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There is a book called 108 eternal truths which claims many things which have been proved wrong on this site.

It makes the following claims about vedas describing the planetary system.

The Vedas are the most holy books for Hindus.

All three are from Rigveda.

  1. mitro dādhāra prthavimūtadyām mitraḥ krstiḥ (Rigveda 3.5.59.1)

Sun, with his attracting force is holding this earth and the other celestial bodies

  1. Trinābhicakramajaramanaryvam yenemā viśvā bhūvanāni tasthūḥ (Rigveda 1.164.1)

All the celestial bodies (Planets) are moving in elliptical orbits.

  1. Cakrāṇāsaḥ pariṇahaṁ pṛthivyā (Rigveda 10.189.1)

Moon being the sub planet of earth, is revolving around its motherly planet earth and earth is revolving around its fatherly planet sun.

Edit: Found more on Quora

https://www.quora.com/What-do-the-Vedas-and-astronomical-texts-have-to-say-about-the-planets-and-their-environment

Shape of Earth is like an Oblate Spheroid —(Rig Veda XXX. IV.V).

“The sun has tied Earth and other planets through attraction and moves them around itself as if a trainer moves newly trained horses around itself holding their reins.” — (Rig Veda 10.149.1)

“The Sun does never set nor rise. When people think the Sun is setting it is not so. For after having arrived at the end of the day it makes itself produce two opposite effects, making night to what is below and day to what is on the other side having reached the end of the night, it makes itself produce two opposite effects, making day to what is below and night to what is on the other side. In fact, the Sun never sets” — (Aitareya Brahmana 3.44)

The gravitational effect of solar system makes the earth stable- (Rig Veda 1-103-2, 1-115-4 and 5-81-2).

The axle of the Earth does not get rusted, the Earth continues to revolve on its axle- (Rig Veda 1-164-29).

The Sun never sets or rises and it is the Earth, which rotates- (Sama-Ved 121).

Now here are my questions.

  1. Did the vedas really state or mention these facts or are these twisted, mistranslated or non-existing quotes? Meaning did Ancient Indians (at least some of them) have an accurate understanding of the i. Planetary system, ii. Day night cycles iii. Gravitation iv. Elliptical orbits v. Spherical planets
  2. Was India the first country to state or discover these facts?
  3. Were these discovered by any others from another country before?

The book mentions the source to be the following. This seems to be another book

Source: Ancient Indian Science and its relevance to modern world page 27, (Published by Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth, Tirupathi)

http://indiainnings.in/108Facts/sun

Jaime Santa Cruz
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hiasker
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  • The start of “The sun has tied Earth and other planets through attraction and moves them around itself as if a trainer moves newly trained horses around itself holding their reins” is at least an approximation, but actually the emphasis is on the Earth and Heaven not moving (being bound and tied) by Savitr who elsewhere is a solar or dawn action deity but here (next verse of the hymn) is a child of the waters – Henry Aug 05 '18 at 10:10
  • Can someone replace those images with text? In the app, some of the lines look super tiny, and clicking to zoom in on the image makes it pretty much illegible. (Plus, as an image, it can’t be read by screen readers.) – Laurel Aug 05 '18 at 12:53

1 Answers1

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(This answer is only to the original part of the question, concerning 3 verses of the rig veda).

An earlier version of the claim was printed in the 7 November 2015 Hamara Prayas: The Monthly Tabloid of A. P. Mahesh Co-operative Urban Bank Ltd. Volume V, issue 11. However, instead of "3.5.59.1" (which doesn't exist) the printed version says "3.59.1" and instead of "1.164.1" the printed version says "1.164.2".

According translation by Ralph T.H. Griffith:

Rigveda 1.164.1:

OF this benignant Priest, with eld grey-coloured, the brother midmost of the three is lightning. The third is he whose back with oil is sprinkled. Here I behold the Chief with seven male children.

while Rigveda 1.164.2 is

Seven to the one-wheeled chariot yoke the Courser; bearing seven names the single Courser draws it. Three-naved the wheel is, sound and undecaying, whereon are resting all these worlds of being.

Rigveda 10.189.1:

THIS spotted Bull hath come, and sat before the Mother in the east, Advancing to his Father heaven.

(The part about rigveda "3.5.59.1" is a typo for 3.59.1, which is

MITRA, when speaking, stirreth men to labour: Mitra sustaineth both the earth and heaven. Mitra beholdeth men with eyes that close not. To Mitra bring, with holy oil, oblation

)

The OP source and printed source are not quoting the Sanskrit verses in full, only selected words. The English is not a translation of the Sanskrit, but merely statements based upon the Sanskrit.

DavePhD
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  • Is there no easy to understand translation which doesn't sound like Shakespeare. This is a bit hard. – hiasker Aug 05 '18 at 03:31
  • @hiasker You should probably ask that on HinduismSE, but be respectful. Rig Veda is much older than Shakespeare. – DavePhD Aug 05 '18 at 03:49
  • @hiasker - Early Modern English as this version of English is called is easy to read with practice. http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/history_early_modern.html gives you a rundown of how it works. One example which will help with these translations is "The '-eth' and '-th' verb endings used in the south of the country (e.g. *goeth*) appear as '-es' and '-s' in the Northern and most of the north Midland area (e.g. *goes*), a version which was ultimately to become the standard." – Chris Rogers Aug 05 '18 at 04:21
  • So with this tip, *"MITRA, when speaking, stirreth men to labour"* becomes *"MITRA, when speaking, stirs men to labour"* – Chris Rogers Aug 05 '18 at 04:24
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    In how far is this an answer to the questions (1) to (3)? Let me repeat (1): "Did the vedasa really state or mention these facts or are these twisted or mistranslated or non-existing quotes?" – in how far do the Griffith translations address this? – Schmuddi Aug 05 '18 at 06:55
  • @ChrisRogers: If anything, this is Faux Early Modern English. The author of the translation lived into the 20th century. – Schmuddi Aug 05 '18 at 06:57
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    Do the quotes that appear in the question, appear somewhere else in the text? – SIMEL Aug 05 '18 at 09:31
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    @Schmuddi I think you have your answer: the "translations" you posted are entirely false. – Paul Johnson Aug 05 '18 at 10:42
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    @PaulJohnson: Probably, but if so, why doesn't this answer state this? This reads strangely non-committal at best and rather lazy at worst. Apart from that – perhaps the "seven male children" are interpreted by Veda scholars as referring to something about the solar system, and perhaps Mitra is a symbol for the sun? A good answer would show that this is not the case, and not just throw translations at the reader. – Schmuddi Aug 05 '18 at 10:46
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    @Schmuddi Mitra has some association with the sun, but is not the sun. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitra_(Vedic) There are people that say the resurrection of Jesus in the Bible is just symbolism of the sun after the winter solstice. If you consider symbolism, you can twist the meaning of a text into many things. – DavePhD Aug 05 '18 at 13:01