06 September 2010@06.00pm
Literary, Arts and Heritage Forum
Speaker:Prof. Rajesh Kochhar
Topic:"Rahu and Ketu in mythological and “astronomological” contexts”
Chairperson: Prof. B.V. Sreekantan

Abstract:Deployment of Rahu and Ketu as eclipse-causing planetary deities (sixth century CE) represents an interesting case of interplay between scriptures, science and mythology. Naming the lunar ascending node after the earlier eclipse-causing demon Rahu was an attempt to connect new scientific developments with traditional beliefs. Ketu, in contrast, was a dictionary word used to denote a variety of related phenomenon especially comets. Its association with eclipse was a new role for it exemplifying expansion of mythology in the light of new scientific developments.

About the Speaker: Professor Rajesh Kochhar is currently a CSIR Emeritus Scientist at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Mohali, Chandigarh. He is the Vice-President of International Astronomical Union Commission 41 on History of Astronomy. An astrophysicist by training, he has been Director National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies, New Delhi ;Honorary Professor of History of Science and Technology at National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore; a Jawaharlal Fellow; a Fulbright Visiting Lecturer; and a Visiting Scholar at University of Cambridge.