Editing Subhash Kak (section)

====Archaeoastronomy – ''The Astronomical Code of the Rigveda''====
In the book, Kak proposes that the organization of hymns in the Rig Veda was dictated by an astronomic code concerning the courses of planets—length of solar year and lunar year, the distance between sun and earth et al.{{sfn|Witzel|2001}}<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|title=Prophets Facing Backward: Postmodern Critiques of Science and Hindu Nationalism in India|first=Meera|last=Nanda|date=2004|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=9780813536347|pages=112|oclc=1059017715}}</ref> He then leverages the proposition to argue for the existence of a tradition of sophisticated observational astronomy as far back as 3000 or 4000 BCE.{{sfn|Witzel|2001}} Kak also states that the construction of fire-altars were a coded representation of their astronomic knowledge{{sfn|Witzel|2001}} and that the Vedic civilisation were aware of the speed of light.<ref name=":4"/> He prepared the section on archaeoastronomical sites in India for the thematic study on ''Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention'' prepared for [[UNESCO]] by the [[International Council on Monuments and Sites|International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)]] and the [[International Astronomical Union|International Astronomical Union (IAU)]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Kak|first=Subhash|title=Heritage Sites of Astronomy and Archaeoastronomy in the context of the UNESCO World Heritage Convention: A Thematic Study|pages=99–107|year=2010|editor-last=Ruggles|editor-first=Clive|chapter=India|chapter-url=http://openarchive.icomos.org/267/|place=Paris|publisher=ICOMOS / IAU|isbn=978-2-918086-07-9|editor2-last=Cotte|editor2-first=Michel|editor-link=Clive Ruggles}}</ref>

While Kak's interpretation has been included in recent overviews of astronomy in the Vedic period in India and the West,<ref>In S. Wolpert (ed.), "Encyclopedia of India." Scribner's, 2005.</ref> his chronology and astronomical calculations have been critiqued by several Indologists, such as [[Michael Witzel]],{{sfn|Witzel|2001}} and the noted historian of mathematics [[Kim Plofker]].<ref name="Plofker_Centaurus">{{ Citation | last = Plofker | first = Kim | author-link = Kim Plofker | date = December 1996 | title = Review of Subash Kak, ''The Astronomical Code of the Ṛgveda'' | journal = Centaurus | volume = 38 | issue = 4 | pages = 362–364 | issn = 0008-8994 | doi = 10.1111/j.1600-0498.1996.tb00021.x }}</ref>

Kim Plofker rejected Kak's probabilistic analysis of the presence of planetary period numbers in the Rigveda's hymn number combinations, showing that Kak's apparent matches have "no statistical significance whatever".<ref name="Plofker_Centaurus" /> Witzel has rejected his analysis to be suffering from several shortcomings and questioned his usage of arbitrary multiplication factors to lead to the results.{{sfn|Witzel|2001}} Kak's method depends on the structure of the Rigveda as redacted by the [[shakha]]s in the late [[Brahmana]] period, well within the Indian [[Iron Age]], when it was organized into [[mandala]]s ("books"). According to Witzel, this leaves Kak's approach attempt to date the text flawed, because this process of redaction took place long after the composition of the individual hymns during the ''samhita prose'' period.{{sfn|Witzel|2001}} Witzel concludes that the entire issue boiled down to an over-interpretation of some facts that were internally inconsistent and more, to the creativeness of Kak who was pre-motivated to find evidence of astronomy at every verse of Rig Veda.{{sfn|Witzel|2001}}{{sfn|Kurien|2007|p=255}} Meera Nanda criticized the arbitrary and absurd nature of Kak's analysis at length and noted his method to be "breathtakingly ad hoc" which "reads like [[numerology]]."<ref name=":5" /> M A Mehendale, in a review over ''Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute'', criticized the book for its many shortcomings which did not stand the scrutiny of rigor and remarked it to contain inaccurate and misleading statements.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Mehendale|first=M. A.|date=1996|title=Review of THE ASTRONOMICAL CODE OF THE ṚGVEDA|journal=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute|volume=77|issue=1/4|pages=323–325|issn=0378-1143|jstor=41702197}}</ref> [[S. G. Dani]], a [[Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology|Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar prize]] recipient rejected Kak's hypothesis as unscientific and highly speculative with extremely vague details and whose results were statistically insignificant.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dani|first=S. G.|date=1994|title=The astronomical code of the Rigveda|journal=Current Science|volume=66|issue=11|pages=814|issn=0011-3891|jstor=24095698}}</ref>

[[Klaus Klostermaier]] in his book ''A Survey of Hinduism'' praised Kak, for opening up an "entirely new approach to the study of Vedic cosmology from an empirical astronomical/mathematical viewpoint".<ref>Klaus Klostermaier, A Survey of Hinduism, Second Edition. State University of New York Press, 1995, pp. 129.</ref> Klostermaier's books have been heavily criticized for offering pro-Hindu views that have little currency in scholarship.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Joel P. Brereton|year=1991|title=A Survey of Hinduism by Klaus K. Klostermaier (Review)|journal=Journal of Asian History|volume=25|pages=86–87|jstor=41930803|number=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Knut A. Jacobsen|year=1997|title=A Survey of Hinduism by Klaus K. Klostermaier (Review)|journal=Numen|volume=44|pages=97–98|jstor=3270387|number=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Patricia M. Greer|year=2002|title=A Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism by Klaus K. Klostermaier (Review)|journal=International Journal of Hindu Studies|volume=6|pages=92–94|jstor=20106796|number=1}}</ref>

Kak's work influenced Raja Ram Mohan Roy's 1999 book ''Vedic Physics: Scientific Origin of Hinduism,'' which sought to prove that the RigVeda was coded per the laws of quantum and particle physics.<ref name=":4" /> Kak wrote the foreword to this book commending Roy's interpretations as a new way of looking at Vedic Physics.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":6" /> Meera Nanda, one of Kak's foremost critics, noted the result to be a "shameful demeaning of physics as well as the Vedas" and resembling "ravings of mad men".<ref name=":4" />