Did our ancestors calculate the distance between Prithvi (Earth) and Surya (Sun) correctly?

Question

In Hanuman Chalisa, it is said:

जुग सहस्र जोजन पर भानू। लील्यो ताहि मधुर फल जानू॥ १८ ॥

meaning:

The Sun is at thousand yojanas(a unit of measurement of distance), and thought of it as a sweet fruit.

As per calculations,

1 Yug      = 12000 years  
1 Sahastra = 1000  
1 Yojan    = 8 Miles  

Yug x Sahastra x Yojan = par Bhanu  
12000 x 1000 x 8 miles = 96000000 miles

1 mile = 1.6kms  

96000000 miles = 96000000 x 1.6kms = 1536000000 kms to Sun

NASA has said that, the above is the exact distance between Earth and Sun(during the Aphelion).

Does this prove that our ancestors calculated the distance between Earth and Sun centuries before scientists did it?

Answer 1

Interesting Facts & Fascinating Story of Hanuman Chalisa!

Hanuman Chalisa has 40 Chaupais (Chalis=40 in Hindi) on Hanuman is a devotional hymn dedicated to Bajrang Bali by the Great Indian poet, philosopher and saint Shri Goswami Tulsidas. Born in the 16th century, Tulsidas authored Hanuman Chalisa in Awadhi language when he was quite young.

Hanuman Chalisa Tells Us The Distance Between Earth & Sun

When Hanuman was very young, he flew from Earth to the sky in the direction of the Sun to eat it, assuming it to be a ripe, luscious fruit. Tulsidas while stating this incident in the chalisa in simple languages gives the distance between Earth and the Sun.

The Line is –

“जुग सहस्र जोजन पर भानू। लील्यो ताहि मधुर फल जानू॥ १८ ॥”

Meaning:

Sun is at the distance of sahastra(thousand) yojan(an anstonomical unit of distance).

After certain intellectuals decoded this famous line of Hanuman Chalisa by Tulsidas they could find the distance of Earth, they found that tt is exactly the same as that discovered by scientist later.

In the year 1653, astronomer Christian Huygens with his guesswork estimated the distance from earth to the sun.

Now let’s see what the intellectuals (Garjajev’s Research Group) got after decoding the lines:

1 Yuga is 12000 years
1 Sahastra is 1000.
1 Yojan is 8 miles

Thus,

Yuga Shastra Yojan par Bhanu means

12000 X 1000 X 8 = 96000000 miles
and 1 mile is 1.6 km
So, 96000000 X 1.6 = 1536000000 km

This is the exact round figure distance of earth from Sun on 3rd July because studies mention the distance of 152,093,481 km from earth to sun during the aphelion (The period when earth is farthest from the Sun). This is very close to the current figure by NASA.

Answer 2

juga sahasra jojana para bhānū /
līlyo tāhi madhura phala jānū //
~ Tulasīdāsa's Hanumān cālisā (caupāī 18)

This famous caupāī is often misinterpreted by many, where they take it as referring to an exact numerical distance b/w Sūrya & Pṛthvi. In actuality, this caupāī is not mentioning this info.

Firstly, juga is not used here in the sense of yuga, but in the sense of couple, pair or many. This 'yuga' (not time duration) is a synonym of yugma & yugala, as stated in Amarakośaḥ (2.5.38) -

yugmaṁ tu yugalaṁ yugaṁ

There's another term yuga which is a unit of time, and used for specific time durations. In śāstras, it's used to mean three specific durations - 5 yrs, Kṛta/Tretā/Dvāpara/Kali, and mahāyuga (caturyuga + sandhyāṁśas). For more info on the 5 yr duration, check this answer. But as stated above, caupāī 18 (of Hanumān cālīsā) is not using the yuga that stands for time duration, but another yuga, whose meaning has been explained above through Amarakośa.

