways, which however can be solved by deciphering the etymology of the names. (Check HERE for a sample story containing a clever secret on a pre-historic migration route).

Once there lived a rishi (sage) by name Sujihva. Jihva in Sujihva means tongue or speech. So, Sujihva means good-tongued or having good-speech. This is a reference to one who has command over his tongue or who speaks well. Sujihva also refers to fire or God of fire.

He had a daughter, Nikshubha. She was matchless in form and was very beautiful. Here comes a twist in the story. This daughter was thrown into fire by the orders of her father Sujihva! This must make us understand that this is not a story about mortals but about some events in nature.

Nikshepa in Sanskrit means casting away, throwing away, abandoning  or drying. To know what this is about let us continue with the story. While she was being thrown into fire, the Sun, the God of Gods got fascinated by her and wanted to marry her. So, he entered the fire in which she was thrown, and became the son of the fire. Upon this, the girl started jumping over the fire. The result was the birth of a child called ‘Jarashabda’. However, the son of the god of fire was infuriated by her action and accused her of jumping over him when the Sun had not yet risen. Due to this, their son Jarashabda would not be honoured as his son.

Distressed by this, the girl started meditating on the Sun that the child (Jarashabda) in her womb was his (Sun’s) and therefore the Sun must make him worthy of honour. The Sun taking his form as fire granted that the progeny of this son should start worshiping him and preached the method of worship. They should worship with flowers, incense and guggul (benzoin resin) smoke for three times a day – when the Sun was half-risen, at mid-day and at afternoon. Incense and guggul must be offered to the Sun with invocation for 5 times a day.

Those who were thus born of the son of Sun came to be known as Magā. The letter / sound ‘ma’ signifies the Sun. Those who meditated on ‘ma’ came to be called as Magā. There are two versions on how they looked. They had matted hair and grew beard. There is another version in the same text that they shaved their head and kept a tuft of hair.

Decoding the description so far, casting away of the girl Nikshubha in the fire and her jumping on the fire when the sun entered conveys that a dull or dying fire was kept alive by throwing wood or sticks. The entry of the sun refers to the time period when solar heat started getting felt in the southern hemisphere. This happened 14,000 years ago. When the environment was getting warmer, it was possible to get dry wood or sticks for making or keeping fire, which however were not sufficient going by the next input about the birth of the son, Jarashabda. 

Etymologically, Jarashabda refers to old noise, perhaps the cracking noise when half dried wood is thrown into the fire. The story also says that the Sun, though found entering the fire had not yet risen! So, the resultant fire (son of the Sun) made from the wood was lacklustre. This refers to the time of Younger Dryas 12,000 years ago when the sun appeared devoid of heat due to a comet-hit.

This event is encapsulated in the above story and also in the well-known story of Mārtaṇḍa given in other Purāna-s of the Vedic society (brief note here). Check the video: 

The Vedic society retains the memory of 8 Suns so far. Aditi was the Goddess who had borne these 8 Suns. (Aditi = boundlessness, immensity, creative power, perfection). The present Sun is the 8th. The description of the Suns begins from the 6th Sun named as ‘Vivasvat’ (= brightness, brilliance). Sometime after it was born, it lost its sheen. In that state, it was regarded as the 7th Sun. It was there in the sky but remained as though it was still-born. It was known as Mārtaṇḍa  (not dead – na mṛta – but remained in the anda, i.e., womb). After sometime, it regained its brightness and became the 8th Sun – the sun of the current times (Holocene).

Two Manu-s emerged during the time of the 7th Sun. One of them moved to India and his progeny is known as Mānava-s (another name for Indians). There is no information on the other Manu who was born to Chāya (=shadow). But they continue to live in this world and are going to people the next Manvantara (epoch). They resemble the other Manu and hence they are Sāvarna (= same type)

This Manu seems to have given rise to Shāka Dwīpa Magā Brahmins and other people of Shāka Dwīpa!

