Varāhamihira

Varāhamihira ( 20/21 March 505 – 587), also called Varāha or Mihira, was an ancient Indian astrologer-astronomer who lived in or around Ujjain in present-day Madhya Pradesh, India.

Quotes

• When the return of the Sun took place from the middle of Aslesha, the solstice was then right. It now takes place from Punarvasu.
  • as quoted in David Frawley, Gods, Sages and Kings: Vedic Secrets of Ancient Civilization, 2000.

• Varāhamihira .... in his Brihat Samhitā.... states that the height of a tall man is 108 angulas, that of a medium man ninety-six angulas, and that of a short man eighty-four angulas (the same heights apply to statues of various deities); using our Harappan angula of 1.76 cm, we get 1.90, 1.69 and 1.48 m respectively, quite consistent with ‘tall’, ‘medium’ and ‘short’.
  • Danino, M. (2010). The lost river : on the trail of the Sarasvatī. Penguin Books India.

• There was indeed a time when the Sun’s southerly course began from the middle of the star Ashlesha and the northerly one from the commencement of the star Dhanishtha, as it has been so stated in ancient works. At present the southerly course of the Sun starts from the beginning of Cancer and the other from the initial point of sign Capricorn. The actual state of affairs which goes against the old statement can be verified by direct observation. The Sun’s change of course can be detected by marking everyday the position of a distant object either at sunrise or sunset, or by watching and marking the entry and exit of the shadow of the gnomon fixed at the centre of a big circle drawn on the ground.
  • Varahamihira in his Brihatsamhita
  • quoted in : Bhaskar Kamble, The Imperishable Seed: How Hindu Mathematics Changed the World and why this History was Erased, Garuda Prakashan Private Limited, 2022 ISBN 9798885750189