Indian records of the Crab Supernova?
N. Rathnasree and Sanath Kumar, Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi. (submitted to IJHS, Aug 21, 2004).
A star-like object, rivaling Venus in brightness, appeared out of nowhere – for 21 days remained bright enough to have been seen in the daylight. It continued to be visible for about two years after that. With gradually reducing brightness, of course, compared to its glory in early days. And yet, so very few records of this event exist, scattered in widely separated geographical regions.
This event - was the appearance of the 1054 AD
Supernova, the remnant of which can be seen to present times as the beautiful
telescopic object in the sky – the Crab Nebula. A supernova being an explosive
death of a massive star – these stellar deaths are events that give us bright,
temporary beacons in space, that later evolve into features visible usually as
Radio and/or Optical Supernova remnants. In many instances, their progenitor may
have been a relatively dim unnoticed star, so that, the occurrence of the
stellar death, or Supernova, is seen as the appearance of a bright new star,
that slowly fades out. If this event has taken place within our Galaxy, then,
these apparent new stars would be seen as spectacularly bright beacons. There
are a handful of such events seen and recorded in history. The brightest of all
of these was an event in 1006 AD, in the constellation of Lupus. Mentions of
this event exist in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arab and probably European
records. Half a century following this, in 1054 AD was another supernova, and
this supernova and its remnant, the Crab nebula, currently holds everyone’s
imagination, more than any other event.
Could there be any Indian records of this event, buried in the vast cultural heritage of that period? Written records, one need not look for, from that period of Indian history. However, it is exceedingly likely that a lot of lore has Astronomical connotations and found expression in sculpture and architecture through the ages, particularly in the Indian context.
From Vedic times, skies were an all absorbing cultural resource as well as time keeping tools, in India. Vedic people believed in sacrifices commenced at certain auspicious times as necessary rites. These auspicious times were then decided by using the locations of the Stars, yearly changes in their relative locations, accompanied by the changes in the seasons as well as the more short term motion of the Moon and the Planets, against this relatively constant stellar background.
There seems ample evidence in the Indian constellation names and legends that Orion represents Shiva, one of the Hindu trinity of Gods. The Indian, Siddhantic Astronomical term for the Orion is Kalapurusha or Rudra, which are different names for Shiva. There are several other symbols associated with Shiva which are represented around Orion in Indian star lore. Taurus the Bull, could be associated with Nandi, Shiva’s vehicle, a sacred Bull. Aakash Ganga, or the Milkyway could have connotations of the river Ganga that was imprisoned in the hair of Shiva, on account of her turbulent behaviour. Also imprisoned in his hair is the Crescent Moon – an occasional visitor to these parts of the sky.
Coming to later ages – around 1000 AD, evidence for an Astronomical preoccupation, is certainly seen in the construction of the south Indian temples, particularly from the Chola period. There are a number of temples dedicated to the Sun amongst the South Indian temples, from that period. Most of the temple complexes have a separate section of small temples devoted to the Navagrahas – nine planets – which included the Sun, Moon, Rahu and Ketu (the nodes of the orbit of Moon) in addition to the five visible naked eye planets. A number of the temples have pillared halls which seem to have been constructed keeping in mind, the annual variation of the Sun’s position in the sky. It seems very possible that many more connections between the temple sculptures in stone, as well as other art forms from these times, would yield Astronomical connotations buried in a lot of legend.
The view point that the Chidambaram Nataraja as a form of Siva, is
representation of the constellation Orion, is obtained by looking into some of
the temple festivals associated with the Chidambaram temple. Most Indian temples
have one annual festival associated with them. Chidambaram temple is perhaps
unique in India, in having two annual festivals – the Arudra
Darisanam in the Tamil month of Margazhi (late December) and the Aani
Tirumanjanam the midsummer festival.
Arudra Darisanam – refers to a viewing of Arudra – perhaps Ardra – believed to be the star Betelgeuse, in Indian Astronomy. This makes sense, as the months of December are ideal for good evening views of Orion.
An intent look at the deeply inspiring figure of the Nataraja – God Shiva in his cosmic dance – as it evolved during the reign of the Chola dynasty in southern India – 9th-12th century AD – hypnotizes us into seeing the constellation of Orion in it, surely?
It is not just that – if one were to overlay the position of the Crab Supernova against the background of the stars of Orion, Taurus and Lepus and see if the pattern fits with a Bronze sculpture of Nataraja made during the 11th century AD – this is the match that we get!
In the figure above, the bright stars of Orion have been made to fit the form of the Nataraja. The dwarf at his feet, then fits very well with the constellation Lupus. The ball of fire that is held in the hands of Shiva (a later motif than the early Chola Nataraja sculptures), fits exactly with the position of the Crab Supernova (labeled vertically, in this figure). It seems a good fit, and yet, this may not be sufficient to make a claim for the fact that the evolution of the figure of Nataraj, in bronze sculptures of that period, came from a viewing of the Supernova of 1054 AD, by artisans with an interest in skywatching.
There are Nataraja sculptures from earlier periods – full two centuries before the Crab Supernova event. One is not suggesting that the evolution of Nataraja itself is linked to this celestial event. However, Nataraja or Siva would certainly have been thought to be connected with the constellation of Orion long before this period and an artisan with Astronomical interest could well have used the skies as an inspiration for his art. (As did so many others – Kalidasa for instances, whose literary masterpieces a few ceturies prior to this event, were replete with Astronomical references). Observation of the Crab Supernova – during the early mornings of the summer of 1054 AD might just have added an additional element to the shape of the Nataraja that was evolving during this period. The event itself being of sufficient brightness to have been noted with interest by such an artisan.
It still is highly conjectural. However, if we look at the earlier Nataraja sculptures – an early Nataraja (incompletely recovered) from the Gupta period is exhibited at the National Museum, in New Delhi. (Shown below)
This sculpture, clearly shows that many of the elements in the Chola Nataraja bronzes, were a later evolution, not present in the early sculptures. In particular, the ball of fire held in the hands of the dancing Shiva, which coincides with the position of the Crab Supernova in the superposed picture shown in Figure 2.
These conclusions, at best, are speculative. This was the reason why, these speculations had not yet been sent for publication anywhere, other than including this speculation in a Planetarium program on Pulsars and Supernovae, presented at the Nehru Planetarium, New Delhi, in 2001.
A confirmation of this interpretation may come from a search through literature related to the Chidambaram Nataraja from the 11th and 12th century AD (work in progress). Jayant Narlikar and Saroja Bhate [1] have conducted deep searches into Indian literature from this period, looking into the possibilities of any reference to the Crab supernova. There has not yet been anything found in the literature searched so far, but, the literature related to Nataraja, and in particular, the later Sangam literature, does not seem to have yet been included in this search. If further searches throw any connection of literature related to the Nataraja, and a strange new beacon of light, then perhaps, the speculation outlined here, would be strengthened.
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge useful discussions with Dr. Patrick Das Gupta, Dr. Alak Ray, Prof. Rajesh Kochar and Mike Simmons. We would also like to acknowledge help received from the National Museum, New Delhi.
References:
Narlikar, J. V. and Bhate,
Saroja 2001, Current Science vol. 81, p-701.
