Inscription About Solar Eclipse Found In Indian Temple

[Image: Ajit Solanki / Associated Press
Visitors at Science City in Ahmadabad, India, try out solar goggles after a demonstration on how to safely watch a solar eclipse today.]

The total eclipse of the sun that was to be viewed in Asia was much in the news the past few days. Here is an article from ABC News about seeing it from eastern India, where it appeared as a total eclipse of the Sun. Another article from the Los Angeles Times.

And now crops up this article. Suspiciously auspicious, I'd say, particularly since a similar inscription in another temple indicates that contributions to the temple should be made during the time of the eclipse. Hmmm...

Stone Inscription on Solar Eclipse Found

India Express Buzz
Wednesday, July 22, 2009 7:56 AM IST
A portion of stone inscription at Periyanayaki Amman temple in Palani which mentions a solar eclipse during 17th century.
First Published : 21 Jul 2009 02:35:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 21 Jul 2009 08:43:19 AM IST

PALANI: Archaeologists have found a stone inscription at Periyanayaki Amman temple in Palani dating back to 17th century that mentions a solar eclipse that took place at that time.

Periyanayaki Amman temple is one of the important satellite shrines of Arul­mighu Dhandayuthapani Swamy temple in Palani. This temple was constructed in the 14th century by the Pandiya kings, who worshipped Lord Shiva. After its destruction by Malik Kafur, the Nayakkar dynasty built a shrine for Amman at the same site.

Archaeologist Narayanamoorthy, architect Manivannan and professors of history from women’s college conducted research in the temple when they stumbled upon a stone inscription on the wall of the 'yaga sala', that mentions solar eclipse. [Are the professors of history unnamed in the article because they are female?]

Only four lines of the inscription are now visible, as all other lines had been obliterated over a period of time.

Narayanamoorthy said that from the available lines they could decipher that the day of solar eclipse was an auspicious occasion and on that day land was donated to the temple by royalty.

He said that the 17th century inscription shows that even at that time the Tamilians were able to forecast solar eclipse and indicate the times when it would occur.

A similar stone inscription was found in the cave temple in Palani, etched by King Malligarjuna Rayar. That inscription had also described the period of solar eclipse as the auspicious time for giving donations.

Ancient Eclipse Stopped Battle!

May 28, 585 B.C.: Predicted Solar Eclipse Stops Battle By Randy Alfred 05.28.08 12:00 AM 585 B.C.: A solar eclipse in Asia Minor brings an abrupt halt to a battle, as the warring armies lay down their arms and declare a truce. Historical astronomy later sets a likely date, providing a debatable calculation point for pinning down some dates in ancient history. This was not the first recorded solar eclipse. After failing to predict one such in 2300 B.C., two Chinese astrologers attached to the emperor's court were soon detached from their heads. Clay tablets from Babylon record an eclipse in Ugarit in 1375 B.C. Later records identify total solar eclipses that "turned day into night" in 1063 and 763 B.C. But the 585 B.C. eclipse was the first we know that was predicted. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that Thales of Milete predicted an eclipse in a year when the Medians and the Lydians were at war. Using the same calculating methods that predict future eclipses, astronomers have been able to calculate when eclipses occurred in the past. You can run the planetary clock in reverse as well as forward. To coin a word, you can postdict as well as predict. The most likely candidate for Thales' eclipse took place on May 28, 585 B.C., though some authorities believe it may have been 25 years earlier in 610 B.C. Hundreds of scholars have debated this for nearly two millenniums. Predicting a solar eclipse is not easy. You need to calculate not only when it will happen, but where it will be visible. In a lunar eclipse, when the moon passes through the Earth's huge sun shadow, the event is visible on the whole side of the Earth that's in nighttime, and totality often lasts more than an hour. But in a solar eclipse, the moon's shadow falls across the Earth in a relatively narrow path, and the maximum duration of totality at any given place is only about 7½ minutes. So you need to know the moon's orbit in great detail -- within a small fraction of a degree of arc. The early Greeks did not have this data. We do not know the method Thales used to make his prediction. The method may have been used only once, because we have no other records of the Greeks of this era accurately predicting further eclipses. Thales is believed to have studied the Egyptians' techniques of land measurement (geo metry in Greek) later codified by Euclid. One has to wonder whether Thales made the famous eclipse prediction himself, or if he simply borrowed it from the Egyptians. However he made the prediction, and however precise or vague it may have been, the eclipse occurred. Aylattes, the king of Lydia, was battling Cyaxares, king of the Medes, probably near the River Halys in what is now central Turkey. The heavens darkened. Soldiers of both kings put down their weapons. The battle was over. And so was the war. After 15 years of back-and-forth fighting between the Medes and the Lydians, the kings of Cilicia and Babylon intervened and negotiated a treaty. The River Halys, where the Battle of the Eclipse was fought, became the border between the Lydians and the Medes. Source: NASA, Crystalinks