Secondly, sahasra doesn't necessarily mean 1000. Sahasra is used on several occassions in Veda too (for e.g. sahasrapāda, sahasrākṣa, etc.), but it's used in the sense of ananta, infinite or uncountable or just very big. There's a relevant śloka, which I quote below-

śatādhikāḥ samāḥ saṅkhyā geyāścānantya-vācikāḥ

[Words for] all numbers higher than hundred are also said to have the meaning 'uncountably many', in certain contexts.

Therefore, the meaning of juga sahasra jojana (in caupāī 18 of Hanumān cālīsā) is thousands and thousands of yojanas or many thousand yojanas or infinitely/uncountably many yojanas.

The distance from sun to earth, is mentioned in siddhāntic jyotiṣa śāstras, and easily calculable.

śaśirāśayaṣ ṭha cakraṃ te aṃśakalāyojanāni yavañaguṇāḥ /
prāṇenaiti kalāṁ bhaṁ khayugāṁśe grahajavo bhavāṁśe ’rkaḥ //
~ Āryabhaṭīya (1.6)

A circle multiplied by 12 is the moon’s signs. These multiplied by 30, 60, 10 are [respectively,] degrees, minutes, and yojanas. The earth moves one minute in one prāṇa. The circumference of the sky [in yojanas] divided by the rotations of a planet in a yuga is the [orbit of the] planet’s motion. The [orbit of the] sun is a sixtieth part of the circumference of the nakṣatra.

śaṣṭyā sūryābdānāṁ prapūrayanti grahā bhapariṇāham /
divyena nabhaḥparidhiṁ samaṁ bhramantas svakakṣyāsu //
~ Āryabhaṭīya (3.12)

By sixty solar years planets fulfill the circumference of the nakṣatra. Revolving equally in their own orbits, they [fulfill] the circumference of the sky by one divya [year].

The circumference of moon's orbit (C_m) is 12 X 30 X 60 X 10 = 216000 yojanas. The moon's sidereal rotations in a yuga (R_m) are 57753336 (as per Āryabhaṭīya 1.3-4). So, the moon travels C_m X R_m = 12474720576000 yojanas in a yuga consisting of 4320000 human yrs (called divya yr in Āryabhaṭīya 3.12). This is also the circumference of the sky (C_k) (nabhaṅparidhi) in yojanas. It's presupposed that all the grahas travel the same linear distance in a yuga. In other words, C_j X R_j = C_k is constant, for any j. In the case of the sun, whose rotations in a yuga (R_s) are 4320000 (as per Āryabhaṭīya 1.3-4), its circumference (C_s) is C_k / R_s = 2887666.8 yojanas. Therefore, the distance of the Sun from the earth is C_s / 2π ≈ 459585.37 yojanas (with Āryabhaṭa's value of π = 62832/20000 , as per Āryabhaṭīya 2.10).

In Goladīpikā, Parameśvara directly mentions above calculated distance b/w sun & earth -

The Sun is a fiery orb with a radius of 4410 yojanas. The radius of its orbit is equal to 459585 yojanas ~ Goladīpikā (2.48)

Answer 3

The fundamental problem in this analysis of the line “जुग सहस्र जोजन पर भानू। लील्यो ताहि मधुर फल जानू॥ १८ ॥” is the assumption of the value of one yojana.

Aryabhatta calculated the circumference of the earth to be 4967 yojanas, wherein his definition of 1 yojana was approximately what is 5 miles today. Hence the value he arrived at was 24835 miles which is remarkably close to the current measurement of 24901 miles.

Therefore if a yojana is assumed to be 8 miles to support the verse in Hanuman Chalisa, then we will have to effectively falsify Aryabhatta's calculation.

Furthermore the word yuga (जुग) is a measure of time and expressed in years (12000 years) therefore if you are multiplying two values the result must be expressed as a product of the units too. Therefore Yug and Yojana multiplied will give a value of 96,000,000 mile years and not 96,000, 000 miles. Thanks to Rishabh's blog for explaining it in detail (https://rishabh007blog.wordpress.com/2017/01/02/hanuman-chalisa-sun-earth-distance-calculation-hoax/)