Murder in Venice

By R. Suryanarayanan

Murder in Venice is the story of Sankaran Namboodri, a young man passionate about astronomy and related mathematics, whose thirst for knowledge inducts him to travel to Italy to meet Galileo Galilei and share the advanced astronomy developed by Hindu astronomers. Born in Irinjalakuda, a village in Kerala on the West coast of India also the birthplace of Madhava, a great mathematician born 250 years earlier, Sankaran prepares to take over from his father as the temple priest by studying the Vedic scriptures following the traditions. Recognising his talent for understanding complex scriptures and mathematics, and his insatiable curiosity of the sky, his father wants him to become an astronomer. To acquire further knowledge in astronomy, Sankaran plans a trip to Ujjain, the seat of great discoveries in Hindu astronomy. On his way, at the city of Kozhikode, by a strange coincidence he meets a renowned scholar, Ananthan, who has just returned from Ujjain with the latest teachings. Ananthan transfers all his knowledge to Sankaran and with the help of an Italian Catholic missionary, convinces Sankaran that he should go to Italy so that the contributions of Hindu astronomers may be known to Galileo Galilee. Sankaran accepts the challenge. The Italian maestro is not only surprised by Sankarans knowledge of astronomical predictive calculations and citations from ancient Vedic scriptures and but even more amazed that Hindu astronomers had conceptualised a heliocentric universe long before. The Auhtorities of Rome firmly believe that the earth is fixed with the Sun going round and oppose vehemently Galileos views. A messenger from Rome warns Galileo that his life as well as that of Sankaran is in danger as his views are being lately labeled as blasphematory by the Authorities. Galileo sends Sankaran away to hide in Venice convinced that in a matter of weeks, and with the help of Sankarans knowledge, he will be able to alter the opinion of the Authorities of Rome. But will he succeed? Will the world come to know about Sankarans mission? The reader will get an insight on the contribution of Hindu Astronomy often forgotten as we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of the telescope by Galileo.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: Dec 22, 2011
• ISBN: 9781469133683

R. Suryanarayanan

With a passion for science and India, the author, a retired scientist with a Doctorate in Physics from the University of Paris blends fiction into historical facts in a unique way building on intercultural links and circulation of knowledge between the East and the West long before globalisation as we know it today. His first book Dreams and Realities, a collection of short-stories, took the reader from Indian History 300 BC to modern science with glimpses of Hindu philosophy, music, dance, traditions, scientific discoveries and life in three different continents –India, Europe and USA. The Royalty fees from the sale of this book are integrally donated to the Medical Research Foundation (India), an institution serving the poor and the needy in eye care. Comments are welcome and can be sent to [e-mail]

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Copyright © 2011 by R. Suryanarayanan.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4691-3367-6

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4691-3368-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Front and back Cover Design: Dharman Suryanarayanan

Front cover photo

Top left: Irinjalakuda temple, Kerala, India (photo by the author)

Top right: Galileo’s sketch of Pleiades

Bottom right: Campanile and San Marco, seen from the gallery, Venice,

(photo by Dharman Suryanarayanan)

Middle left : Sketch by Galileo, Jupiter, and its 4 moons, and Neptune

Middle right : in Sanskrit Suryasiddhanta 9.08

So also the Mercury makes his setting and rising at a distance from the sun of twelve or fourteen degrees, according as he is retrograding or rapidly advancing

(Translation by Ebenezer Burgess,1858)

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

0-800-644-6988

www.xlibrispublishing.co.uk

[e-mail]

303266

Contents

By The Same Author

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Some Dates To Remember

Selected Biblography

Glossary

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Epilogue

To my parents

Ayloor S. Ramanathan

Dharmambal

By the same author

DREAMS AND REALITIES 2009 www.authorhouse.com

http://sites.google.com/site/parissury/

Selected reviews:

