SPEED OF LIGHT IN VEDAS**** The most well-known source of light is the our Sun, or Surya Dev (Sun God)

in Hi nduism. Suryadev has been worshiped in India since time immemorial following the traditional way of respecting and worshipping important forms of nature. It is a well-known fact that light travels at a phenomenal speed of 3 x 10^8 metres/se c. This value is etched into the memory of students in their early years in scho ol and this value of the Speed of Light was established by the experiment conduc ted by Michelson and Morley, celebrated American Physicists in the 19th Century. But did you know that the first yet the most perfect and exact quantitative esti mate of the speed of light is seen in Indian vedic scholar Sayana s commentary on the Rigveda back in the 14th Century AD. It says sun light travels 2202 Yojanas in a half Nimesa. The fourth verse of the Rig vedic hymn 1:50 (50th hymn in book 1 of rigveda) is as follows: taraNir vishvadarshato jyotishkrdasi surya | vishvamaa bhaasirochanam || which means Swift and all beautiful art thou, O Surya (Surya=Sun), maker of the light,Illumin g all the radiant realm. Commenting on this verse in his Rigvedic commentary, Saint Sayanacharya who was a minister in the court of Bukka of the great Vijayanagar Empire of Karnataka in South India (in early 14th century) says: tatha ca smaryate yojananam. sahasre dve dve sate dve ca yojane ekena nimishardhe na kramaman. which means It is remembered here that Sun (light) traverses 2,202 yojanas in hal f a nimisha Now for the calculation, Converting the units used in ancient India to those use d presently : In the vedas Nimisha is a unit of time and Yojana is a unit of distance. Unit of Time: Nimesa NOTE: Nimisharda= half of a nimisha The Moksha dharma parva of Shanti Parva in Mahabharata describes Nimisha as foll ows: 15 Nimisha = 1 Kastha 30 Kashta = 1 Kala 30 Kala = 1 Muhurta 30 Muhurtas = 1 Diva-Ratri (Day-Night) We know Day-Night is 24 hours So we get 24 hours = 30 x 30 x 30 x 15 nimisha in other words 405000 nimisha We know 1 hour = 60 x 60 = 3600 seconds So 24 hours = 24 x 3600 seconds = 86,400 seconds 405000 nimesa = 86,400 seconds 1 nimesa = 16/75 sec = 0.2133 seconds (This is a recursive decimal! Wink of an e

ye=.2133 seconds!) 1/2 nimesa = 8/75 sec = 0.106 seconds Unit of Distance: Yojana Yojana is defined in Chapter 6 of Book 1 of the ancient vedic text s follows Vishnu Purana a

10 ParamAnus = 1 Paraskshma 10 Paraskshmas = 1 Trasarenu 10 Trasarenus = 1 Mahrajas (particle of dust) 10 Mahrajas= 1 Blgra (hair s point) 10 Blgra = 1 Likhsha 10 Likhsha= 1 Yuka 10 Yukas = 1 Yavodara (heart of barley) 10 Yavodaras = 1 Yava (barley grain of middle size) 10 Yava = 1 Angula (1.89 cm or approx 3/4 inch) 6 fingers = 1 Pada (the breadth of it) 2 Padas = 1 Vitasti (span) 2 Vitasti = 1 Hasta (cubit) 4 Hastas = a Dhanu, a Danda, or pauruSa (a man s height), or 2 Nriks = 6 feet 2000 Dhanus = 1 Gavyuti (distance to which a cow s call or lowing can be heard) = 12000 feet 4 Gavyutis = 1 Yojana = 9 miles Calculation: So now we can calculate what is the value of the speed of light in modern units based on the value given as 2202 yojanas in 1/2 nimesa = 2202 x 9 miles per 0.106 seconds = 19818 miles per 0.106 seconds = 186962.264 miles per second !! As per the modern science speed of light is 186000 miles per second (299,792,458 metres per second), Also note that the slight difference between the two values to our error in accurately translating from vedic units to SI/CGS units. It takes approx 8.3 minutes for sun light to reach earth (i.e 149,600,000 km). It must also be noted that Sayanacharya was only commenting on the Rig Vedic tex t. It is hence practically inferable that earlier interpretations and findings e xisted, but might have been lost or could not be passed any further till present time, again pushing the date of discovery of speed of light further backwards o n the historical timeline (Could be thousands of years). Thus, our Ancient Vedic Indians had established the Speed of Light much before s cientists in other parts of the world ! This again proves the Scientific knowled ge in Vedas.