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36-493: Present in the form of an inverted pot with a point facing the sky, kalashas are prominent elements of temple architecture. According to the Aitareya Brahmana , a golden kalasha is regarded to represent a sun upon the summit of a deity's dwelling, the temple. Most kalashams are made of metal and some of stone. The view of the gopuram (temple tower) is one of the important rituals of Hindu worship along with view of

72-504: A meridian is the locus connecting points of equal longitude , which is the angle (in degrees or other units ) east or west of a given prime meridian (currently, the IERS Reference Meridian ). In other words, it is a coordinate line for longitudes, a line of longitude . The position of a point along the meridian at a given longitude is given by its latitude , measured in angular degrees north or south of

108-410: A compass bearing) of the rising and setting Sun to measure the magnetic variation (difference between magnetic and true north). The true meridian is the chord that goes from one pole to the other, passing through the observer, and is contrasted with the magnetic meridian, which goes through the magnetic poles and the observer. The true meridian can be found by careful astronomical observations, and

144-467: A few degrees. There were some variations. When he noted the sight line for the True Meridian from his family's house to the depot, he could check the declination of his compass before and after surveying throughout the day. He noted this variation down. The meridian passage is the moment when a celestial object passes the meridian of longitude of the observer. At this point, the celestial object

180-462: A modern ellipsoid ( WGS 84 ). The first prime meridian was set by Eratosthenes in 200 BC. This prime meridian was used to provide measurement of the earth, but had many problems because of the lack of latitude measurement. Many years later around the 19th century there were still concerns of the prime meridian. Multiple locations for the geographical meridian meant that there was inconsistency, because each country had their own guidelines for where

216-515: A period of 21 days, and reaches its highest point on vishuvant , the middle day of this period. The gods feared that at this point, the sun would lose its balance, so they tied it with five ropes (the five "ropes" being five prayer verses). The vishuvant is mentioned as an important day for rituals. The text also mentions that the sun burns with the greatest force after passing the meridian . The Aitareya Brahmana (2.7) states: The [sun] never really sets or rises. In that they think of him 'He

252-408: A standard time as well. With a standard meridian, stage coach and trains were able to be more efficient. The argument of which meridian is more scientific was set aside in order to find the most convenient for practical reasons. They were also able to agree that the universal day was going to be the mean solar day. They agreed that the days would begin at midnight and the universal day would not impact

288-634: A text called Asvalayana Brahmana . For example, Raghunandana (c. 16th century CE), in his Malamasatattva , quotes a verse from what he calls the Asvalayana Brahmana . The verse is a slight variation of an Aitareya Brahmana verse. The common view is that the Asvalayana Brahmana is simply another name for the Aitareya Brahmana . However, according to another theory, it might be a now-lost, similar but distinct Brahmana text. The Aitareya Brahmana with some certainty dates to

324-463: Is at its highest point. When the Sun passes two times an altitude while rising and setting can be averaged to give the time of meridian passage. Navigators utilized the Sun's declination and the Sun's altitude at local meridian passage, in order to calculate their latitude with the formula. Latitude = (90° – noon altitude + declination) The declination of major stars are their angles north and south from

360-399: Is night here, it is day on the other side, the sun does not really rise or sink. — Aitareya Brahmana III.44 (Rigveda) According to Subhash Kak , this implies that according to the author of the verse, the sun does not move and it is the earth that moves, suggesting heliocentrism and rotation of a spherical Earth . According to Jyoti Bhusan Das Gupta, this verse implies that

396-624: Is rarely used. In ancient times, temples carved out of stone had stone kalashas. Many temples like Ellora Caves , Hampi and Mahabalipuram still have these stone kalashas. In parts of South India, kalashas made of wood are common. Aitareya Brahmana The Aitareya Brahmana ( Sanskrit : ऐतरेय ब्राह्मण ) is the Brahmana of the Shakala Shakha of the Rigveda , an ancient Indian collection of sacred hymns. This work, according to

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432-473: Is setting,' having reached the end of the day, he inverts himself; thus he makes evening below, day above. Again in that they think of him 'He is rising in the morning,' having reached the end of the night he inverts himself; thus he makes day below, night above. He never sets; indeed he never sets." The Sun and the Earth The Sun causes day and night on the earth, because of revolution, when there

