Ebook: Humans, Demons, Gods, and Their Worlds: The Sacred and Scientific Cosmologies of India

Chapter ia book: Geography and Ethnography: Perceptions of the World in Pre-Modern Societies, Edited by Kurt A. Raaflaub and Richard J. A. Talbert, Blackwell Science Ltd. 2010, ISBN: 978-1-405-19146-3, pp. 32-42.
Keywords: flat-earth and round-earth cosmologies - differences between them; hymns of Vedic texts - earliest sources of Indian ideas of the cosmos; negotiating astronomical cosmos - interactions between sacred and scientific models; Hellenistic techniques; negotiating astronomical cosmos - interactions between sacred and scientific models; evolution of Indian cosmological concepts; strong focus of Vedic texts on praise and supplication of deities; role and nature of Siddhcntic cosmology.
Contents:
Introduction: Two Indian Views of the Cosmos.
The Evolution of Indian Cosmological Concepts.
Negotiating the Astronomical Cosmos: Interactions between Sacred and Scientific Models.
Concluding Questions: The Role and Nature of Siddhāntic Cosmology.
Notes.
References.