After opening a chapter at New Delhi in the month of May, I-Serve has now conducted a three day National Workshop on Indian Astronomy, Planetary Positions, Eclipses & Panchanga at Bangalore.

Astronomy being one of the important projects of I-Serve, a workshop on the above subject was designed by I-Serve jointly with Sri Ganapathi Sachchidananda Ashrama Bangalore Branch and Bhavan’s Gandhi Center, Bangalore during 26-28th June, 2009 in the beautiful Kriya Yoga Hall of Sri Ganapathi Sachchidananda Ashrama, Bangalore. Around 60 participants from different parts of Karnataka and a few from TamilNadu and AndhraPradesh have participated.

The inaugural function of the workshop started at 10:15 am on 26th June 2009 under the chairmanship of Prof K.V. Krishna Murthy, the Chairman of I-Serve, Dr. S.R.Leela, MLC Bangalore was the chief guest. Dr. Balachander Rao, Dr. Padmaja Venugopal , Dr. Uma, SriC.S Narsimha, Executive Trustee of SGS Ashrama Bangalore, the faculty members of the workshop also shared the dias.

Sri Prof. K.V. Krishna Murthy in his presidential address explained the research projects undertaken by I-Serve and stressed the need of spreading the knowledge of Vedic Sciences in general and that of ancient astronomy in particular among the general lite of the society.

"Dr. S. R. Leela the chief guest expressed happiness about the activities of I-Serve and appreciated I-Serve for organising a unique workshop of this sort at Bangalore. She said that love for land, literature and legacy should be inculcated amongst the younger generations of the society and workshops of this sort will go a long way in this direction. Being a Sanskrit scholar by herself, she quoted several slokas from Kalidasa and others to impress upon the importance of astronomy in the Indian culture.

Prof. S. Balachander Rao, speaking on behalf of the faculty members said that he has been participating in the activities of I-Serve for the last four years and because of this, he came to understand the importance of imparting astronomical knowledge to the general elite rather than regular university students since the general elite will take the knowledge into their heart and pass it on to the next generation while the university students look at it from the angel of profession and not beyond that. He appreciated the enthusiasm of the students at Hyderabad and encouraged the students at Bangalore to adopt such enthusiasm in learning ancient Indian scientific subjects.

Sri C.S. Narasimha in his speech explained the scientific approach of Parama Pujya Sri Ganapathi Sachchidananda Swamiji, the mentor of I-Serve.

The inaugural function concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by Kum. Meera Datta, formerly Member of Postal Services Board, Government of India.

Technical sessions followed the inaugural function and the following is the gist of the sessions during the three days :

1. Dr. S. Balachandra Rao presented a lecture on Survey of Astronomy in India, starting from the Vedas upto the Kerala astronomers. Slides were displayed on the important planetary parameters according to various classical texts like Surya Siddhanta Aryabhatia etc. Dr. Rao also suggested improved values for the various parameters like the number of revolutions, circumferences of the manda and shighra epicycles etc.

2. Dr. Padmadja Venugopal defined the term, Ahargana as the number of civil days (saavana dinas) from a chosen epoch upto the given date. She explained and demonstrated how to obtain the Aharganas according to Surya siddhanta (Kali ahargana), Graha laghavam etc using the tables prepared by her research group.

3. Dr. S.K. Uma explained the importance of the popular astronomical text Grahalaghavam of Ganesha Daivajna (1520 AD). She pointed out that this text has simplified all astronomical procedures by replacing the trigonometric ratio “Sine” by a very good algebraic approximation. Dr. Uma explained the methods of finding the mean positions of the Sun, Moon, Moon’s apogee (mandochcha) the Moon’s node (Rahu).

1. Dr. Padmaja Venugopal explained in detail the methods of finding the true positions of the Sun and the Moon. She described how the true daily rates of motion of the Sun and the moon can be found out using Grahalaghavam. She highlighted some of the most important corrections to be applied, to obtain the correct true Moon. She referred to the corrections suggested by the famous traditional astronomer Chandrasekhara Simha of Orissa and compared it with the incorrect one given by Tycho Brahe.

2. Dr. S.K. Uma discussed in detail the determination of the required parameters for the computation of Lunar eclipse according to Grahalaghavam. The parameters required for lunar eclipse are (i) true daily motions of the Sun and the Moon, (ii) Moon’s latitude at the instant of the full moon (parvaanta), (iii) the angular diameters of the moon (mdia) and of the earth’s shadow cone (Shdia) the diameter of the circle of cross-section of the shadow cone by the plane of the lunar orbit. The expressions for the above parameters according to Grahalaghavam were explained. The details of obtaining the half – durations of the entire eclipse and of the totality and hence the times of the beginning (sparsha), the end (moksha) of the eclipse and the beginning (sammeelana) and the end (unmeelanam) of totality.

