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CHAPTER 5
ROTATION OF EARTH
"Whether the sun is in motion or the earth?", is a question familiar to all. It arouses curiosity and speculation within us The purpose of this essay is to give a full account of the various beliefs existing since prehistoric age, regarding this question
Jain Agamas
As far as the scriptures are concerned, most of them, whether eastern or western, accept that "the earth is at rest while the sun is in motion." In the Jain cannon, Suryapragyaptisutra, we find a clear evidence of the motion of the sun There Gautamswami, the disciple of Lord Mahavira, asks a question of him,1 "Lord"' he asked, "The sun starting from the innermost section of the orbit goes to the outermost one; and from the outermost section of the orbit it again goes to the innermost one How much time the sun takes for this motion?" Lord Mahavir said, "It takes 366 days and nights." The next question is more pointed on the subject of the motion of the sun' "Lord! In how many sections of the orbit the sun moves in the above mentioned time; in how many of them does it pass through once, and in how many of
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Suryapragyapti Sutra, p 119. Suryapragyapati Sutra, p 1/10
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