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Earth's Rotation, Globular Shape and Gravity
When we talk of the earth going around the sun as it has always done, its globular shape, the different seasons, different lengths of day and night, mind goes back to Galileo and Copernicus, scared to death, holding the truth back lest the fury of the church falls upon them for letting the world know the reality of nature. When one thinks of gravity one thinks of Newton sitting under an apple tree watching an apple fall to the ground and Newton proclaiming "Lo! there is gravity."
If I were to say Hindu philosophers talked and wrote about gravity and the globular shape of the earth centuries before Newton and Galileo and Copernicus, and quoted Hindu sources, I would not only be dismissed as a "fanatical Hindu communalist" by our 'all-knowing-secular intellectuals' but also incur their wrath. And who wants that?
In order to state the truth and make it acceptable to our 'all-knowing-secular intellectuals' let me seek the help of a Muslim scholar from Central Asia. Who around 1030 AD wrote a very comprehensive book "Indica" about India -- its literature, its philosophy, its religion, its culture, its languages, its history, its geography, its customs, its sciences including astronomy. I am talking about Abu-Raihan Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Alberuni -- a scholar and a devout genuine Muslim by all standards.
Before I go into what Alberuni wrote let us take some time to find out more about this man -- Alberuni.
In the words of Edward Sachau -- translator of Alebruni's 'Indica':
"Mahmud marched into the country, not without some fighting, established there one of his generals as provincial governor, and soon returned to Ghazna with much booty and a great part of Khiva troops, together with the princes of the deposed family of Mamun and the leading men of the country as prisoners of war or as hostages. Among the last was Abu-Raihan Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Alberuni. This happened in the spring and summer of AD 1017."
Last update : 31-01-2010 21:42
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Vishal Agarwal
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