The author has vividly sketched a panoramic canvass of the cultures of India and Europe covering the days of antiquity to modernity as the back cover page of the book adequately outlines it.Apparently, it is the first book written by this author who is past 70y.Reading in between the lines I admire his rather suggestive approach. L. Gopalan, Rtd.AGM, BHEL, India

I found your book un-put-downable (forgive me for coining this word, could not get any other better word!) I finished reading it cover-to-cover in a matter of a few hours! Prof. N. Narasappaya, Retired Head, Department of Physics, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Somani College, Mumbai

"I finished reading it on the immediate sunday after I bought the book. It is written in such an interesting style. The narration is so lively that it made me feel like you are sitting next to me and narrating the story. One thing I have noticed is you have very good research skills in not only physics but also in history and culture. Your book has inspired and educated me about science, culture and life. "Neela Sekhar, Doctoral student, University of Paris, Orsay

It is an interesting read giving an excellent prologue about the diverse cultural and religious traditions of India. He gave some flavor about the philosophy of Rig Veda and Upanishads (philosophical literature of the Hindu religion) and also discussed the subtle connection between the Indian classical music system and mathematics. Three stories in the book beautifully illustrated the gap between dreams and realities. He discussed many scientific laws and discoveries by Newton, Faraday, and Ramanujan at layman level which make this book quite mesmerizing. Dr Jagdish Thakur and Dr Archana Thakur, Michigan

"It is a bit difficult to follow at times but this didn’t hinder my interest in reading something which for me was quite different and which touches both on things I’m not familiar with (part 1) and on things I’m more familiar with (sections of part 3). You mention in the foreword that you sometimes used ‘literary excess’, I can see how this is involved in part 3 which I think combines some of your own real experiences and some imagined experiences (although I’m not quite sure at what point the transition between real and imagined occurs) but I dont know how much of part 1 is invented by you (characters, events). It may be that you will join those who have helped to fashion a mythology.The underlying message for me is that while holding on to the aspects of one’s own culture (traditions and also foods etc.) it is possible to benefit from other different cultures.So well done ! Despite the rough edges, the book provides an interesting read." Dr J.A. Hodges, Retired, Research Director, CNRS, Saclay,France.

"I did not like Asoka’s dream that much but for the slokas which were so inspiring and useful. You have adopted a different style that I found strange—distant and artificial.As for the Sanyasi’s earnest dreams and sad realities shows your story telling talent of revealing the interlaced life story of the Sanyasi with Nalini and Brigitte/ and the un revealed story of the professor with those two girls. Well related without many side track descriptions.The best among the three stories is still Easwaran’s unending dream’ I simply enjoyed reading that story—particularly in that story you used a very simple and straight forward style—it is like doing a pencil sketch, with a multitude number of small strokes, to bring out the picture, with thousands and one anecdotes, especially if the reader happens to be an Indian, lived in south-India, known Madras, Perambur and ICF colony, and the reader was lucky enough to have inspiring teachers like Eswaran, your story is a feast.—a nice story that would be a source of inspiration to any young school students . . . I would strongly recommend."Alexis Kettery, Orange Telecom, Paris.

" . . . . concernant la musique carnatique, l’explication à partir des touches du piano est tout à fait claire. J’y vois pour ma part,par le biais des évènements rapportés, un témoignage et un hommage à la culture indienne. Sur un plan général, on se rend compte qu’il s’agit d’un livre écrit par un professeur : la part romanesque est réduite et il y a de nombreuses indications historiques, sur les royaumes anciens par exemple, et scientifiques sur les découvertes indiennes en physique et mathématiques etc . . . Finalement, tout ceci nous donne un portrait de l’auteur à travers ses préoccupations intellectuelles et ses propres rêves d’harmonie universelle." Dr. Yves Marfaing, Retired Director, Solid State Physics Laboratory,CNRS, Bellevue,France

"I have learnt a lot from your book. The Ancient India and the Modern India, the way you have chosen to write.You have a flow which is amazing and erudite. Keep the good work and Alexandre Dumas will be proud of you. Post some of the fine quotes that you have so well written for the benefit of the facebook community." Ramkumar Nagabushanam, Lawyer,NY,USA

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*The amount represents Royalty fees from the sale of my book Dreams and Realities.