3. In the afternoon session, Dr.Balachandra Rao presented powerpoint presentation on “Panchanga”. He explained the procedures of Tithi, Nakshatra, Yoga and Karana and worked examples including the one for the date of the lecture. Dr.Rao pointed out the role of Ayanamsa, the accumulated amount of precession of the equinoxes since the “zero - Ayanamsa” year. He remarked that while the computed Tithi is independent of the Ayanamsa, the Nakshatra depends on it. There is a lot of confusion about the correct Ayanamsa and hence Nakshatra and Yoga given in Panchangas are not reliable. Dr. Rao further remarked that adding of Nirayana (Sidereal) longitudes of the Sun and the Moon for determining the Yoga does not have any astronomical significance. On the other hand, the sum of the Saayana longitudes of the Sun and the Moon has its significance astronomically. In fact, when the sum of the Saayana longitudes of the Sun and the Moon is 1800 or 3600 , the declinations (Kranti) will be equal in magnitude, through as a first approximation. Dr.Rao explained how in ancient Indian astronomical texts only two Yogas namely, the Mahaa-paatas are mentioned.

1. Dr.S.K.Uma discussed in detail the phenomena of conjunction of two heavenly bodies. She quoted Surya Sidhantha which clearly classifies three types of Conjunction: (i) conjunction of two planets (Tara Grahas) is called Yuddha. (ii) conjunction between a body (planet or star) and the Moon is called Samaagama and (iii) conjunction between a planet and the Sun is called Astamana (Combust). The conjunction between a body and the Moon, namely, Samaagama is called Lunar Occultation. Dr. Uma explained the procedure for working out the above phenomena using the required parameters namely, true longitudes, true latitudes, angular diameters, true daily motion etc. Dr.Uma demonstrated the procedure with two examples of the Lunar Occultation of the stars: (i) Chitra (spica) (ii) Revati (Aldebaran).

2. In the last lecture of the Workshop, Dr.Padmaja Venugopal outlined the improved Siddhantic procedures for computing the Lunar and Solar eclipses. She worked out examples including the Solar eclipse of July 22, 2009 and the Lunar eclipse of December 31, 2009. The sessions were followed by the valedictory function chaired by Prof. K.V.Krishna Murthy, Padma Bhushan Prof. Dr.Roddam Narasimha, a renowned scientist and chairman of the Engineering Mechanics Unit at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore was the chief guest. In his valedictory address Dr. Narasimha spoke elaborately on the logical ability of the ancient Indians and he quoted statements from Neelakanth Somayaji of Kerala to illustrate that they followed logic and observations strictly and were not led by faiths and beliefs. He appreciated the efforts of I-SERVE in conducting this Workshop and congratulated Dr.Balachander Rao and his team for conducting the Workshop in a systematic way. Then he handed over the participation certificates to the participants. Other speakers, Dr.Balachander Rao, Kum. Meera Datta and Sri.N.S.S.Bhagavat expressed the hope that I-SERVE will extend its activities into Karnataka also and conduct this type of programmes in Bangalore and surrounding places. Sri K.V.Krishna Murthy honoured the chief guest and the faculty. He specially honoured Sri N.S.S.Bhagavat on behalf of the organisers of Bangalore Ashrama for the special efforts they have put forth to make the Workshop a grand success. The meeting ended with the vote of thanks proposed by Sri.N.S.S.Bhagavat.

Lighting of the lamp at the inaugural function

Left to right:Sri C.S. Narasimha, Executive Trustee, SGS Ashrama, Bangalore,Dr. S.R.Leela, MLC, Bangalore, Chief guest of the Inaugural Function,Prof. K.V.Krishna murthy, Chairman, I-SERVE,Dr. S. Balachandra Rao, Hon. Professor, NIAS, Bangalore,Dr. Padmaja Venugopal, Prof. & Head, Dept. of Mathematics, SJB Instt. of Technology,Bangalore, Dr. S. K. Uma, Asst. Professor, Dept. of Mathematics, Sir M.V. Instt. of Technology,Bangalore.

A section of the participants of the workshop.

Chief guest Dr. S.R. Leela, MLC, addressing the gathering

Some of the dignitaries in the valedictory function of the workshop.

Chairman , I-SERVE honoring Padmabhushan Dr. Roddam Narasimha, the Chief guest of the valedictory function.

Padmabhushan Dr. Roddam Narasimha giving away the participation certificates to the participants of the Three day workshop.

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