To express the above description in simple terms, there came a time of return of the Sun after a long period of chillness. But soon after that the climate turned colder when the sun was seen in the sky but was not hot enough (Mārtaṇḍa). This description matches with the period of Younger Dryas. After some time, the cold days got over and the Sun started becoming hotter. We continue to experience this Sun (Holocene). Two different genetic traits formed in the period of Younger Dryas of which one type moved to India and another stayed in Shāka Dwīpa.

This story seems to be repeated in the Shāka Dwīpa story of the Bhaviṣya Purāna. In the place of Aditi, there is Nikshubha. The sun entering the fire where she was thrown, seems to indicate the period of increasing solar heat that was reaped by mankind to kindle fire. That signifies the onset of first solar radiation after the Ice age. But that phase didn’t last long as it is clearly stated that the Sun had not risen. This is same as what was experienced during Younger Dryas. The people who kept praying for the Sun to emerge with its brilliance came to be known as ‘Magā’ Brahmins.

As per this story, these people were the first to have framed a proper way of meditating on the Sun seeking his brightness. From them was born the Saura (Sun) worship.

Gunung Padang, the location of Sun worship?

Rāmāyana’s description of Mt. Suryavān dedicated to the Sun must have been near the equator. By the name of it, Mt. Suryavān seems to be where  the Saura worship started. The twin peaks (Mt. Pushpitaka) in the same location offering ideal frame of observation of the sun, the moon and the moving sky (as stated in the Vālmīki Rāmāyana), point to the Gunung Padang Megalithic structure as Mt. Suryavān.

The Saura worship also enshrines a dip in water. Facing North and East, the worshiper (Magā Brahmin) must wash his hands and feet up to the knees. He should devoutly come out of water, for, there is Sun, fire and Goddess Saraswati in the water, says Bhaviṣya Purāna. Perhaps this refers to the day time heat of the sun trapped  in water at night and the worshiper feeling the warmth in the water before he started the next morning’s worship of the Sun. Saraswati stands for speech and also represents overflow (of water). According to researchers there was a river running to the north of Gunung Padang.

The GPM structure was in the direction of Northwest – South East with the South east end on a higher plane. There is an arch like appearance on the east side of the GPM according to researchers. This perfectly fits with the worship method of taking a dip in the river in the north and climbing the structure from the east.

The worshiper must enter the House of God and place lotus flowers on the head of Sun. He must worship with sandal water, red-chalk powder, incense and guggul. So, there was an image of the Sun worshiped by the Magā Brahmins. What was it like?

In all likelihood, it could have been in the shape of the Sun – i.e.,  spherical!

That should have been the initial conception of the image of the Sun when Sun worship was started. The discovery of a rolling spherical stone found at a depth of 10 meters in the 5th terrace at South East could in all probability be the image of the Sun God worshiped at GPM.

‘Rolling Stone’ at GPM

Source: https://www.cryptoanthropologist.com/2016/04/rolling-stone-in-gunung-padang-baffles-researchers.html

It is a free rotating stone ball encased in a triangular stone structure. It could not be taken out easily. A close-up view of the Rolling Stone brings out familiarity with 2 such appearances seen in India. Similar free rolling stone balls are found in the temple architecture of Tamilnadu. For instance, the following figure shows a perfectly spherical stone ball rolling inside the mouth of a mythical animal, Yāḷi.

Rolling Stone in Yāḷi’s mouth in Thirukkurungudi temple (Tamilnadu)

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxXzwgFadQI

The ball can be seen from the hole on each side of the cheek and from the open mouth. The mouth is hollow inside. One can insert one’s hand through the mouth and catch hold of the ball and rotate it. It perfectly fits with the hole on the cheek but can never come out. The sculptor had skilfully chiselled within the enclosure. The expertise had existed 1000 years ago in India and many thousands of years ago in Java as seen from the GPM Rolling Stone. The contact between Javanese and Tamil lands of India must have made the exchange of technology possible.

