DKPA : Glimpses of Astronomy in Indian Stamps

The History ...

At noon, March 21, 499 AD a great astronomer of 23 years of age fixed an Epoch in Time. He was Aryabhata the man who gave the theory that the earth rotated and the stars were stationary. He gave the rate of this rotation so accurately that the error compared with the modern value is only 0.01 second. Aryabhata gave methods for computing the planetary positions, detailed designs for instruments to measure astronomical phenomena and theories to comprehend Time. India launched her first satellite Aryabhata on April 19, 1975. This satellite was instrumented to explore conditions in the earth’s ionosphere, measure neutrons and gamma rays from the sun and for the study of X-ray astronomy. A stamp was released on 20 April 1975 to mark the launching of Aryabhata.

The publication of De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, libri VI (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres) in 1543 by Nicolaus Copernicus changed the concept of the heavens for the Western world. No longer was earth the centre of cosmos. Copernicus was born Mikolaj Kopernik on February 19, 1473 at Torun in eastern Poland. He was not happy with the Ptolemic system of astronomy and postulated the heliocentric system. The work was not published till his death. A copy of the great work is believed to have been brought to Copernicus at Frauenburg on the last day of his life, May 24, 1543. Nicolaus Copernicus was honoured by India with the issue of the postage stamp on 21 July 1973.

Satellites can measure the intensity of rays in outer space. On earth too we can conduct a large number of experiments and measure a number of parameters concerning outer space. The earliest instruments developed were to measure the sun’s movements from its shadow on earth. These measurements were used for time keeping. Aryabhata has described various shadow instruments in his siddantha. In 1724 Raja Jai Singh Sawai completed his treatise on instruments called Yantraprakara. He set up observatories at Jaipur and Delhi called Jantar Mantar. Sadly, these masonry structures were used for target practice by his grandson. Jantar Mantar was used as a logo for Asian Games. This logo is depicted on the stamp brought out in 1981, July 28 marking the inauguration of the games.