<p>The calculation starts with a quote from Pañcavimśa Brahmana, which postdates the Rgveda</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>The world of heaven is as far removed from this world,
  they say, as a thousand earths (literally "cows") stacked one above the
  other.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Then we suppose that the sun is halfway between heaven and earth, or 500 earth-diameters (this is supposed as there are three "planets" (Moon, Mercury and Venus) that have shorter periods and so are supposed to be closer, and three (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) that are further, so the sun must be about half way) However, you will note that this is pure supposition, and is not accurate.</p>

<p>We now suppose that both Moon and sun are moving around the Earth at the same speed. This combined with the known length of the year and month imply that the moon is 40 Earth-diameters, and that the sun is about 4.6 times bigger than the Earth, while the moon is much smaller.</p>

<p>The Earth was taken to be about 7500 miles in diameter, probably from measurements of shadows at the solstice. And so the distances to other bodies can be calculated.</p>

<p>A careful reader will note that while this is an impressive attempt at calculation, the actual values obtained are very very far from the accepted modern values. 500×7500 gives 3.75million miles, or 6million km, compared to a modern value of a shade under 150 million km.</p>

<p>The Rgveda may contain hidden information. But there is no evidence presented in your source that the composers of the Rgveda, or later texts Pañcavimśa Brahmana had any actual ability to calculate accurate values for the distance to the sun. Indeed, this was not done until the calculations of Edmund Halley and the observations of the transit of Venus.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-21T18:01:21.183Z
"The Rgveda may contain hidden information" well, information may be "hidden" in the output of a random number generator, too. :)
Florin Andrei
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-21T22:01:53.207Z
I tried to erroneously edit this question before I realized that the ancients would have considered the Moon a planet. Can someone reject my edit? Thanks!
Cloudy7
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-22T00:59:32.737Z
The Surya Siddhanta knew planetary orbits. Wouldn't you like to know how? These numbers are not random by any means!
Partha Shakkottai
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-22T19:16:52.130Z
I've clarified that I'm not using planet in the modern sense, but in the ancient sense, which includes the sun and moon, but excludes the Earth.
James K
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-21T12:11:00.853Z
2019-05-22T19:15:05.457Z
2019-05-22T19:15:05.457Z
James K
<p>Rg Veda of ancient India contains a code that gives all planetary orbital information visible in the night sky. It is worth knowing the origins of our solar system and its development through the ages. </p>

<p>A good calendar and star atlas for navigation were important for India and both were developed early on. </p>

<p>What is its description? Information is available in "The Astronomical code of Rg Veda"  by Subash Kak and also in  <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.695.536&amp;rep=rep1&amp;type=pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.695.536&amp;rep=rep1&amp;type=pdf</a></p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-26T15:52:05.623Z
108 earth diameters is from the surface of the earth to Sun's disk. You have to add one Earth radius to get distance from the center of Earth. It is not clear how they got this number, though.
Partha Shakkottai
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-30T22:43:38.230Z
The distance from earth to the sun is 149597870700 m. Earth's diameter is 12756000 m. That makes the earth-sun distance 11727 earth diameters.
Ingolifs
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-21T14:03:16.977Z
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's a combination of pseudoscience and numerology. Partha, a *large* quantity of your posts have been about ancient mysticism in one form or another; please stop. Aside from the fact that whatever you're talking about here is incorrect (the distance to the Sun is *not* 500 Earth diameters, contrary to what your source says), most of what you're talking about is complete nonsense. Please don't ask questions about it. Thanks.
HDE 226868
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-22T00:56:23.857Z
Sorry about 500 Earth Diameters from an older text. Actually 108 earth diameters. 1/108 is the angular diameter of Sun and Moon and also relative size. Vedas contain hard numbers and wouldn't you like to know?
Partha Shakkottai
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-22T12:55:17.690Z
@Partha No, the centre to centre distance from the Sun to the Earth is roughly 215 times the Sun's radius. See  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_radius Of course, fans of Vedic knowledge would round that up to 108 diameters. ;)
PM 2Ring
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-22T16:08:27.960Z
It is not pseudo science and numerology. I will prove it if you allow me to ask this question. In any case Surya Siddhanta knew these numbers and it is impossible to guess.
Partha Shakkottai
<observational-astronomy>
How were the orbital sizes determined in ancient India?
Partha Shakkottai
# How were the orbital sizes determined in ancient India?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-05-21)

Rg Veda of ancient India contains a code that gives all planetary orbital information visible in the night sky. It is worth knowing the origins of our solar system and its development through the ages.

