Re: Reclaiming the chronology of Bharatam: Narahari Achar

From: koenraad_elst
Message: 59278
Date: 2008-06-17

Glad to see that some linguists are taking a peep outside their
libraries and open their eyes to the starry skies. However, a little
knowledge is a funny thing.

-- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...> wrote:

>At 5:22:35 PM on Monday, June 16, 2008, koenraad_elst wrote:

>> In
>> reading Hindu AIT opponents, it is best to ignore the
>> anti-Western tirades, their own adaptation of Edward
>> Said's anti-"orientalism", and focus on the hard data.

> Why should anyone trust even the data of someone who commits
> such obvious lapses in logic? I certainly don't, and my
> experience in other contexts has been that I'm right not to
> do so.<

Because he has proven earlier to produce good work once in a while.
And even if he hadn't, you would only be able to judge the quality of
his work by reading it. If a scholar's work is of uneven quality, it
creates a problem for lazy readers, viz. that you can't "trust" his
authority and simply believe him, nor denounce his obvious lack of
quality and disbelieve him on every word he says. You have to
actually read his work and judge for yourself what in there iis vald
and what isn't. In Vedic literature and the Parashara Samhita and
Vedanga Jyotisha, we find solid astronomical data useful in
chronology. To know whether this is also the case in the epics,
actually listing the seeming astronomical data in there is certainly
a good start. That's already one set of solid data made available in
Achar's paper, a first to most list members.

[...]

>> But the solstice always and by definition falls on ca. 21
>> December.

>The definition of the winter solstice has nothing to do with
the calendar. The date on which it falls, of course, does;
in 1550 (say), the northern hemisphere winter solstice was
around 11 December, give or take a day, owing to the
accumulated error in the Julian calendar.<

That's in the Gregorian calendar, of course. I cannot always go back
to base one when discussing fairly advanced stuff such as
precessional chronology. I understand that this is not linguists'
specialism, but I took it for granted that you would at least know
about the Gregorian calendar.

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "G&P" <G.and.P@...> wrote:
>
> > But the solstice always and by definition falls on ca. 21
> > December.
>
> Actually, it moves. That's the "precession of the equinoxes".
It's due to
> the wobble of the earth around its axis, like a coin spinning on a
table.<

In the earth-sun cycle, also known as the solar year, it doesn't
move. It moves vis-à-vis the "fixed" stars, or vice versa, and that
movement is indeed the precession, the master key to Vedic chronology.


> The solstice can be (at least) on the 20th, 21st, or 22nd.
>

That's why I wrote "ca. 21 December".

Kind regards,


KE