Thanking Note To The Reader

Dear Reader,

I would like to thank those who have bought my first book Dreams and Realities. The Royalty fees from the sales have been donated to the Medical Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya—The Temple of the eye (www. Sankaranethralaya.com). It is an institution conducting not only world class eeducation in eye research but also provides eyec are to the destitute and the poor in India nad renders services to International patients from UK, US, Oman and Mauritius. It is my pleasure to inform you the Royalty fees from the sale of this book also will be donated to the same institution.

Thank you for joining me in this effort.

FOREWORD

I DECIDED TO WRITE this novel mainly because of three reasons. First, last year I read a news item announcing the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s discovery of telescoope and the confirmation of Heleiocentricmodel of our solar system. When I visited some of the exhibitions and some museums in Europe where celebrations were held to commemorate this event, I did not come across, however, any reference to the contribution by Indian astronomers. Second, I became aware of a conference held in India to commemorate the publishing of Tantrasamgraha, a book written about 500 years ago by Nilaknatha Somayagi, a Kerala astronomer. Nilakantha revised Aryabhata’s model for the interior planets Mercury and Venus. His equation of the centre for these planets was more accurate at predicting their heliocentric orbits than the later Tychonic and Copernican models, and remained the most accurate until the 17th century when Johannes Kepler reformed the computation for the interior planets in much the same way Nilakantha did. He has made important contributions to astronomy through his works on Golasara, Sidhhantadarpana, Candrachayaganita, Aryabhatiya-bhashya, Sidhhantadarpana-vyakhya, Chandrachhayaganita-vyakhya, Jyotirmiamasa, Sundaraja-prasnottara, Grahanadi-grantha, and Grahapariksakrama. The third reason is due to the encouraging, comments from readers from India, France, USA and Canada on my first book, Dreams and Realities published in 2009 (available through amazon.com). It is my humble intention to bring out to the world especially to those who are not trained scientists, the contributions of the Indian astronomers including those of Nilakantha through this novel. In writing this I have let loose my imagination and hence I do not claim this is an historical account or a treatise on astronomy. For the more enlightened reader, I have given elsewhere a selected biblography. Some words not pertaining to English language are collected in Glossary. Dates of some major historical events and scientific discoveries are also given. After reading my book, it is my sincere wish that the reader will be aware of a bit of the advancement of astronomy and mathematics in India that existed starting from the Vedic times till the 17th century. Further, I sincerely hope that the reader will be induced to look for more details in other published works and also to propogate these ideas to his/her entourage far and wide.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FIRST AND FOREMOST, I would like to thank my wife Pushpa for the moral support without which I could not have written this story. My sons Dharman and Raghu encouraged me and provided useful suggestions. In particular, Dharman painstakingly went through the manuscript. His numerous comments and questions helped me to improve the flow. I have also benefitted without their knowledge, through several discussions either face to face or through e mails from my daughters-in-law Anne and Claire and my brother Krishnan. Discussions with several others whom I might have met through facebook, on a train journey or at temples waiting for dharshan, were useful to me.

Rik Veda 10.22.14 ( 2000-3500 BC )

missing image file

"This earth is devoid of hands and legs, yet it moves ahead. All the objects over the earth also move with it. It moves around the sun

Psalm 104.5 ( 1000 BC )

He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.

Chronicles 16:30 ( 500 BC—King James Version—1600 CE)

Fear before him, all the earth: the world also shall be stable, that it be not moved.

SOME DATES TO REMEMBER

The dates given Before Christ(BC) are approximate.

