Planetary Conjunctions and Occultation records in Stone Inscriptions in India

Shylaja B S and Geetha K G
Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium
Sri T Chowdaiah Road, High Grounds, Bengaluru, 560001 India

1. Introduction
Almost every small village or town in India has its history documented as a tiny write-up in somecorner. These are stone inscriptions which have been of great help in constructing the history of theland, tradition and culture and are considered as valuable as the literary records, coins and travelogues.
Stone inscriptions are engraved on some special occasions, for example, eclipses are treated as special
occasions to gift, donate or offer charity. Thus about 50% of the inscriptions cite charities made on
the event of the eclipses(Shylaja,1997). Certain occasions like planetary conjunctions are mentioned
in many of these cases.
The analysis of the details in these inscriptions requires knowledge of history, literature andlinguistics. Thus the study was limited to South India for inscriptions in Kannada; Sanskrit
inscriptions written in Kannaḍa script also have been included.
Here we will discuss some of the planetary configurations recorded; the eclipse records have been
already been described in an earlier work (Shylaja and Geetha, 2011).Most of the eclipses match withother records. A speciality is the mention of the word Vyatīpāta, which refers to the instant ofdeclinations of the sun and moon of equal magnitude (Shylaja and Geetha, 2014a). Vyatīpāta
mentioned, but not the eclipse, implies that the eclipse was visible on the other side of the globe.
2. Records of planetary configurations
Other than the lunar and solar eclipse many planetary conjunctions and occultations are recorded inthe stone inscriptions; a couple of them hint at comets also (Shylaja and Geetha, 2014b). However
they are not spelt out explicitly. The geographical extent of the study is shown in the figure (Figure 1).
It includes the records of Vyatīpāta and many other events, which will be discussed in detail later. It
should be remembered that recording the astronomical event was not the objective of writing theinscription.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Intensive Workshop on “Ancient and Medieval Eclipse Data: Compilation of Eclipse Data and Examination of their
Reliability”, Nov 27-28, 2014, NAOJ, Mitaka, Tokyo

Figure 1 Geographical location, where Vyatīpāta and other planetary phenomena were found ininscriptions___________________________________________________________________________________________
Intensive Workshop on “Ancient and Medieval Eclipse Data: Compilation of Eclipse Data and Examination of theirReliability”, Nov 27-28, 2014, NAOJ, Mitaka, Tokyo

There are several records with a prominent mention of the planetary grouping, dated 16 th January,
1665 when there was a solar eclipse. It is recorded as śaḍgraha yóga – grouping of six planets. Theyare sun, moon, descending node (Kétu) considered as planets and the other three planets. Thisoccasion was used to donate special grants called “tulāpurushadāna”, which means gold of weightequivalent to the weight of the king was disbursed. The particular record mentioned here refers tosuch donation made by the King of Mysūru. (Earlier referred to as Mysore)

Figure 2. The planetary grouping of 16th January 1665 which attracted special grants anddonations like tulāpurushadāna.
Here are records where the planetary conjunctions are mentioned. Since these stone inscriptions aremainly records of grant / donations, and not astronomical records, the exact timings are not available.
1095 AD, August 7, 5:00pm and July 10 gurūdaya, makara lagna, Venus and Spica (rise of Jupiter inCapricorn on both these dates Spica was occulted by moon).
1117 AD, October 2, conjunction of Mars and moon, Saturn's position is mentioned as being very
close to (Aldeberan) Róhini. Two months later another inscription also mentions of Saturn being
close to Róhini.
Dec 5, 1117 or Jan 5, 1118 Moon with Róhini and Saturn. The word used is dvitipatasankrānthi.
1145 AD, September 27, Conjunction of Venus with Antares the time as 6 galige after sunrise.
1160 AD, June 12, possible occultation of Mars by moon
1214 AD, July 10, opposition of Jupiter mahāthithi
1223 AD November 5, conjunction of Jupiter Brihaspathi Sankaramana;
1233 AD, December 13, Occultation of Saturn by moon; the time is given in terms of Anurādhā lagna,
Prīti yóga and bhava karana which corresponds to about 5:00 am.
1467 AD, August 22, conjunction of Saturn with Róhini (Aldeberan).
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Intensive Workshop on “Ancient and Medieval Eclipse Data: Compilation of Eclipse Data and Examination of their
Reliability”, Nov 27-28, 2014, NAOJ, Mitaka, Tokyo

1517 September 11, Spica and Mars were in conjunction with sun
Adynaghroukanyakayam”. Jupiter (Guru) was in opposition near Aquila (Śravana).