468-597: Is thus to be explained for). Having reached the end of the night, it makes itself produce two opposite effects, making night to what is below and day to what is on the other side." Aitareya Brahmana being a Vedic corpus text and scripture in Hinduism, and the lack of any Mount Meru theories in that text, the medieval era commentators such as Sayana had significant difficulty in reconciling the Vedic era and medieval era cosmographic theories. The medieval era Indian scholars kept

504-448: Is undoubtedly a composite work, and it is possible that the Aitareya Brahmana also had multiple authors. According to AB Keith, the present redaction of the work may be ascribed to Mahidasa, but even that cannot be said conclusively. The Asvalayana Srautasutra and Asvalayana Grhyasutra , attributed to the sage Asvalayana, are the srautasutra and grhyasutra associated with the Aitareya Brahmana . Some Sanskrit texts also mention

540-419: The dhvaja stambha (temple flag mast). These gopurams are usually topped with ornamental kalashas. Kalashas are consecrated during the kumbhabhishekam ceremony and are venerated during puja s . There are four types of kalashas : Kalashas are mostly made of metal. The main metals used are bronze and copper . In famous temples like Tirupati , noble metals like gold and silver are used. Platinum

576-512: The Equator . On a Mercator projection or on a Gall-Peters projection , each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude . Assuming a spherical Earth , a meridian is a great semicircle on Earth's surface. Adopting instead a spheroidal or ellipsoid model of Earth, the meridian is half of a north-south great ellipse . The length of a meridian is twice the length of an Earth quadrant , equal to 20,003.93 km (12,429.87 mi) on

612-406: The 1st millennium BCE, likely to its first half. Published estimates include the following: Forty adhyaya s (chapters) of this work are grouped under eight pañcikā s (group of five). The following is an overview of its contents: Astronomy played a significant role in Vedic rituals, which were conducted at different periods of a year. The Aitareya Brahmana (4.18) states the sun stays still for

648-491: The Earth. Therefore, a compass needle will be parallel to the magnetic meridian. However, a compass needle will not be steady in the magnetic meridian, because of the longitude from east to west being complete geodesic . The angle between the magnetic and the true meridian is the magnetic declination , which is relevant for navigating with a compass. Navigators were able to use the azimuth (the horizontal angle or direction of

684-525: The angle at the center of the Earth between where it and the prime meridian cross the equator. As there are 360 degrees in a circle, the meridian on the opposite side of the Earth from Greenwich, the antimeridian, forms the other half of a circle with the one through Greenwich, and is at 180° longitude near the International Date Line (with land mass and island deviations for boundary reasons). The meridians from Greenwich (0°) west to

720-600: The antimeridian (180°) define the Western Hemisphere and the meridians from Greenwich (0°) east to the antimeridian (180°) define the Eastern Hemisphere . Most maps show the lines of longitude. The position of the prime meridian has changed a few times throughout history, mainly due to the transit observatory being built next door to the previous one (to maintain the service to shipping). Such changes had no significant practical effect. Historically,

756-410: The author "clearly understood that days and nights were local rather than a global phenomenon". Das Gupta adds that the text's interest in the sun's position appears to be "purely ritualistic", and the verse cannot be conclusively taken as an evidence of the author's recognition of the earth as a sphere. According to K. C. Chattopadhyaya, the verse simply implies that the sun has two sides: one bright and

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792-420: The average error in the determination of longitude was much larger than the change in position. The adoption of World Geodetic System 84 " (WGS84) as the positioning system has moved the geodetic prime meridian 102.478 metres east of its last astronomic position (measured at Greenwich). The position of the current geodetic prime meridian is not identified at all by any kind of sign or marking at Greenwich (as

828-488: The basis for its own national time zone system. The second was that in the late 19th century, 72% of the world's commerce depended on sea-charts which used Greenwich as the Prime Meridian. The recommendation was based on the argument that naming Greenwich as Longitude 0º would be of advantage to the largest number of people. Toward the ending of the 12th century there were two main locations that were acknowledged as

864-415: The celestial equator. The meridian passage will not occur exactly at 12 hours because of the Earth orbit excentricity (see Equation of time ). A standard meridian is a meridian used for determining standard time . For instance, the 30th meridian east ( UTC+02:00 ) is the standard meridian for Eastern European Time . Since the adoption of time zones – as opposed to local mean time or solar time – in