Another similar looking architecture is found in the Kamakhya Temple of Assam, India.

Goddess Kāmakhya

Known as one of the first Adhi Shakti Pīṭha-s (seat of Shakti), it is said to be a burning body part of Sati Devi (wife of Shiva) that had fallen over there. Written about this in Part 1 as a probable fragment of the comet of Younger Dryas. The comparison stops with the physical appearance, but conceptually, Kāmakhya comes under Shākta (Goddess) worship and the GPM rolling stone is fit to come under Saura (Sun) worship. Both originated in South East Asia and almost around the same time because Shakti worship was started by Skanda who lived during Younger Dryas in that region. 

Originally the spherical image of the Sun must have been worshiped at GPM (Mt. Suryavān). With time, any vestige of worship of that image might have gone. Since the location continued to be in use with fresh structures around 11,600 years ago (according Hancock) when Skanda lived, Shākta worship might have happened in the same site. Triangular base is the unique feature of Shākta worship as one can such images in the Shakti temples of India.

The Sun is identified with Lord Shiva and hence the use of the site for Shakti (wife of Shiva) worship could have happened as a natural corollary. Close to GMP is Tugu Gede site, where a 4-metre high menhir is found, which resembles Shiva Linga.

Shiva Linga- like structure at Tugu Gede

From the cultural remains in this place, this is found to have existed from pre-historic times. Even today people worship this after every harvest. The presence of many pre-historic menhirs that resemble Shiva linga in other locations around the region, point out to the simultaneous existence of Sun, Shiva and Shakti worship (associated with or initiated by Skanda) right from the time of Younger Dryas.

In fact, Shiva was the deity of Shāka Dwīpa according to the Mahābhārata version. The breaking-up of the comet of Younger Dryas was supposed to have been done by Skanda by the weapon given to him by Shakti, his mother. These three (worship of Sun, Shiva and Shakti) are part of Shanmata (6 methods of worship) of the Vedic society, by which we understand that these worship methods shifted to India sometime during or after Younger Dryas. This was facilitated by Skanda perhaps, who had his abode in South East India too (in Tiruchendur).

Other Sun worshippers in South East Asia

Apart from Maga Brahmins, a very short statured Vālakhilya-s were also found mentioned in Vedic texts as Sun worshippers. They too had their origins in South east Asia. They were likely to be the descendants of Hobbits of Indonesia (details here). Later on, they moved to the Himalayan region. 

They greeted the Sun at the time of sun-rise at Mt. Udayagiri and meditated on the Sun. Valmiki Ramayana refers to Mt. Udayagiri (Mountain of Sunrise), as the global gateway for sunrise, situated at 90 degrees east of India. The Vishnu Purana locates this mountain in Shāka Dwīpa. This mountain is likely to be Mount Uluigalau of Fiji Islands (derivation HERE)

 

The movement of the Sun is compared with three steps of Lord Vishnu with the first step at Mt. Udayagiri in the east, the second step at  Jambhu Dwīpa (India) and the third step at Mt. Asta Giri (Likely to be Atlas Mountains - derivation here) which is close to the Greenwich Meridian. As per this concept of the Vedic society, the Greenwich Meridian formed the western limit while the Prime Meridian had run across India and the eastern Meridian at Fiji Islands.

The global sunrise location at South East has an interesting parallel with the South East alignment of the GPM. Was it devised deliberately to face the South East direction? The global sun-rise at Mt. Udayagiri (in South East) and the sun-worship by Vālakhilya-s having appeared in Vālmīki Ramayana, there is a clear case for pre-historic beginnings to the recognition of Mt. Udayagiri as the global east for sun-rise. The only difference is that the Vālakhilya-s associated the movement of the Sun with Vishnu while the Magā Brahmins focused on the Sun for worship.

