  Did the Indian and Babylonian astronomy evolve in isolation, was there mutual
influence, or was one dependent on the other? Scholars have debated these
questions for more than two centuries, and opinion has swung one way or the
other with time. The similarities between the two systems that have been
investigated are: the use of 30 divisions of the lunar month; the 360 divisions
of the civil year; the length of the year; and the solar zodiac. Some have
wondered if the Babylonian planetary tables might have played a role in the
theories of the siddhantas. I shall in this essay go over the essentials of the
early Indian and Babylonian astronomy and summarize the latest views on the
relationship between them. I shall show that the key ideas found in the
Babylonian astronomy of 700 BC are already present in the Vedic texts, which
even by the most conservative reckoning are centuries older than this period. I
shall also show that the solar zodiac (rashis) was used in Vedic India and I
shall present a plausible derivation of the symbols of the solar zodiac from
the deities of the lunar segments. This does not mean that the Babylonian
astronomy and astrology is derived from the Indian tradition. If at all there
was borrowing, that was restricted to the most general ideas only. The nature
of Indian and Babylonian astronomical methods is quite different. I propose
that it is most likely that Babylonian astronomy emerged independently.
