Ancient Indian Cosmology as an example of misunderstanding

in the history of Astronomy

Sho Hirose (Graduate School of Letters, Kyoto University)

Abstract
According to the wide-spread illustration, ancient Indians believed that the
earth was a disk lying on the back of elephants, which in turn stood on a turtle
standing on a snake. Actually, this explanation itself is a misbelief ; such
cosmology is a crude mixture of several hindu legends. It contains much
prejudice, hiding the wide diversity of cosmological belief and the progress of
mathematical astronomy in India. In reality, Indian astronomers knew the
Earth was round by the 5th century.

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JST

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3
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810

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11822 Glauben, Wissen und
Kunst der alten Hindus

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A Treatise on Hindu Cosmography from the Seventeenth Century

Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies Vol.3 317-342, 1924
Die Kosmographie der Inder
An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding
Glauben, Wissen und Kunst der alten Hindus
, , 1974,
,+, 1982,
, 1, 1980,
, 2012/8/18 , http://rikanet2.jst.go.jp/

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