There is yet another location near Mt. Udayagiri in the South East part of the globe where Sun worship was done right from the beginning of Holocene. I am referring to more than 400 Tumuli found throughout the Isle of Pines in New Caledonia close to Fiji.

Tumuli of Isle of Pines used for Sun worship in pre-historic times?

The numerous tumuli found in the Isle of Pines in New Caledonia in the South Pacific are different from the tumuli in other parts of the world in that they are not burial mounds. No graves are found under the tumuli of Isle of Pines. Each tumulus contains a vertical cement block of unknown mixture with a circular shaft running through the center.

New Caledonia and Fiji

Tumulus in New Caledonia

Distribution of tumuli in the Isle of Pines

Source: https://popular-archaeology.com/article/the-mystery-of-the-tumuli/

These mysterious tumuli found so close to the global East (near Mt. Udayagiri) seem be the early locations of meditation on the Sun, going by the etymology of Samvarana who meditated on the Sun.

Samvarana in Sanskrit  means mound or closure or concealment or covering.  The story of king Samvarana who meditated on the Sun to marry his daughter Tapati is given in three chapters of the Mahabharata. In the story of birth of two Manu-s to Vivasvān, the Sun, described earlier, Tapati was the daughter of the Sun born to Chāya – at a time the Sun light was dull (Younger Dryas). Tapati is the name of a river in Central India flowing on the south side of River Narmada. Etymologically it refers to birth from heat. This probably indicates origin from a frozen source which on getting heated by the growing solar radiation gave birth to the river Tapati at the end of Younger Dryas. The story of her marriage with Samvarana is not of a human relationship but of an event of the past given in story form.

By the name Samvarana, it is understood that this person concealed himself in an enclosure or a mound to meditate on the Sun, Vivasvān that was slowly growing in brilliance. At the end of the meditation, he married a woman of the Tapati region and started procreating. Kuru, the ancestor of the Pāndava-s of the Mahābhārata had come in his lineage.

In the story it is said that Samvarana sat upon a mountain and worshiped the Sun with joined palms and upturned face. This reminds us of the tumulus at the Isle of Pines that resemble artificially created mountains. They seem to be the locations of sun-worship. Cement blocks were made with a hole in the middle through which sun light passes through. Barring the hole, the rest of the structure seemed to have been covered with earth so that whoever is sitting inside would experience the streak of sunlight in a dark environment.

The cement-block in the middle of the Tumulus in the Isle of Pines

The outer and inner view of the middle opening through which sunlight passes.

The nature of the cement embedded with turtle shells make me wonder if the method of cement making of the olden times given in Brihat Samhita was somewhat similar to that. The details of cement-making in archaic times are given in chapter 57 from p.501 onwards in this link.

[The olden methods of breaking rocks can be read in the same book in Chapter 54 from verse 112 onwards (page 480) in this link.]  

There is an oral tradition that these mounds are meant for torture, though there is no sign of torture found. But if we apply the meditation method of Samvarana, the one who confined himself within the mound, that set-up must have put him into terrible torture. Once the meditation got over, the worshiper had come out of the mound. It is also very much likely that those early worshipers (like Vālakhilya-s) had shifted to India and Samvarana could have been one from them.

After Samvarana there was no evidence of similar worship of the Sun in India. However,  Saura (Sun) worship gained popularity with the migration of Magā Brahmins of Shāka Dwīpa 5000 years ago. 

 

(To be continued in Part 5)

 

 

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Thursday, February 2, 2023

Shāka Dwīpa was a pre-historic location in SE Asia where the early Tamils thrived and the archaic Vedic society emerged (Part 3 of Gunung Padang series)

 Part 1: ‘Gunung Padang’ megalithic structure an observation platform for Mt. Pushpitaka described in Vālmīki Rāmāyana

Part 2: Was the week-day concept conceived in Gunung Padang Structure (GPS) located on Mt. Suryavān?