SELECTED BIBLOGRAPHY

*   Surya Siddhanta, A text book of Hindu astronomy, Ebenezer Burgess, New Haven for the American Oriental Society

*   Surya siddhanta in Sanskrit,http://www.scribd.com/doc/53625723/Surya-Siddhanta-Sanskrit

*   The Aryabhatia of Aryabhata, Walter Eugene Clark, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

*   Vedanga Jyotisa of Lagadha, K. V. Sarma, Kuppusamy Research Institute, Madras

*   Voyage de Ludovicio dei Vathema, Traduction de Paul Teyssier, Chandeigne

*   The Celestial Key to the Vedas by B. G. Sidharth, Inner traditions

*   Vedic Origins of the Zodiac: The Hymns of Dirghatamas in the Rigveda, David Frawley

*   Aryabhatta and axial rotation of eath, K. Dutta, Resonance, March 2006

*   The Last Jews of Kerala, Edna Fernandes, Portobello books

*   Tantrasamgraha of Nilakantha somayaji, K. V. Sarma and V. S. Narasimhan

*   Model of planetary motion in the works of Kerala astronomers, K. Ramasubramanian, Bull. Astr. Soc. India, 26, 11 (1998)

*   Knowledge of plantes in the third millennium BC, Subhash C. Kak, Q. J. R. Astr. Soc., 37, 709 (1996)

*   Yagnavalkya and the orgins of Puranic Cosmology, Subhash C. Kak, arXiv:phys 0101012v1

*   Voyages and Adventures of Vasco da Gamma, George M. Towle, Lothrap, Lee and Shephard, Boston

*   Birth and Early development of Indian astronomy, Subhash C. Kak, in Astronomy across Cultures, The History of Non-Western Astronomy, Helaine Selin(Ed) Kulwer, 2000

*   The Galileo Project, http://galileo.rice.edu/

*   Modification of the earlier Indian Planetary theory by the Kerala astronomers (c1500 AD) and the implied heliocentric picture of planetary motion, K. Ramasubramanian, M. D. Srinivas and M. S. Sriram, Current Science, 66, 784 (1994).

*   Corrections to the terrestrial lattitude in Tatntrasangraha, Indian J. History of Science, 38.2, 129 (2003)

*   Hindu Maha Samudram vol.1,2,3, (in Tamil) Cho Ramasamy, Alliance Publishers, Chennai.

*  Hindu Dharma, The universal way of life, Candrasekharendra Saravasti Svami, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,Mumbai, 2008

*  Understanding Islam, Yahiya Emerick, Alpha (USA)

*  Understanding Judaism, Second Edition, Rabbi Benjamin Blech, Alpha (USA)

*   L’astronomie Indienne, Roger Billard, Ecole Française de’Extreme Orient, Paris,1971

*   500 years of Tantrasangraha—A Landmark in the History of Astronomy,M S Sriram, K Ramasubramanian and M D Srinivas, Inter-Universily Center, Indian Institute of advanced Study, Shimla, 2002

GLOSSARY

1

THE CHURCH BELL struck eight times. It was 8 am in Padoua. The streets near the Basilica di Sant’Antonio da Padova, simply known as Il Santo, were buzzling with life. The peddlers selling vegetables and fruits were on the road. It was a Friday and the fish market was crowded. Drawn by the fresh smell of the hot bread from the nearby bakery, Antonio could not resist stopping by. On his way to work, he always passed this way to admire the architecture of this basilica. His father had told him that it took almost hundred years to build this edifice. The bones of the Sant’Antonio rest in a chapel richly ornamented with carved marbles, the work of various artists, among them Sansovino and Falconetto. Antonio admired the seven cupolas resting like hats on the edifice. On the piazza in front of the Basilica, he also admired Donatello’s magnificent equestrian statue of the Venetian general Gattamelata. Today he was in a hurry, otherwise he would have even entered the Basilica and would have said a short prayer in front of the beautiful painting, the Crucifixion by Altichiero da Zevio. Though he was not a connoisseur of art, he was attracted by the sweet face of Jesus in this dramatic scene. There was no suffering