The first Hindu treatise on astronomy by Varaahmihir in 6th century AD. He used to be one of the one Ratn (gems) of Vikramaaditya's court in Ujjayinee. It is believed to be handed down from 3000 BC by aid of complex mnemonic recital methods still known today. It showed the Earth' diameter to be 7840 miles compared to modern measurement to 7929.7 miles; and the distance between the Earth and the Moon 235,000 miles compared to modern measurement 252,710 miles.

Soorya Siddhaant (SS) as been translated into English language by Bapudeva Sastri (1891 AD) and the edition of Ranganatha with his Goodartha Prakashika commentary (1603 AD) besides "Sudhaa Varshinee" commentary by Pandit Sudhakar Dwivedi (1880) and SS of "Panch Siddhaantikaa" of Varaahamihir (6th century AD). There are some other translations also such as by Ebnezeer Burgess, but some die-hard "lonely" scholar-monks of the SS are of the view that being a Christian, Burgess had deliberately misinterpreted that work. All these editions of the SS are freely available at www.wilbourhall.org.

Soorya Siddhaant Written by Mayaasur?
Some others believe that Soorya Siddhaant is written by Mayaasur. Mayaasur learnt this from Soorya. If you read Soorya Siddhaant to the end, you would learn that for Brihaspati Yug, Soorya Siddhaant mentions Krittikaa Nakshatra based in the same way as Vedaang Jyotish does. In fact, Soorya Siddhaant fills up that gap which has confused our historians for long, our historians and so called scholars could not understand that 5 years Yug system and religious Yug system - Krit, Tretaa, Dwaapar and Kali, are two different Yug systems and both systems are mentioned in almost all the Ved and Braahman pertaining to Ved, Is Soorya Siddhaant Against Vaidic Religion? Never, In Soorya Siddhaant Mayaasur begins with prayer to Brahmaa Jee and ends with describing Vaidik theory of Universe creation, mentioning Bhagvaan Vishnu (Aniruddh) appeared before everything, refer to Bhoogol Adhyaya. Why Mayaasur doesn't refer to Greeko-Chaldean, because he was not an imposter, an antiVaidik, It's worth underlining that Mayaasur admits that he is not Aarya but still expresses his faith in Vaidik system of religion.

Is Soorya Siddhaant an Astronomical or a Religious Work?
Shlok Nos 2-10 of the 1st Chapter of the SS state that in the fag end of the present Krit ie Satya Yug, a great Asur (Demon) named Mayaasur pleased Soorya Bhagavaan with his penance. Soorya, in turn, bestowed the knowledge of planetary astronomy on that great demon through an Ansh born of himself (that is an "incarnation" of Soorya), since Soorya himself had neither the time for doing so nor would Mayaasura bear his scorching heat and refulgence. Thus the SS claims that the knowledge of astronomy was revealed to Mayaasur through Soorya Bhagavaan himself.

Here are the explanations of some of the words:
(a) Asur is an antonym of Sur. They are, as such, those creatures who act exactly against the Sur i.e. Devtaa (gods). If the gods are benevolent and pious, Asur are cruel and crafty. They are liars of the worst kind and are even known as Raakshas. The most prominent examples of such Asur are Hiranyakashyap who was killed by Narasinh Avataar; Raavan who abducted the wife of Raam and thus ws killed by Raam; even his brother Kumbhkarn also killed by Raam,; Raavan's son Meghnaad and his sister Shoorpankhaa. Even Mahishaasur was an Asur who was killed by goddess Durgaa! Same is the case with Sund, Upasund, Raktbeej, Dhoomravarn etc etc. They were all Asur and had become so powerful that they had to be annihilated by divine incarnations.

(b) And that is why Bhagavaan Krishn has said in the Geetaa that anybody born with Asur Prakriti (nature) gets annihilated whereas the ones who are of a Daiv Prakriti will prosper. So the very nature of the recipient (a Raakshas nature) of such a lofty knowledge which is "the most sacred secret" (rahasyam etat punyam) puts a question mark on the authenticity of the SS.

(c) Astronomy, as people think, is not such a science as can be acquired in a jiffy, and that also by such a great Asur.

(d) Astronomically, Soorya is a star comprising helium and hydrogen. Neither of the components favor human life as we know. As such, astronomically, it is impossible for the Sun, a star hundreds of times larger than the Earth, to “impart” any knowledge to anybody, leave alone a sinful great demon named Mayaasur.

(e) In Sat Yug and Tretaa Yug, as per the V-Raamaayan, even Shoodra, leave alone demons, were not allowed to learn the Vaidik scriptures. So as such, as per the Dharm Shaastra, it was impossible for Soorya Dev to have bestowed planetary knowledge to a demon.