 

Gunung Padang Megalithic structure (GPM) that appears to be Mt. Suryavān described in the Vālmīki Rāmāyana was part of a larger landmass known as Shāka Dwīpa that is currently named as Sundaland. GPM is likely to be the place where Sun-worship known as ‘Saura’ of the Vedic society evolved. 

The Vedic religion (known as Dharma or Sanātana Dharma which refers to eternal concepts that are  applicable to all places, to all people and at all times) has six types of worship methods (Shanmata) of which Saura or sun-worship is one. Though there are sun temples in India where the Sun is worshiped, the exact Saura worship method is not followed now as it used to be, if we go by the description given in Bhaviṣya Purāna. This text describes how the sun worship was done and where it originated. It didn’t originate in present day India! But since it is part of Vedic Dharma, it is understood that those ancestral to the Vedic people had conceived and spread this worship. Its location of origin was Shāka Dwīpa.

The time of emergence of Saura and the worship methods gleaned from Indic texts remarkably match with the time of fresh additions in the GPM – the 2nd layer dated around 11,000 years ago. That was the time the earth started receiving a steady increase in solar light and energy – after the end of Ice age.    

 Location of Shaka Dwīpa not in Central Asia

There is a tendency among researchers to identify Shāka Dwīpa with Shakasthan (Sistan) and Persia. But the locational description on Shāka Dwīpa given in the Mahābhārata does not fit with Central Asia. There are two major reasons for Shāka Dwīpa to be elsewhere and not in Central Asia.

One is that the very name Shāka in Shāka Dwīpa was derived from the tree Shāka that was abundantly found there. It was like how Jambhu Dwīpa  (housing India) was called by the name of Jambhu tree (Syzygium cumini) found in abundance there.

Shāka tree is native to South Asia and South East Asia and not to central Asia or Europe. Its botanical name is Acacia sirissa or Albizia lebbeck. This was known as Uzhinjil (உழிஞ்சில்) or Unna (உன்ன மரம்) or Pālai (பாலை மரம்) in Tamil. Its flower was held in high esteem and worn as a mark of victory in war. In Sanskrit it is known as Shirīsha and in Tamil it is known as Vāgai (வாகை).  

Shāka flower that was worn as a symbol of victory.

The second reason why Shāka Dwīpa could not be located in Central Asia was that as per the description found in the Mahābhārata and Vishnu Purāna, Indra gulped the waters of the seas in Shāka Dwīpa every day and gave back as rains in time to the same place. This perfectly fits with the monsoon activity in the Indian Ocean regions, thereby indicating the location of Shāka Dwīpa in that region. (The Brahmānda Purāna verse on the location of Shāka Dwīpa close to the north of Tropic of Capricorn was quoted in Part 1).

The presence of seven countries (varsha-s) in Shāka Dwīpa sounds similar to the seven divisions of the olden Tamil country of the 1st Sangam Age located outside India, each having further seven divisions, making the overall number of 49 countries in the Tamil Pāndya kingdom having Southern Madurai as its capital.

The Mountains, countries and rivers of Shāka Dwīpa given in the Mahabharata are identifiable in South east Asia and not in Central Asia. 

I attempted to locate the seven mountains based on the description of the Mahābhārata as follows:

1.      Meru also known as Mahākāśa – Likely to be Pura Besakih in Bali https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Besakih_Temple

2.     Malaya stretching towards east – appears to be New Guinea Highlands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Guinea_Highlands

3.     Jaladhāra - From where Indra takes water every day and showers as rainfall – Fits with Titiwangsa mountains of the Malay Peninsula. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titiwangsa_Mountains

4.     Mount Raivataka –  the star Revatī (Zeta Piscium) is placed directly above which means the mountain was on the equator. Later the region came to be known as Kaumāra after  Skanda alias Kumara who lived here. There was a crater formed by an extra-terrestrial impact some 22,000 years ago and where the first speech of the ancestral Vedic society evolved (Markandeya Purāna – Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5OoX4NHXI4 )

Now this mountain and region are under water.