900-602: The day when utilizing the 12-hour clock . Because of a growing international economy, there was a demand for a set international prime meridian to make it easier for worldwide traveling which would, in turn, enhance international trading across countries. As a result, a Conference was held in 1884, in Washington, D.C. Twenty-six countries were present at the International Meridian Conference to vote on an international prime meridian. Ultimately

936-540: The eyes of her son, Itara prayed to the earth goddess Bhūmi , her kuladevi (tutelary deity). Bhūmi then appeared and gifted Mahidasa the knowledge contained in the Aitareya Brahmana . Mahidasa is mentioned in other works before Sayana, such as the Chandogya Upanishad (3.16.7) and the Aitareya Aranyaka (2.1.7, 3.8). But none of these works mention Sayana's legend. The Aitareya Aranyaka

972-482: The geographic location of the meridian, France and Britain. These two locations often conflicted and a settlement was reached only after there was an International Meridian Conference held, in which Greenwich was recognized as the 0° location. The meridian through Greenwich (inside Greenwich Park) , England, called the Prime Meridian , was set at zero degrees of longitude, while other meridians were defined by

1008-573: The late 19th century and early 20th century, most countries have adopted the standard time of one of the 24 meridians closest to their geographical position, as decided by the International Meridian Conference in 1884. Although, a few time zones are offset by an additional 30 or 45 minutes, such as in the Chatham Islands , South Australia and Nepal . Many of these instruments rely on the ability to measure

1044-425: The magnetic meridian is simply parallel to the compass needle. The arithmetic difference between the true and magnetic meridian is called the magnetic declination , which is important for the calibration of compasses. Henry D. Thoreau classified this true meridian versus the magnetic meridian in order to have a more qualitative, intuitive, and abstract function. He used the true meridian since his compass varied by

1080-548: The older astronomic position was), but can be located using a GPS receiver. It was in the best interests of the nations to agree to one standard meridian to benefit their fast growing economy and production. The disorganized system they had before was not sufficient for their increasing mobility. The coach services in England had erratic timing before the GWT. United States and Canada were also improving their railroad system and needed

1116-491: The other dark. In section 3.44, among other things, the Aitareya Brahmana states (translation by Haug): The sun does never rise or set. When people think the sun is setting (it is not so). For after having arrived at the end of the day it makes itself produce two opposite effects, making night to what is below and day to what is on the other side. When they believe it rises in the morning (this supposed rising

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1152-476: The outcome was as follows: there would be only one prime meridian, the prime meridian was to cross and pass at Greenwich (which was the 0°), there would be two longitude direction up to 180° (east being plus and west being minus), there will be a universal day, and the day begins at the mean midnight of the initial meridian. There were two main reasons for this. The first was that the USA had already chosen Greenwich as

1188-533: The prime meridian was located. The term meridian comes from the Latin meridies , meaning "midday"; the subsolar point passes through a given meridian at solar noon , midway between the times of sunrise and sunset on that meridian. Likewise, the Sun crosses the celestial meridian at the same time. The same Latin stem gives rise to the terms a.m. (ante meridiem) and p.m. (post meridiem) used to disambiguate hours of

1224-468: The spherical and disc shape cosmography in the Puranas, while the astronomy (Siddhanta) texts for time keeping assumed the spherical assumptions. The king and the god is a text based on the "king Harishcandra" episode (7.14 … 33.2) of Aitareya Brahmana. It has been used to compare different reconstructions of Proto-Indo-European language . Meridian (geography) In geography and geodesy ,

1260-624: The tradition, is ascribed to Mahidasa Aitareya. Sayana of Vijayanagara , a 14th century commentator, attributes the entire Aitareya Brahmana to a single man: Mahidasa Aitareya. In his introduction to the text, Sayana suggests that "Aitareya" is a matronymic name. Mahidasa's mother was "Itarā" (इतरा), whose name is derived from the Sanskrit word "itara". She was one of the wives of a great rishi (sage). The rishi preferred sons from his other wives over Mahidasa. Once he placed all his other sons on his lap, but ignored Mahidasa. On seeing tears in

1296-528: The use of local time. A report was submitted to the "Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada", dated 10 May 1894; on the "Unification of the Astronomical, Civil and Nautical Days"; which stated that: The magnetic meridian is an equivalent imaginary line connecting the magnetic south and north poles and can be taken as the horizontal component of magnetic force lines along the surface of

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