The Origin and Growth of Astronomy, as Viewed from an Indian Context

摘要

We attempt to create a comprehensive model for the origin and growth of astronomy in a culture. We show that it primarily follows four distinct phases that we classify as the initial, settlement, civilization and technology-based phases. Using examples from Indian prehistory and history we show that these phases mark distinct steps in the growth of astronomy in a culture. While die examples are taken from Indian culture, we suggest that it also should be possible to identify these phases in other cultures.