5.     Shyāma – Means black. Dark complexioned people resided here. Matches with Papuans and Malenesians who continue to live in Papua New Guinea. The mountain range is  Papua New Guinea High lands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Guinea_Highlands   

6.     Kesarī  - In Sanskrit it refers to lion, and also a tree. Lion doesn’t seem to be native to Sundaland, but a tree variety known as Ceylon Ironwood (Mesua ferrea) is found abundantly in Philippines, Sumatra, Malaysia.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesua_ferrea

7.     Durgaśaila- No specific description is available for the mountain but it was a Varsha (country) where Shāka trees were found in abundance as per the Mahābhārata.  

The countries or Varsha-s –They were seven in number named as  Meru, Malaya, Jaladhāra, Raivataka, Shyāma, Kesarī and Mahāpumān where Mt. Durgaśaila was situated.  Shāka tree was found in this country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albizia_lebbeck

Going by the presence of this tree, New Guinea and Northern Australia fit the bill as the location of Shāka Dwīpa Proper. This is exactly the same as what is given in Brahmānda Purāna. It is reproduced from Part 1. 

The names of rivers given by the Mahābhārata further reiterate that the location of Shāka Dwīpa was not in central Asia  but in South east Asia. Rivers such as Sukumāri, Kumāri, Seta, Keveraka, Mahānadī, Manijalā,  Chakshus, and  Vardhanikā were flowing in Shāka Dwīpa. There were other rivers too but these were specifically mentioned.

River Kumāri was in Southern Madurai where Skanda lived (circa 9990 BCE) and Pāndyan dynasty thrived for 4440 years. That land had gone under water. Southern Madurai was lost to the seas some 7200 years ago. (To know the chronology of the periods that followed three floods since the end of Ice Age as given in Tamil texts, check my book on kindle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BC48ZVDZ )

In the Vishnu Purana description of Shāka Dwīpa, a river by name Ikshu is mentioned. Ikshu means sugarcane. So, sugarcane growing region has lent the name Ikshu to the river. Sugarcane is native to Papua New Guinea and South China. We rule out South China as it is not part of Shāka Dwīpa. Historically the Papuans and Austronesians were found to have domesticated sugarcane. A river in their location was known as Ikshu. Sugarcane was later introduced to North India in the Gangetic plain (the glacier-fed River Ganges / Ganga started flowing only in Holocene).

The people of Shāka Dwīpa

The missing pre-history hidden in Sundaland is further revealed by the Indic texts. Both the Mahābhārata and the Vishnu Purāna state that there were four classes of people (varna-s) such as Brahmins (priests),  Kshatriya-s (warriors),  Vaisya-s (traders) and Shudra-s (tillers) in Shāka Dwīpa. It is also stated that Shāka Dwīpa was the only place other than Bhārata varsha (India) where this four-some classification was in existence. The Tamil connection to Shāka Dwīpa is found in this context too, as the Sangam Age Tamil Grammar book, Tolkāppiyam states the presence of these four classes in addition to  three more namely, astrologers (Arivan), ascetics (Tāpathar) and war-field singers (Porunar).  

The first four classes in that order are mentioned as Magā,  Maśakā,  Mānasā and Mandagā.

The Magā-s (Brahmins of Shāka Dwīpa) were also known as Mriga in Vishnu Purāna, but found mentioned as Magā in Bhaviṣya Purāna and inscriptions. The Magā Brahmins initiated the sun worship. Shiva- worship also was done in Shāka Dwīpa. The Mahābhārata states that Shiva was the deity of Shāka Dwīpa. This must have started only with Skanda about 12,000 years ago (during Younger Dryas). Saura (Sun) worship must have started before that when the southern hemisphere started receiving more heat from the sun (Older Dryas -14,000 years ago). The first experience with the sudden increase in solar heat was welcomed by the people of  Shāka Dwīpa, most probably by those living near the equator at GPM. Thus started the Saura worship.