“Guroubhé

1634 AD, July 5, conjunction of Jupiter briha yoga
1629 AD, January 4, conjunction of JupiterIn some inscriptions the entry of the planet in to a rasi (zodiacal constellation) is recorded. For
example AD 907 Jupiter entering Kumbha (Aquarius) and AD 972 Jupiter entering Kanyā (Virgo).
On 16th October 1298, conjunction of Jupiter with moon is written as “Uttara nandabrighuvinalu”
However the word Uttara here cannot mean the star Uttarābhadra (Alpha Andromeda); the moon andJupiter are closer to Lambda Aquarii (which is closer to Śatabhishaj or Gamma Aquarii).
On 3rd April 1234 AD, conjunction of Aldeberan with moon “Saróhininakshatraprītiyoga...” isrecorded. Here the word ekādashasthanavagraha is used implying that all the nine planets were in the11th position. This is not true. (This is never true but is generally cited to highlight the auspicious
occasion by astrologers (Balachandra Rao, 2014)).
There are two records of an event called “Bhide yóga” (may be Bheda yuti – planetary conjunction)
on January 17th, 956AD, the day after new moon. There was no solar eclipse and is not recorded. But
the conjunction of either Mercury which happened on 16th or moon with Mars which happened on the17th may be intended in this record. The word Bhide yóga is used in 1874 AD in the context of transitof Venus by Ragoonatha Charry (Shylaja, 2012) in 19th century.

3. Records mentioned as Vyatīpāta but referring to planetary conjunctions
In many inscriptions the word Vyatīpāta is used to describe the planetary conjunctions with the sun ormoon as detailed below.
In Indian Astronomical texts we come across the term Vyatīpāta whose equivalent does not exist in
European texts. The term implies the instant at which the magnitude of the declination of the Sun andMoon are equal. Siddānta Śirómani and many other texts give an elaborate description of the methodof determining Vyatīpāta.
The instant, Vyatīpāta, when the declinations of the moon and sun are of equal magnitude, wasconsidered extremely important by astronomers. This term appears very often in stone inscriptions,which record eclipses all over India covering a span of about 2000 years. (Shylaja and Geetha, 2013)
The word Vyatīpāta itself should not to be mistaken with the yoga (one of the five elements ofcalendar, panchānga) with an identical name. As given in the chapter on pathādhyāya, ofSiddhāntatha Śekhara of Śripathi, it reads:
When the sum of the longitudes of the Sun and the Moon is six rāsis (180o), they are in opposite ayana,but in the same góla and their krāntis (declinations) are equal, the moment is Vyatīpāta. When thesum of the longitudes of the Sun and of the Moon is equal to 180oit is quite natural that both are being
in the opposite ayanās. But why Śripati here mentioned both conditions is not clear. (Sripada Bhat,2013)
There is another conjunction defined as Vaidhṛti, when the sum of longitudes of the sun and moon is
12 rāsis (360o), they are in the same ayana but opposite góla and the krānthis are equal. In the stone
inscriptions we have not found any record of Vaidhṛti.
The astronomy texts like Siddhātha Śekhara, Tantra Sangraha and even Siddhānta Śirómani describe
the method of calculation of eclipses in one chapter and the Vyatīpāta in another chapter, although the___________________________________________________________________________________________
Intensive Workshop on “Ancient and Medieval Eclipse Data: Compilation of Eclipse Data and Examination of their
Reliability”, Nov 27-28, 2014, NAOJ, Mitaka, Tokyotwo are inter-related. For the eclipses calculation, it is important to know the time of conjunction andthe longitudinal difference from sunrise or to sunset. It is also very important to know the maximum
latitude of the moon, which in turn decides the visibility of eclipses.
Vyatīpāta calculation deals with the krānthi or declination. It is easy to measure the declination of themoon on days near to full moon rather than the days near the new moon. Vyatīpāta provides theposition of Rāhu, (the ascending node), which in turn will decide the maximum declination and thelatitude of the moon at conjunctions.
The basic observational tool that was available for the astronomers was a gnomon and they measured
only two quantities angle and time quite precisely. The rest of the quantities were estimated bycalculations. (Detailed discussion in Shylaja and Geetha, 2014a)
Here we give some examples of planetary conjunctions that are recorded as Vyatīpāta.
981 AD April 12, occultation of Mars
1071 AD March 26, occultation of Jupiter by moon
1112 AD, December 12, Occulation of Mars indudharayórvihithelagne – meaning at the time whenmoon was rising.
1132 AD, December 14, Occultation of Mars on is recorded as samkramana
1134 AD, June 5, conjunction of Mercury with Aldeberan Budha – Róhini Sangama
1136 AD, March 8, the occultation of Venus by moon occurred during the daytime 1149AD, April 9occultation of Mercury by moon.
1158 AD, June 24, moon was within 2 degrees from Jupiter and Róhini
1169 AD, March 2, moon, Jupiter and Mercury were seen within 3 degrees at dusk.
1187 AD, December17, conjunction of Mars and moon
1239 AD, February 6, Śravananakshtra and Vyatīpāta. conjunction of Jupiter1671 AD, Feb 10, moon, Mercury and Saturn were seen within 3 degrees. (Later during the day there
was an occultation too.)