A good calendar and star atlas for navigation were important for India and both were developed early on.

What is its description? Information is available in "The Astronomical code of Rg Veda" by Subash Kak and also in <http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.695.536&rep=rep1&type=pdf>

**Tags:** observational-astronomy

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's a combination of pseudoscience and numerology. Partha, a *large* quantity of your posts have been about ancient mysticism in one form or another; please stop. Aside from the fact that whatever you're talking about here is incorrect (the distance to the Sun is *not* 500 Earth diameters, contrary to what your source says), most of what you're talking about is complete nonsense. Please don't ask questions about it. Thanks.  
> **username_0**: Sorry about 500 Earth Diameters from an older text. Actually 108 earth diameters. 1/108 is the angular diameter of Sun and Moon and also relative size. Vedas contain hard numbers and wouldn't you like to know?  
> **username_3**: @Partha No, the centre to centre distance from the Sun to the Earth is roughly 215 times the Sun's radius. See  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_radius Of course, fans of Vedic knowledge would round that up to 108 diameters. ;)  
> **username_0**: It is not pseudo science and numerology. I will prove it if you allow me to ask this question. In any case Surya Siddhanta knew these numbers and it is impossible to guess.  
> **username_0**: 108 earth diameters is from the surface of the earth to Sun's disk. You have to add one Earth radius to get distance from the center of Earth. It is not clear how they got this number, though.  
> **username_1**: The distance from earth to the sun is 149597870700 m. Earth's diameter is 12756000 m. That makes the earth-sun distance 11727 earth diameters.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2019-05-21. Score: 5

The calculation starts with a quote from Pañcavimśa Brahmana, which postdates the Rgveda

> The world of heaven is as far removed from this world,
> they say, as a thousand earths (literally "cows") stacked one above the
> other.

Then we suppose that the sun is halfway between heaven and earth, or 500 earth-diameters (this is supposed as there are three "planets" (Moon, Mercury and Venus) that have shorter periods and so are supposed to be closer, and three (Mars, Jupiter, Saturn) that are further, so the sun must be about half way) However, you will note that this is pure supposition, and is not accurate.

We now suppose that both Moon and sun are moving around the Earth at the same speed. This combined with the known length of the year and month imply that the moon is 40 Earth-diameters, and that the sun is about 4.6 times bigger than the Earth, while the moon is much smaller.

The Earth was taken to be about 7500 miles in diameter, probably from measurements of shadows at the solstice. And so the distances to other bodies can be calculated.

A careful reader will note that while this is an impressive attempt at calculation, the actual values obtained are very very far from the accepted modern values. 500×7500 gives 3.75million miles, or 6million km, compared to a modern value of a shade under 150 million km.

The Rgveda may contain hidden information. But there is no evidence presented in your source that the composers of the Rgveda, or later texts Pañcavimśa Brahmana had any actual ability to calculate accurate values for the distance to the sun. Indeed, this was not done until the calculations of Edmund Halley and the observations of the transit of Venus.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: "The Rgveda may contain hidden information" well, information may be "hidden" in the output of a random number generator, too. :)  
> **username_6**: I tried to erroneously edit this question before I realized that the ancients would have considered the Moon a planet. Can someone reject my edit? Thanks!  
> **username_0**: The Surya Siddhanta knew planetary orbits. Wouldn't you like to know how? These numbers are not random by any means!  
> **username_4**: I've clarified that I'm not using planet in the modern sense, but in the ancient sense, which includes the sun and moon, but excludes the Earth.  

---