(To be continued in Part 4)

 

 

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Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Was the week-day concept conceived in Gunung Padang Structure (GPS) located on Mt. Suryavān? (Part 2)

Part 1: ‘Gunung Padang’ megalithic structure, an observation platform for Mt. Pushpitaka described in Vālmīki Rāmāyana


In Part 1of this series, the purpose of Gunung Padang Megalithic Structure (GPM) as an observation platform for Mt. Pushpitaka (Mt. Gede) was discussed based on the Ramayana verses. The surprising element in the Ramayana verses is the absence of mention of the incredible structure at GPM. The text does mention about  two mountains close to each other – Mt. Pushpitaka and Mt. Suryavān – near the equator but there is hardly any reference to the unique man-made structure at GPM that is now found to be in existence for more than 20,000 years. This makes me wonder whether we are missing out anything in understanding the verses properly. Though I proposed the feasibility of Mt. Gunung Nagara Padang as Mt. Suryavān, certain important evidences and inputs from Indic background make me think that GPM could have been Mt. Suryavān – the Mount of the Sun! This write-up focuses on those evidences. 

Javanese interest in astrology – astronomy

Not known to many is the connection between the people of Java and the people of Madurai in Tamilnadu in South India. A Sangam age verse in a text called “Madurai Kānci” dated around 3rd  century BCE (on the basis of Māngulam and Arittāpatti inscriptions on the Pandyan King Nedumchezhiyan, the King extolled in Madurai Kānci ) refers to the visit of honey-complexioned Javanese to Madurai during a festival in the month of Chiṭṭirai (when the sun was in sidereal Aries).

Madurai Kānci – lines 475 to 481

Meaning: The honey-coloured “Sāvakar” (people of Java) offered flowers and incense to the scholarly people who know the past and the future and can judge the events on the earth and the sky.

The description refers to scholars who were engaged in astronomy related issues. Only astronomers of yore watched the sky and the earth to ascertain the way of Nature. The context is about the city life of Madurai and the astrologers residing in the city. They  were approached by the Javanese people, presumably to know or discuss about astronomy and astrology (which is based on astronomy but connects a result to astronomy events). Presence of astrologers in Madurai is further stated in the text but the specific reference to the Javanese  of meeting scholars of astronomy makes a surprise read. Offer of flower and incense continues to be a practice in Java (and throughout Sundaland) in worship and in paying reverence to others.

This verse gives an impression of presence of astrology – astronomy knowledge in Java in pre-common era, though there is absolutely no evidence of it in Java anytime in the last two millennia. What they probably learned or discussed with the astrologers of Madurai raise some interesting conjectures.

First of all, the time was the month of Chiṭṭirai (Aries) the time of equinox and peak summer in South India. A 7-day festival was going on at that time as per the text, which  continues to be celebrated even today for 10 days and stretching to a month (of Aries). Of particular relevance to Tamil connection was the knowledge of “Hora” that forms the basis of week days and the method of determination of the equinoctial day in another text (Nedunal Vādai) dedicated to the same king, Nedumchezhiyan. Java being a location in Shāka Dwīpa where the early Tamils including Skanda lived, regular communication between the Javanese and the Tamils seemed to have existed at least till 3rd century BCE.

Did the week-day concept evolve in Gunung Padang?  

Today the 7-day week with similarity in the names of the days is used throughout the world. Though many ancient societies may lay a claim on following the week-days since antiquity, the concept of how the week-days have evolved exists only among the Tamil speakers of the Vedic society. The earliest written evidence is found in Tolkāppiyam, the grammar work of the 3rd Sangam age that started 3500 years ago, that refers to “Hora” as the basis of time. Pronounced as “Orai” in Tamil this is based on the premise that the day and the night are divided into 12 equal parts of an hour each (24 equal parts in all) known as Hora-s  and named after seven planets.