(f) We have two references of Mayaasur in the two Itihaas : One Mayaasur is the father-in-law of Raavan in Raamaayan in Tretaa Yug and the other Mayaasur is the architect of Yudhishthir's royal court in the Mahaabhaarat in Dwaapar Yug. In neither of the two Itihaas, there is absolutely any mention that either of the two Maya Daanav had ever acquired any knowledge of astronomy, and that also directly from Soorya Dev.

(g) Aachaarya Lagadh of 14th century BCE also has not referred to any earlier astronomical work from which true planetary positions could be calculated. On the other hand, Lagadh has, through his Vedaang Jyotish, given only the methodology (a very crude one indeed) of calculating mean Tithi, Nakshatra etc. Lagadh was not even able to calculate the mean longitudes, leave alone true longitudes, of the Sun and the Moon either, and there is absolutely no mention of any planet like Mangal, Shani etc. in that work. Thus if there had been any work of the nature of the SS available in the 14th century, Lagadh would certainly have referred to it and may be not even bothered to compile a very crude astronomical work himself then.

Thus the so called Mayaasur is telling a lie that astronomy was revealed to him by Soorya Dev himself as it is impossible astronomically as well as according to Dharm Shaastra. So even if Mayaasur is a fictitious name of the compiler of the SS, he has revealed his true Aasurik nature that he was a first class liar and had absolutely no good intentions about the Hindu community.

Was the SS Created by a Raakshas and When Was it Created?
Since the SS is said to have been revealed in the fag end of Krit Yug which is followed by Tretaa Yug, if at all we presume that it has been written by some real Mayaasur, we will have to zero in on the Mayaasur, the father-in-law of the Raakshas king Raavan. Why? Because, Raam, as per the V-Raamaayan, who was a contemporary of Raavan, is supposed to have incarnated in Tretaa Yug. We have therefore to zero on the date of SS creation in late Sat Yug.

As per the same SS, Shlok 15-20 of Adyaya one, Dwapar Yug plus two Sandhi (its dawn and twilight) have a total span of 864,000 solar years. Similarly, Tretaa Yug plus two Sandhi have a total span of 1,296,000 solar years. Even if we ignore the 5112 years of so called Kali Yug which are supposed to have elapsed as per the same SS till date, it means that the SS was revealed to Mayaasur --
1,296,000 plus 864,000 years = 2,160,000 solar years ago!

That is a large number of years - more than two million (20 Lakh years) prior to the current twenty-first century AD. Mayaasur is the greatest liar, and as such can neither be a Rishi nor a Hindu. Hindu call the SS as "Shree Soorya Siddhaant" and it is also known as Aarsh Granth (a work by some Rishi).

Myth and astronomy are poles apart. So are archaeology and myth!

By now it is an open secret that leave alone 20 Lakh years, we do not have any worthwhile records of even one tenth of that duration i.e. two Lakh years. Nay even of the period of about 5000 BC except for pyramids of Egypt.

Then again, “Our species, Homo sapiens, originated in Africa around 200,000 BC. Written language dates back only to about 7000 BC.” Hawking – The Grand Design (Bantam), page 17. Does it mean that the great demon Mayaasur got his Soorya Siddhaant millions of years back even before the species of homo sapiens themselves evolved? Except for some "extra-ordinary scholar-monks" and "Vedic astrologers", nobody is such a nitwit to believe such a lie. Obviously, such a lie can be manufactured only by a crafty Raakshas - a Mahaa Asur and not by some Rishi. Thus to call such an absurd work as the Soorya Siddhaant as "Shree Soorya Siddhaant" and attribute it to some Rishi is a great insult to the real Rishi.

The “Jyotish Upanishad” beats hollow all the Ved and Upanishad in antiquity.

Mayaasur, as per the same SS, is supposed to have got Jyotishopanishat Adhyaaya of the same SS also from Soorya Dev himself. As such, some “extraordinary scholars” claim the SS to be a Jyotish Upanishad.

What is surprising is that no scholar has till date been able to fix the date of the Rig Ved - the earliest Ved - prior to about 5000 BCE. That is hardly seven thousand years back! Even if we go by BG Tilak’s estimate, the Rig Ved is not older than 10,000 BCE in any case by any stretch of imagination. And if we compare two million years with 12,000 years, we are left with a staggering deficit of about two million years. That also means that the Jyotish Upanishad is supposed to have been revealed millions of years ago, even before the earliest Ved - the Rig Ved.

On the other hand, Chhaandogya Upanishad refers to the Mahaabhaarat and the Puraan as the fifth Ved which means that that Upanishad is a work of a later date after the Puraan, which, as per these very scholars, are supposed to have been compiled at the start of Kali Yug. And Kali Yug, as per these very scholars, started around 5000 years back. Thus, this Jyotish Upanishad (SS) beats all the Ved and the Upanishad follow in its antiquity by more than two million years.