Vedic Astronomy III

All events are connected by Time, all places are connected by Space and alleffects are connected by Cause in the Space-Time-Causality equation. TheScience of Time ( Astrology ) and the Science of Cause ( TranscendentalPhilosophy ) assume great significance in the realm of superconscientlearning

The Elements Used in the Computation of TimeT

he main element used is the Sun itself. One solar day is the time taken bythe earth to rotate around its own axis. One solar day is made up of 24solar hours, one solar hour is sixty minutes and one minute is sixtyseconds.

The time taken by Sol to make a circuit of the Zodiac from the First Pointof the Sidereal Zodiac is called a Sidereal Year. This is 365.25363 solardays. A Tropical Year is the time taken by the Sun to make a circuit of theTropical Zodiac This is 365.242194 solar days.

The Five Types of Years

There are five types of years

1) Solar Year
2) Jupiterian Year
3) Savana Year
4) Lunar Year
5) Sideral Year

Solar Year

The time taken by Sol ( Sun ) to cross one degree is called a solar day.When the Sun crosses from one Sign to another, this is called Surya Sankrama( transit to another sign ). The time taken from one Surya Sankrama toanother is called one solar month. The motion of the Sun is fastest at thefirst week of January and is slowest at the first week of July. In otherwords, since the Sun's motion is fastest in the Vedic months of Sagittariusand Capricorn, it takes only 29 days for the Sun to traverse 30 degrees ofSag and Cap. Conversely, it takes 32 days for Sol to traverse 30 degrees ofCancer, since his motion is slowest at Apogee, in the Vedic month of Cancer.

Jupiterian Year ( Barhaspathya )One Barhaspathya is time taken by Jove ( Jupiter ) to traverse 30 degrees ofa sign. The duration is 361 days and a Jupiterian Cycle is roughly 12 years.

Savana Year

One Savana day is reckoned from Sunrise to Sunrise. 30 such Savana day iscalled one Savana month. 360 such days is one Savana year.Lunar YearA lunar month is the time calculated from one New Moon to the next New Moon.Since during a solar year, 12 Full Moon were visible , the Zodiac wasdivided into 12 constellations. 12 Lunar months constitute one Lunar Year.This is 354.367 days. This is 11 days less than the solar year.

Sidereal Year

One sidereal day is time taken by Luna to traverse a constellation of 13degrees and 20 minutes. The Moon takes 27.3 days to revolve around theearth. 27.3*12 is one Sidereal Year and it is 327.6 days.

Apparent Solar Day ( Savana Dina )The time taken by the earth to rotate around its own axis. From a geocentricperspective, the Sun moves one degree per day.

Sidereal Day ( Nakshatra Dina )This is the time taken by the earth to rotate around its own axis withregard to Sidereus, the constellation of fixed stars. This is 23 hours and56 mins and 4.0953 seconds.An apparent Solar Day is 24 hours. According to Indian Astronomy, a solarday is 60 Nadis. 60 Vinadis is one Nadi ( Nazhika ) and 60 Tatparas is oneVinadi. There are minuter subdivisions like Pratatparas ( 60 Pratatparasconstitute one Tatpara ), corresponding to micro seconds and nano seconds inWestern time calculations. 2 and a half Nadis is one hour or 24 minutes isone Nadi.

While as per Western calculations, a day is reckoned from midnight tomidnight, an Indian day is reckoned from sunrise to sunrise and a Hijra dayis calculated from sunset to sunset.Sidereal Solar YearThe time taken by the Sun ( from a geocentric perspective ), to make acircuit of the Sidereal Zodiac . This is 365 days, 6 hours 9 minutes and 9.8seconds.