We owe a lot to the ancient Indians, teaching us how to count. Without which most modern scientific discoveries would have been impossible” Albert Einstein

B S Shylaja a Senior Scientific Consultant from Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium gives a scientific angle on ancient Indian knowledge about solar and lunar eclipses An interesting narrative about traditional knowledge from a scientist’s point of view. The oldest civilisation in the world, the Indian civilisation has a strong tradition of science and technology Ancient India was a land of scholars and scientists. India was actively contributing to the field of science and technology centuries long before modern laboratories were set up Many astronomical theories and techniques discovered by the ancient Indians have created and strengthened the fundamentals of modern science and technology While some of these groundbreaking contributions have been acknowledged, some are still unknown to most Mathematicians of ancient India often applied their mathematical knowledge to make accurate astronomical predictions! They correctly propounded that the Earth is round, rotates on its own axis and revolves around the Sun They also made predictions about the solar and lunar eclipses, the duration of the day as well as the distance between the Earth and the Moon.