Earth is the third planet in the Solar System. it is the home to millions of species, including humans. Let’s discuss what the ancient Indian text told about our home planet Earth: Shape of the earth: The shape of the earth is mentioned over various verses in vedas, puranas and other ancient Indian texts. Some of them are- Shape of Earth is like an Oblate Spheroid’. [Rig Veda] "Cakracasah parinaham prthivya" [Rig veda 1.33.8] It says"people who reside on the surface of earth circumference" "madhye samantandasya bhugolo vyomni tisthati" [12th ch-32 sloka] It means "In the midst of universe (Brahmanda),the spherical earth stands firm in the space" Over thousands of years ago the earth was accepted as a spherical shaped. The third Avatar of the Hindu Godhead Vishnu, in the form of a Boar appeared in order to defeat Hiranyaksha. Beside the story look at the picture. Here the earth is portrait as a spherical shaped. The ancient people know exactly how the earth looks like! Later on the great mathematician and astronomer Arjabhatta (476–550 CE) describes the earth as being spherical and that it rotates about its axis daily, and that the apparent movement of the stars is a relative motion caused by the rotation of the earth, contrary to the then-prevailing view that the sky rotated. Another remarkable note mentioned in Purana is that- ‘Earth is flattened at the poles’. [Markandeya Purana 54.12] And it is proven by the modern science. Size of the Earth: The size of the earth is first measured by another great Indian mathematician Brahmagupta (598–668 CE). In the 7th century he described that the circumference of the Earth is 5,000 Yojanas (1 Yojana = 7.2 kms), which is remarkably close to the modern measurement. Later on in 3rd century BC, Eratosthenes (276-194 BC) of Egypt determined the circumference of the Earth. In brahmand purana the plates of the earth is also mentioned. "Earth is divided in many plates as much as 14 of them in present Manavatara." [Brahmand Purana] The current continental and oceanic plates include: the Eurasian plate, Australian-Indian plate, Philippine plate, Pacific plate, Juan de Fuca plate, Nazca plate, Cocos plate, North American plate, Caribbean plate, South American plate, African plate, Arabian plate, the Antarctic plate, and the Scotia plate. These plates consist of smaller sub-plates. Map of the earth: The map of the earth is first discovered by Sri Thiruvenkata Ramanuja Jeeyar, from the slokas of Mahabharata. mahabharata, Bheeshma parva, Jamvu-khanda section 5 It says As a person can see his own face in a mirror, even so is the island called Sudarsana seen in the lunar disc. Two of its parts seem to be a peepul tree, while two others look like a large hare. Sri Thiruvenkata Ramanuja Jeeyar sketched a drawing of rabbit and peeply leaf according to the description and discover how the world looks like. Blue sky: Blue Sky is Nothing but scattered sunlight [Markandeya Purana 78.8] The blue color of the sky is due to Rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Little of the red, orange and yellow light is affected by the air. However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in different directions. It gets scattered all around the sky. Whichever direction you look, some of this scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue. As you look closer to the horizon, the sky appears much paler in color. To reach you, the scattered blue light must pass through more air. Some of it gets scattered away again in other directions. Less blue light reaches your eyes. The color of the sky near the horizon appears paler or white. Thus the ancient text describes the earth in great details