4. Debatable records
There are two uttarāyana (Winter solstice) entries available for the year 1122AD in two different
locations. One tallies with December 25 while the other takes it December 7th with a mention ofVyatīpāta. The maximum declination of the moon that year (as deduced from the mention of solar
eclipse in the same year in September) is 18.5 degrees. Thus it is impossible to have Vyatīpāta inDecember. On careful examination we find that this refers to inferior conjunction of Mercury within
an error of one day.
Jan 11, 1079 recorded as Vyatīpāta; Saturn was in conjunction and Mars was in opposition. Thereforethis word may convey any of these planetary aspects. In the same pillar there is another mention of the
conjunction of Mercury and Saturn - this is on January 9thAD 1137, – derived from Māgha shu 10(10th day after new moon in the month, which corresponds to the full moon being near Māgha(Regulus)).
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Intensive Workshop on “Ancient and Medieval Eclipse Data: Compilation of Eclipse Data and Examination of theirReliability”, Nov 27-28, 2014, NAOJ, Mitaka, Tokyo

The new moon day at the end of PuŚya has attracted attention by the special term “Ardhódaya” ; wefind several records mentioning this.
March 6, 1397 Grazing occultation of Jupiter Guru sūryagrahana time is recorded as 14 galige aftersunrise. Here the word Sūrya referring to the sun is confusing.
In another record, (December / January) on the 11th, 1286 AD, saturn along with moon being withRóhini (Aldeberan) in Thai month day after new moon. However, the planet was close to the sunrather than moon. Therefore it is possible that this may refer to conjunction or heliacal setting.
There is confusion in fixing the date of no 306 EKU Vol V; it reads saka 1457, Jaya, Pushya shu 3,
the epigraphers have given the date as December 3, 1534. However there is a word sankramana,
which seems to be a general term. Allowing for a margin of + / - one year we find two events
matching with this – occultation of Jupiter in day time on 7th December 1534 and inferior
conjunction of Venus on Dec 27, 1535.
Between October 30 and November 1 of 1571, the planets Venus and Saturn were seen within anangular separation of 1 degree. There are two records during this period - EC VIII no 55 from Soraba
and EC XII no 1 copper plate from Tumakūru.
5. Conclusions
We find a wealth of information on planetary positions in a limited geographical region. The words
that are used to describe vary from place to place and from time to time. It must be possible to findmany more records all over India and in countries bordering India by a detailed scrutiny.
Acknowledgements:
The Project was funded by INSA for the years 2009 – 2012. Discussions with Prof S Balachandra Rao
were very helpful. One of the authors (BSS) gratefully acknowledges the travel support from NOAJ,
which resulted in this paper with many valuable comments from Mitsuru Soma, KiyotakaTanikawa, K
Ramasubramanian, Mayank Vahia and Ma Li-Ping.
References:
Balachandra Rao S, 2014 (Personal communication)
Shylaja B S, “Stone Inscriptions as Ancient Eclipse Records”, 1997, Bulletin of the Astronomical
Society of India, vol 22, p35
Shylaja B S, 2012, “Chinatmani Raghoonathacharry and Contemporary Indian Astronomy”,
Navakarnataka Publications, Bengaluru.
Shylaja, B S and Geetha, K G, “Inscriptions as Records of Celestial Events”, 2011, Indian Journal ofHistory of Science, 46.2, pp335-343
Shylaja B S and Geetha K G, “Vyatipatha in Indian Astronomy”, 2014a, IJHS (submitted)
Shylaja B S and Geetha K G, “Records of Ketu in Stone Inscriptions”, 2014b, Current Science, Vol
107, no. 10, November 25, 2014, p1751
Sripada Bhat, A, “SiddhantaSekhara of Sripati – Text and English Translation”, 2013, Indian Journalof History of Science, 47.3, pp539-542**___________________________________________________________________________________________
Intensive Workshop on “Ancient and Medieval Eclipse Data: Compilation of Eclipse Data and Examination of theirReliability”, Nov 27-28, 2014, NAOJ, Mitaka, Tokyo