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== Agnicayana ==
== Agnicayana ==
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At [[Kalibangan]] (at the [[Ghaggar]] river) the remains of what some writers claim to be [[fire]] [[altar]]s have been unearthed.<ref>B.B. Lal. Frontiers of the Indus Civilization.1984:57-58</ref> S.R. Rao found similar "fire altars" in Lothal which he thinks could have served no other purpose than a ritualistic one.<ref>S.R. Rao. The Aryans in Indus Civilization.1993:175</ref>
At [[Kalibangan]] (at the [[Ghaggar]] river) the remains of what some writers claim to be [[fire]] [[altar]]s have been unearthed.<ref>B.B. Lal. Frontiers of the Indus Civilization.1984:57-58</ref> S.R. Rao found similar "fire altars" in Lothal which he thinks could have served no other purpose than a ritualistic one.<ref>S.R. Rao. The Aryans in Indus Civilization.1993:175</ref>
Refer
*[[Subhash Kak]]. ''Birth and Early Development of Indian Astronomy''. In ''Astronomy across cultures: The History of Non-Western Astronomy'', [[Helaine Selin]] (ed), Kluwer, 2000
*[[Subhash Kak]]. ''Birth and Early Development of Indian Astronomy''. In ''Astronomy across cultures: The History of Non-Western Astronomy'', [[Helaine Selin]] (ed), Kluwer, 2000
*Subhash Kak, ''The Astronomical Code of the Rigveda'', Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal, 2000, ISBN 81-215-0986-6.
*Subhash Kak, ''The Astronomical Code of the Rigveda'', Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal, 2000, ISBN 81-215-0986-6.
*Sen, S.N., and A.K. Bag. 1983. ''The Sulbasutras''. New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy.
*Sen, S.N., and A.K. Bag. 1983. ''The Sulbasutras''. New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy.
== Ritual, Geometry and Astronomy<ref name=":0">Subhash Kak (2000), [http://www.ece.lsu.edu/kak/ast.pdf Astonomy and its Role in Vedic Culture], Chapter 23 in Science and Civilization in India, Vol.1, The Dawn of Indian Civilization, Part 1, edited by G. P. Pande, Delhi: ICPR/Munshiram Manoharlal, pp. 507-524.</ref> ==
We have mentioned that the altars used in the ritual were based on astronomical numbers related to the reconciliation of the lunar and solar years. The �fire altars symbolized the universe and there were three types of altars representing the earth, the space and the sky. The altar for the earth was drawn as circular whereas the sky (or heaven) altar was drawn as square. The geometric problems of circulature of a square and that of squaring a circle are a result of equating the earth and the sky altars. As we know these problems are among the earliest considered in ancient geometry.
The �fire altars were surrounded by 360 enclosing stones, of these 21 were around the earth altar, 78 around the space altar and 261 around the sky altar. In other words, the earth, the space, and the sky are symbolically assigned the numbers 21, 78, and 261. Considering the earth/cosmos dichotomy, the two numbers are 21 and 339 since cosmos includes the space and the sky.
The main altar was built in fi�ve layers. The basic square shape was modifi�ed to several forms, such as falcon and turtle (Figure 2). These altars were built in �five layers, of a thousand bricks of specifi�ed shapes. The construction of these altars required the solution to several geometric and algebraic problems.
Two different kinds of bricks were used: the special and the ordinary. The total number of the special bricks used was 396, explained as 360 days of the year and the additional 36 days of the intercalary month. By layers (25), the fi�rst has 98, the second has 41, the third has 71, the fourth has 47 and the fi�fth has 138. The sum of the bricks in the fourth and the �fth layers equals 186 tithis of the half-year. The number of bricks in the third and the fourth layers equals the integer nearest to one third the number of days in the lunar year, and the number of bricks in the third layer equals the integer nearest to one fi�fth of the number of days in the lunar year, and so on.
The number of ordinary bricks equals 10,800 which equals the number of muhurtas in a year (1 day = 30 muhurtas), or equivalently the number of days in 30 years. Of these 21 go into the garhapatya, 78 into the eight dhishnya hearths, and the rest go into the ahavaniya altar.<ref name=":0" />
==External links==
==External links==
*http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/george/vedi.html
*http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/george/vedi.html
== References ==
[[Category:Yajnas]]
[[Category:Yajnas]]
<references />