They are distributed in the order as Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury and Moon, and are repeated in this order continuously and endlessly for ever, for ages!! The rationale of this line-up is found in Indic texts such as Surya Siddhānta, as the orbits of planets one below the other. Though this is not true in reality, this appears to be how it could have been perceived by the ancient society by naked eye observation.

Venus and Mercury were considered to be in lower orbits, because they don’t cross the sky and appear low. Moon was rightly perceived to be closer to the earth. From moon to Saturn these celestial entities were arranged in the order as observed and understood by them. That early society thought that these planets (sun and moon are also regarded as planets known as ‘Graha-s’ by the Vedic society even till this date) control each hora of the day one after another.

In a day the hora-s keep moving one after another for 24 horas. The enumeration starts from sunrise. The naming of the week days is done on the basis of the hora at sunrise. For example, if the sun hora is there at the time of sunrise, then the day is called as Sun’s Day – Sunday. If moon hora is present at the time of sunrise, the day is called as Monday. Like this other week days have been named.

In the table given below, the sequence of 24 Horas is shown between one sunrise and another. If a day begins with Sun hora (making it Sunday) then the 25th hora that comes with the next sun rise is Moon hora which makes the next day Monday! Similarly, the next 25th hora that comes with next sunrise makes Tuesday and like this other week days have been named. The table given below shows that the naming of the week days as Sunday, Monday, Tuesday etc can happen only if the day begins with (the 25th hora) Sun hora, Moon hora, Mars hora, Mercury hora, Jupiter hora, Venus hora and Saturn hora respectively for the 7 days and get repeated endlessly.

Distribution of Hora in a week

The truth behind this series is that this works ONLY near the Equator or within the tropical zone (in close degrees to the equator) where every subsequent sun rise comes methodically at the 25th hora! In other words, this concept of Hora could have been conceived by someone or a society that lived on or near the Equator and seen specific characteristics changing hour-wise (hora-wise) for full 24 hours of the day and also seen that a new sunrise begins at the 25th hora.

Though this knowledge remains with the Tamil speakers in South India who continue to use it for predictive purposes, the practical observation and conception of this theory could not have happened in South India or in any latitudes in the north or the south owing to the fact that the 25th hora doesn’t always coincide with the subsequent sunrise in certain months of the year. Looking around the places close to the current location of Tamil speakers (South India) to identify the probable region where the observation of the Hora-week-day concept could have evolved, only the GPM scores as an  ideal location for such observation.

Sun-rise at Gunung Padang (Photo courtesy: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tjetjep/15273339116/in/photostream/)

It’s location in Java (Shāka Dwīpa) where the ancestral Indic people (who have spoken Tamil or from whom Tamil emerged) and Skanda (who promoted Tamil through Sangam Assemblies) had lived and its location at 6-degree South of the equator with an ideal environment for watching sun-rise and sun’s sojourn through the sky, had enabled generations of people to not only keenly observe Nature but also observe changes in Nature’s energy with  every passing hour which they named after the seven planets.

The GPM offers an ideal location to observe the movement of the planets in the night sky too. The Ramayana reference to watching sun-rise and moon-rise behind the twin peaks (Gede and Pangrango) does not seem to convey a lazy past time of the pre-historic people but a way of life of a people whose grasp of Nature was far better than what we think of them as being capable.

It is highly probable that the week day concept evolved in Java (Shāka Dwīpa) with GPM as the center of evolution of the concept. From there the week-day concept was taken to India where the early Indic society moved with the arrival of Holocene and the Indian landmass becoming habitable with the spread of tropical heat. The residual presence of sky watchers and astrologers in Java having regular contact with the Tamil speakers of South India as late as the 3rd century BCE goes to prove the connection with Java in the past and presence of astrology- astronomy knowledge going back in time to pre-Holocene days when the earliest Tamil society developed under Skanda in Southern Madurai whose location was discussed in Part 1 of this series

(to be continued)


 

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